Sir, - It was with amazement that I read Timothy O'Connor's letter of October 17th, both because I could not believe that anyone would publicly express those views, and because you saw fit to publish them. Mr O'Connor's reference to his boyhood epiphany regarding his "Irish ancestry" and subsequent relocation here to "study the place" suggests that his current dismay at the perceived lack of Irish support for America is clouded by his own preconceptions about what Ireland and its people actually constitute.
Having lived in New York on two separate occasions, I can attest to the existence of Americans with deluded impressions of Ireland. Mr O'Connor seems shocked by the reality that not everyone in Ireland agrees with "Uncle Sam". His tirade contains little in the way of a reasoned justification for the current US attacks. Rather, he expresses incredulity that we could even dare question the legitimacy of America's actions.
His assertion that the modern Irish seek to tear down Western Civilisation "with romantic eagerness" is indicative of someone with, to say the least, a fantastical perception of the motives driving the contemporary Irishman. I was totally unaware that I was living among such a heady mixture of iconoclasts and political subversives.
It would surely be a damning indictment of Irish society if we did not express some concern regarding a policy that by necessity kills people. The expression of anti-war sentiment is surely to be welcomed, even by those who favour the bombings, if only to remind them that there are alternatives. Aside from the fact that as adults we have every right to express these views, I have to admit that I have not encountered the levels of anti-American cynicism that Mr O'Connor has. I was under the impression that by virtue of holding an unprecedented day of mourning, collecting money for America's bereaved, opening books of condolences in every major city, town and village, compromising our neutrality by allowing the US to use Shannon Airport and effectively giving legal sanction to the air strikes through our presidency of the UN Security Council, we had in fact been overtly pro-American. Of course I may not have "studied" Ireland to the same extent that Mr O'Connor has during what sounds like an ideal-shattering 15 years here.
I am indeed sorry that Mr O'Connor now finds himself embarrassed by the Irish nature of his blood, but then again it could be blood of the type in the veins of the good ole Irish who pranced around the heels of John Wayne in The Quiet Man, rather than the hopelessly corrupted modern variety. - Yours, etc.,
Aidan Hehir, Ballysimon, Limerick.