Madam, - I have no doubt that Saddam Hussein is a nastier piece of work than George W. Bush, but I'm more afraid of what Mr Bush will do to protect peace than whatever Mr Saddam may do to threaten it. - Yours, etc.,
GODFREY SHAW, Blackhorse Avenue, Dublin 7.
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Madam, - With the prospect of a new war in the Persian Gulf the International News Safety Institute (INSI), an unprecedented coalition of more than 100 media companies, journalists, press freedom groups and international organisations, urges all sides to respect the safety and integrity of journalists on the field of battle.
Recent years have seen a sharp increase in the numbers of news media personnel killed and persecuted in the course of their work. Some 65 journalists and media staff were killed on duty last year. Many others suffered violence from groups who felt threatened by their reporting. A possible war in Iraq will put hundreds more journalists in the line of fire.
While some news media staff will travel with and under the protection of the forces deployed, many more will operate alone. Upon all of them falls the responsibility to provide fully independent and uncensored accounts of the war and its impact on ordinary people. And that makes them potential targets, as we have witnessed in the Palestinian territories, where cameramen especially have been shot and beaten, and in Afghanistan, where more journalists than soldiers were killed in the two weeks of land war.
The International News Safety Institute, of which we are the founders, is a global network established to counter attacks on journalists. These assaults are not just personal tragedies; they damage democracy and erode the flow of news and information.
INSI reminds all armies and their commanders that news media staff are non-combatants working under the protection of international law. The Geneva Conventions demand respect for the human rights of journalists in time of conflict. They are classified as civilians entitled to protection from violence, threats, murder, imprisonment and torture.
In particular, neither journalists nor the civilian places where they gather to work, whether newspaper offices, broadcasting centres or non-military buildings, are acceptable targets.
When it comes to war there is always a fog of deception, misinformation and manipulation of media. That is why it is crucial to have independent reporting of what happens in Iraq - before, during and after war. We appeal to journalists and media staff to be professional and be safe and we call on all sides to publicly acknowledge their commitment to the safety of journalists. -
CHRIS CRAMER, Honorary President, RODNEY PINDER, Director, International News Safety Institute; JOHANN P. FRITZ, Director, International Press Institute; AIDAN WHITE, General Secretary, International Federation of Journalists, Brussels.
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Madam, - I wish to express my gratitude to John Waters (Opinion, March 4th) for exposing my true motivation for attending the anti-war demonstration on February 15th. I believed I was registering my opposition to the duplicity and opportunism of the current US administration's stance on Iraq. Mr Waters, with the benefit of his insights into my unconscious mind and the minds of the other protesters, has shown me this was not the case.
I look forward to more cod psychoanalysis from him on this subject. - Yours, etc.,
SEAN SHANAGHER, Belvedere Road, Dublin 1.
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Madam, - Sean McDonough (March 3rd ) wonders how an eminent historian such as Ruth Dudley Edwards could ignore the historical background of the Iraq crisis in her "not in my name" column. What McDonough (no relation) has apparently missed is that the historian is pursuing a lucrative second career in the media pantomiming an old-style English Tory curmudgeon.
As these characters are increasingly scarce on their home ground, their resurrection by a female Irish intellectual is an intended post-modern, post-colonial irony. Obviously this joke is just too subtle or the mimickry too successful for some sensibilities. - Yours, etc.,
DR TERENCE MCDONOUGH, Kilrainey, Co Galway.
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Madam, - Should there be a cap on how much the United States is allowed to spend on UN Security Council members' votes? - Yours, etc.,
DAVID JOHNSTONE, Greystones, Co Wicklow.