Madam, - Brian Friel's words in your edition of March 28th were an eloquent testimony to the inexpressible anger many of us feel about the immorality and hypocrisy of the invasion.
Language and psychology are being misappropriated to undermine international opposition to what amounts to an economically driven, strategic intervention in Middle East affairs. Add to that the misuse of language and psychology through voyeuristic, sensationalist, media coverage.
That we are represented in this by an intellectually and morally bankrupt political leadership is something of which we will be ashamed for a long time to come. This leadership has shown itself to be a veritable pawn, both as a bit-player, and as a second-hand commodity going to the highest bidder. It is not a sufficient argument to state that what we are doing is "legal". What is legal is not necessarily moral, nor does it command moral consensus. In the absence of an international, collectively agreed moral framework, the end does not justify the means. - Yours, etc.,
SEAMUS FENNELLY, Church Lane, Kilkenny.
Madam, - I was pleasantly surprised to learn that George W. Bush has heard of the Geneva Convention. He quoted it with reference to the US soldiers captured by Iraq. The civilised world does of course acknowledge the Geneva convention which in effect states that all prisoners of war must be treated humanely. Accordingly, the US and Iraq must treat their prisoners in this way.
Could I now appeal to the same George W. Bush to treat the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay Prison in accordance with the convention? They too are human beings. Seeing these prisoners with their legs and hands shackled in chains and blindfolded was a gross affront to civilised society.
It was hard to believe that this degrading behaviour was still happening at the beginning of the 21st century. One would have thought that these obscene images would have vanished with the defeat of the infamous Nazi regime. The Third Reich regarded themselves as a master race and set about conquering the world through pre-emptive attacks and the slaughter and humiliation of their enemies. Let us hope that the 21st century isn't going to see a repeat of those dreadful happenings. Recent events don't bode well for the future of our planet. - Yours, etc.,
JIM GRIFFIN, Tralee, Co Kerry.
Madam, - A dictionary definition of the word "prevaricate" is to speak evasively so as to hide the truth.
Listening to the Taoiseach answering questions in the Dáil last week regarding his knowledge of Ireland's inclusion, or otherwise, in the "coalition of the willing," it struck me that he has developed prevarication into an art form.
I, and most people I know, oppose the invasion of Iraq. We do so primarily because we do not believe the Bush administration is being truthful about its motives. We don't want Ireland to be associated with the invasion in any way. In particular we don't want Ireland included in the "coalition of the willing," surreptitiously or otherwise. However, we cannot be sure the Taoiseach has not said one thing to George Bush and another to the Dáil.
Over the years I have been a strong supporter of Mr Ahern but his prevarication about the invasion of Iraq has eroded all trust. - Yours, etc.,
DES BYRNE, Arklow, Co Wicklow.
Madam, - When Kevin Myers says that "we live in a world populated by zealots who see this life merely as a dismal prelude to the paradise that follows", (An Irishman's Diary March 26th), I assume he is referring to Mr Wolfowitz, Mr Perle and Mr Rumsfeld, the puppeteers who manipulate the strings attached to Mr Bush. - Yours, etc.,
DESMOND DORIS, Glencoe Park, Antrim Road, Belfast.
Madam, - Any reasonable person who wants to form an opinion on the Iraqi crisis would want to ask the Iraqi people themselves how they feel. But this is not possible because Saddam answers for them. No dictator ever allows his people to answer for themselves. He wouldn't be a dictator if he did. But if we can't ask them, we can at least look at others who have been in similar situations.
After the second World War, when the United States had destroyed the regimes that had ruled Germany and Japan, they gave the ordinary people of these countries the opportunity to build the kind of future that they themselves wanted. We only have to look at how they embraced this opportunity to see what they thought about this. Within a short time the peoples of these countries had constructed two of the world's leading economies with health and education and other services second to none.
When one contrasts this with the experiences of the peoples who lived under the Soviet dictatorships it could be said that the defeat of these two regimes prevented more human misery and produced more benefits for humanity than few if any events in history. It could also be said that, for the ordinary people of a country ruled by despots, it is better that the regimes that rule them be defeated by the United States than that they should have to carry on living under them.
One can't ask the Iraqi people whether they would agree with this, with their being in the clutches of a despot, and also having bombs dropped on their cities by the same United States, just as the Germans and Japanese had. But if history repeats itself and US will prevails, the Iraqi people themselves will run Iraq in the future, as the Germans and Japanese run their respective countries, and they too may create the best possible future for themselves. - Yours, etc.,
KEVIN COOPER, Forest Avenue, Dublin 24.
Madam, - The neutrality of De Valera and Aiken is out-dated and redundant. Christian, Islamic and Jewish fundamentalism have seen to that. The middle ground is shrinking.
Neutrality was introduced to protect the national interest. It has been operated in this fashion ever since and it has been good for a young, developing state. Personally, I like the notion of being neutral - it makes me feel better - but I am not neutral. I support the Cuban, Palestinian and Venezuelan right to self-determination.
We are militarily neutral, but culturally, politically and economically aligned. Different people place different interpretations on neutrality and this leads to understandable divisions.
What is needed is a forum on neutrality, to debate and discuss the issue in the country's community halls and council chambers and in the houses of the Oireachtas. This would be done with a view to formulating a clear, unambiguous view of which road the Irish people want to travel - military alliance or clear neutrality. - Yours, etc.,
Cllr CHRIS ANDREWS, City Hall,Dublin 2.
Madam, - The Former Fine Gael TD Alan Shatter writes in your edition of March 28th that we should unapologetically support the US, the UK and their allies in the war being waged in Iraq. His reasons for lauding the US-led invasion include the tyrannical and barbaric regime of Saddam Hussein, which has been responsible for the death and exile of tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens.
Mr Shatter also pointed out Saddam Hussein's opposition to every effort to resolve the Middle East conflict, his financing of suicide bombers, the use of chemical and biological weapons on his own citizens, his use of torture and execution as an instrument of state policy and his refusal for over 12 years to comply with UN requirements that Iraq disarm and destroy its weapons of mass destruction.
But which countries is Iraq threatening with aggression? Israel, a close ally of the United States, is in violation of over 64 UN resolutions, relating to, among other things, illegal occupation of another people's land, along with violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention through steady encroachment and annexation of Palestinian and other Arab land.
Israel possesses weapons of mass destruction. It has invaded two neighbouring countries and its current prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is wanted by Belgian courts on war crime charges arising out of murderous attacks on defenceless civilians in camps in Lebanon.
Israel is guilty of the longest military occupation in modern times and all of this is carried out with active US support. While the world would be a better place without despots such as Saddam Hussein, the powers in the US should not continue to blind themselves to the wider realities threatening the stability of the Middle East and beyond. - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL CULLEN, Albert Park, Sandycove, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Ask any woman living with an Irishman: can he give a straight answer to a straight question? Why should Bertie Ahern be any different? - Yours, etc.,
ITA McCORMACK, Maynooth, Co Kildare.