Sir, - NATO foreign ministers have recently asserted that from its foundation NATO was committed to the defence of democracy and human rights. Portugal was a member for 30 years under a fascist dictatorship, Greece under the generals' dictatorship was also a member, as was Turkey, still only marginally democratic, and for a considerable period a military dictatorship too!
It's a strange way of defending fundamental values, but perhaps no stranger than "liberating" a country by destroying it! Reminds me of the Rowel Friers cartoon of the Provo looking down over a presumably Northern wasteland and proudly telling his son that soon all this would be his! - Yours, etc.,
Senator Brendan Ryan, Seanad Eireann, Baile Atha Cliath 2.