Madam, - As a senior history student, I have recently been studying Irish neutrality during the "Emergency". It appears that we quietly but effectively supported the Allied war effort in a number of ways.
However, our neutrality was emphasised repeatedly, partly as a means of proving to all and sundry that we were indeed an independent nation - so much so that Eamon de Valera even signed the book of condolence in the German embassy on the death of Hitler, at a time when the horrors of Belsen were being revealed to the wider world.
Presumably, when Saddam is finally eliminated or DNA suggests he is no more, our Taoiseach will follow the lead of his party's founding father amd emphasise our complete neutrality by signing a suitable book of condolence. There may be one in the duty-free area of Shannon Airport. - Yours, etc.,
IAN PAYNE, Wesley College, Ballinteer, Dublin 16.