A chara, - The Omagh bombers killed 28. The US bombers killed 26. The Omagh bombers, including the godfathers, receive our repudiation and opprobrium; the US godfather does not even have his invitation to visit Ireland withdrawn.
Is this because we value Muslim lives in faraway countries less than Christian lives on this island? Or is it because we agree with Clinton's version of "rough justice" for terrorists? He had "intelligence" that these camps produced terrorists and chemical weapons. The Provisional IRA leaders surely have "intelligence" as to who planted the Omagh bomb. If we agree with Clinton's methods, it would be consistent to ask the IRA to "wipe out" the terrorists, Clinton-style. Yet we quite rightly condemn punishment beatings by the IRA, while raising no voice against "punishment bombings" by the US.
Why are the media not giving us the stories behind the tragic deaths and injuries of the victims in Sudan and Afghanistan, as they did for victims of Omagh? Why aren't they saying, as they did for the Omagh bombers, "How could this man do it? . .He should be made to stand here in Casualty and watch the suffering of the injured and bereaved."
Of course we know the answers. When you're the leader of the strongest power on earth, you can do exactly as you please. And we feel no outrage because we have been brainwashed into believing that Muslim = fundamentalist = terrorist = bad, and that the lives of Muslims are expendable.
Shame on our Government for not condemning this cowardly outrage. - Is mise, Molly O'Duffy, Chairperson,
Comhlamh,
10 Upper Camden Street,
Dublin 2.