Madam, - "So where are you all now, you Not In My Names?" asks Kevin Myers (An Irishman's Diary, April 11th). I suppose it is a rhetorical question: we are still here. But it is also the wrong question. May I suggest a few more pertinent questions?
Where are those "Weapons of Mass Destruction" for which Tony Blair went to war? And where is the threat to the US and the world? Given that a handful of US troops marched almost unchallenged into Baghdad, why was it necessary to cause such terror, death and destruction by pounding that city night after night?
Why use that weapon of mass destruction, the cluster-bomb? (John Simpson of the BBC graphically described its results after nearly being killed by it.) And why, if "freedom is spreading across Iraq" (K. Myers again), are the coalition forces allowing such mayhem (the UN are on record as stating that it is a contravention of the Geneva Convention for an occupying force to allow hospitals to be looted)?
There are plenty of questions to be asked all right; Mr Myers is asking the wrong one. Oh - I suppose I will have to spell it out: being anti all those dreadful things does not affect my great love of America and its people. - Yours, etc.,
W.J. MURPHY, Malahide, Co Dublin.
Madam, - It was refreshing as ever to read Kevin Myers's triumphant "liberation" of the moral high ground from the "No War For Oil/Not In My Name" protesters (An Irishman's Diary, April 11th).
He correctly points out that they should rejoice at the freedom of Iraqis from repression and torture. However, rather than addressing any of the issues raised by the present situation, he remains content to criticise the behaviour of these "little rats" and insist that "they were wrong on this war" and "will be wrong on the next". I would have preferred to read his constructive thoughts on where we go from here.
How should political and human rights be ensured for people under repressive regimes? Should one country continue to act unilaterally to decide who goes and who stays? What role should the UN have? Which is the next most pressing human rights case: Zimbabwe? South Korea? Texas?
Many NWFO/NIMNs would fully accept his eloquent assessment of the present reality - that "cheap oil is the oxygen of the world economy; and when that stumbles, we scratch our knees, but underdeveloped countries fall under the bus and die." However, his argument only strengthens their view that the richest governments driving this world economy "bus" are not so much concerned in their foreign policy with social justice, democracy and economic freedom as with their strategic interest in cheap resources.
The statement that "freedom has come to the people of Iraq courtesy of the greatest democracies in the world" surely ignores the fact that it has come courtesy of the strongest armies, built on the largest economies, rather than through any merit of democracy (Florida-style or otherwise).
As for his final assertion that these misguided fools who protest are fuelled by "extraordinary numbers" of like-minded people in the Irish media, I am glad that in his Diary he is free to speak his mind to the Irish public and redress this bias without resort to over-simplified arguments delivered by megaphone. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN CUNNIFFE, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Madam,- Kevin Myers is not altogether wrong to suggest that recent anti-war protests represent little more than than anti-American left-wing drivel. What better podium for minor political parties, with their failed, outdated socialist policies, to gain precious media exposure?
I believe, however, that this posturing by the left has an even more cynical tone. I have asked some leftie types if they would be as passionate in their opposition to Iraqi freedom were that lovable scamp Bill Clinton the one delivering it. All too often I have not been satisfied by the reply.
It is about time that Europe and Ireland stopped associating right of centre with evil. - Yours, etc.,
J.J. CAROLAN, Shannon, Co Clare.
Madam, - In his Irishman's Diary of April 10th Kevin Myers refers to the former Warsaw pact countries as a "tract of countries in which tyranny reigned for 45 years, and was kept at bay by the armed might of NATO". He cites this role of NATO as an instance of "the central truth of human behaviour: violence works".
But surely this successful role of NATO shows that peaceful containment works? - Yours, etc.,
BRIAN CAHILL, Rathgar Road, Dublin 6.
Madam, - Can somebody please tell me the total number of free dead Iraqis to date? - Yours, etc.,
MAIRÉAD CAREW, Elm Mount Drive, Dublin 9.