Sir, - We live in a sick world in which good governance, based on respect for justice, truth, and decent ethical standards, is the exception rather than the rule. In the global economy in which we now wallow, everything has to bow to market forces in which the profit motive is paramount. People are but pawns in the global game of power politics and international greed.
Many of the world's richest and most powerful countries are plumbing new depths of depravity as they jockey for position in the league table of international arms sales, shamelessly peddling their weapons of death and destruction, without a thought for the consequences. The recent horrors in East Timor, witnessed at close range, brought home to me in sharp focus the cruel consequences of this barbaric trade.
It is beyond my comprehension how so-called civilised countries could countenance and encourage the sale of arms and military machines to Indonesia during the years in which it was engaged in the ethnic cleansing of its tiny neighbour, East Timor. How ironic it is that UN forces from these very countries should now be endangered, and possibly killed, by these weapons.
It is even more ironic that our own little country is entering a military partnership dominated by those same arms exporting countries, into whose coffers we will be shovelling billions of pounds for new and more lethal weapons and equipment for our minuscule defence forces. Should Ireland not instead be campaigning for international control of arms production worldwide? We still have some moral credibility, I believe, despite the best efforts of some of our political cowboys. If governments will not take the lead on this vital issue, then it is time for action by people who care.
Concerned citizens, in Ireland and everywhere, should be banding together to shout: "Stop!" Enough of this evil trade. An end to this obscene industry which thrives on the blood of suffering humanity. The international arms industry has ruled our world for far too long. - Yours, etc.,
Gearoid Kilgallen, Crosthwaite Park South, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.