Madam, - Like Cornelia Sexton (September 16th), I too am a US citizen living in Ireland. Unlike Ms Sexton, I quite admired Oliver James's article in your edition of September 13th.
Given all that court-appointed President Bush has wrought in my country and the world at large, I'm surprised Ms Sexton was outraged by this rather impressive, if speculative, attempt to understand Bush's psychology. She seems to be taking it all a little too personally.
Many of my fellow Americans seem to have a hard time distinguishing between themselves and the current US administration. But virtually all of the Irish people I know have no difficulty making a distinction between Bush in particular and the American public in general.
Americans are popular here. Bush isn't; and given all that he has done, I find no wonder in that at all. He led the US into its first ever pre-emptive war, paving his way with lies and half-truths. Daily we witness the growing chaos and carnage of his terribly ill-considered misadventure in Iraq.
His high-handed, arrogant unilateralism impresses few people here and elsewhere. His treatment of the UN must appal the good citizens of Ireland who are well aware of the sacrifices their troops have made during numerous UN-related assignments and are rightly proud of this nation's commitment to the vital work of the UN.
Ms. Sexton misrepresents Oliver James when she declares that he "portrayed [him] as a psychotic madman bent on taking over the world". Yet her hyperbole is almost apt. He is, in my view, already guilty of mass murder, along with innumerable violations of the Geneva Convention in both Afghanistan and Iraq. While he may not have world conquest in mind, having the US dominate world affairs for its own ends is clearly his agenda.
Domestically, he is the most disastrous president ever to sit in office. About 2.9 million jobs have disappeared under his administration - the largest job loss in our history. His tax cuts, which crassly and massively benefit the wealthy, simultaneously squandered the largest surplus and created the largest deficit ever. He is a disaster domestically and internationally.
I regard him as the most dangerous man on earth, the greatest embarrassment my nation has ever brought forth, and I am dedicating myself to doing all that I can to see that he is not elected in 2004.
I welcome the insight Oliver James has given us into Bush's personality and applaud this paper's decision to publish it. - Yours etc.,
ALEC JOHNSON,
Newcastle,
Co Wicklow.