Madam, - When reading recently about the wartime resistance within Nazi Germany, I was struck by how many brave men and women sacrificed everything - often including their lives - to uphold standards of common decency and humanity in the face of an immoral regime. Sadly, a much greater number did nothing because of apathy, inertia, fear or, worst of all, because they stood to gain from the regime.
Today, this country is flying in the face of common decency and humanity by facilitating the US military machine in a cruel, unjust and ill-conceived war in Iraq that can only bring harm to the American people and has already brought massive harm to the people of the Middle East. We are effectively prostituting ourselves by allowing US military flights to stop at Shannon. When history passes judgment on the war as one of the great disasters of the 21st century, what will we say to our children when they ask us what we did to stop it?
We are not called upon to face death or even prison (though some brave people have risked this). We can start by demanding of our politicians, come election time, that they unequivocally state their opposition to this obscene state of affairs or forfeit our vote.
It's that simple. Are we prepared to do it? - Yours, etc,
COLMAN Ó CRÍODÁIN, Ardcollum Avenue, Dublin 5.