Madam, - The loss of life in Iraq, both by soldiers and civilians, has chilled us all. People have seen their families, homes, possessions and livelihoods destroyed.
The people of Iraq are facing another form of loss which should not be ignored: the loss of cultural heritage. The National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad has been looted; its entire contents are reported destroyed or stolen. The National Library of Iraq, which also housed the national archives, was torched, its contents lost for ever.
In Ireland this has a particular resonance, bringing to mind the destruction of the Four Courts in 1922 when the physical record of so much of our medieval and later history was destroyed by shelling.
Reports from Baghdad suggest that American army tanks which had been placed in front of the museum were withdrawn, clearing the way for action by vandals and thieves (c.f. the Guardian, April 14th). ARBICA, the Arab Regional Branch of the International Council of Archives, has issued a condemnation of what it terms the wanton destruction of archives and civil records, and along with the International Committee of the Blue Shield (ICBS), asserts that access to authentic cultural heritage is a basic human right.
The Society of Archivists, Ireland would like to highlight the immeasurable loss this destruction of cultural heritage means for the people of Iraq. We join many other cultural organisations in appealing for the coalition forces to enforce the terms of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and we extend our deepest sympathy to our Iraqi collegues - archivists, librarian and curators - who have been forced to witness such wanton destruction. - Yours, etc.,
CAROL QUINN,
Chair, Society of
Archivists, Ireland,
University College,
Cork.
Madam, - What a remarkable sight: history in the making. The monument of Saddam Hussein being toppled by US Marines who draped an American flag over the head first. Finally, the end of this dictatorship.
Jubilant scenes on the streets, people cheering, waving and laughing. Felicitations to the US and the UK. Looting, plundering, violence, mayhem and anarchy. Full hospitals, no water, no electricity, no doctors, dead bodies, maimed bodies, destroyed buildings, burnt buildings, art and architecture defaced.
This must be what the Americans meant by "shock and awe". Operation Iraqi Freedom is surely a pyrrhic victory. - Yours, etc.,
KATHY HEELAN, Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Your Editorial "Bringing Peace and Order to Iraq" (April 12th) calls for the prosecution of "agents of the vanquished regime". Victor's justice?
Oddly enough, you utter no call for the holding to account of those responsible for violating non-combatant immunity, for using outlawed weaponry and for destroying civilian infrastructure. Why? - Yours, etc.,
J.A. BARNWELL, St Patrick's Road, Dublin 9.
Madam, - Frankly, I am somewhat tired of hearing that "Truth is the first casualty of war" as if the truth were obvious at all other times. Possibly it is too early yet to discern the real truth about the Second Gulf War. Eddie Holt (Weekend, April 12th) at least has one view. He probably believes, as a good postmodernist, that ultimate truths do not exist. Instead we are dominated and indoctrinated by the images or symbols that are imprinted on our otherwise blank minds.
He attacks the presentation of positive symbols of the war (toppling Saddam's statue) in preference to the negative ones (armless child in hospital). He asserts that the "truth" about war is being kept from us by a conspiracy of TV journalists. If we could only encounter the reality we would (presumably) rise up against the horror.
Unfortunately, Holt's premise is wrong from the start. There is much more in the mind (language, for example) than is taken in by images and symbols. The destruction of Saddam's statue was a powerful symbol of the end of a pernicious regime. But I think nearly anyone who has watched news bulletins on the war will never forget the stark images of wounded children. But why should one image cancel out another?
I think people will retain both images, and rely on ethical judgment to decide if it was worth dealing out a terrible injustice to an innocent child in order to remove a brutal and perverse leadership.
Relevant to that judgment is the extent to which the regime used civilians as human shields. Another is the extent to which you believe the US will carry out its promises to the Iraqi people. Surely, for the moment at least, the cheering crowds who greeted the coalition as liberators have given their answer? - Yours, etc.,
TOBY JOYCE, Navan, Co Meath.
Madam, - Iraq is a country of over 20 million people. Saddam Hussein is one aging man who could have been killed by a single bullet. Therefore, the might of the American and British armies with countless horrific bombs causing untold destruction, environmental poison, deaths and deformities, was far from necessary. - Yours, etc.,
PAT HUGHES, Bird Avenue, Dublin 14.
Madam, - At the peaceful demonstration by a few hundred protesters at Shannon Airport last Saturday, I was astonished at the number of law enforcement officers on duty to "protect" the airport.
There must have been at least one garda for every demonstrator present. In addition, we were confronted by riot police, guard dogs, water cannon trucks, a Garda helicopter and even what appeared to be an Air Corps Dauphin helicopter!
Are the peaceful men, women and children who comprised this demonstration such a threat to the rule of law and the security of this State? Or is it that the morality of the Government's stance on this issue has been so weakened that it must resort to base intimidation and the threat of brute force to assert its position? - Yours, etc.,
SÉAMUS THORNTON, Tandy Court, Spitalfields, Dublin 8.
Madam, - A large thank-you to Kevin Myers for his sensible column on the NIMNs of Ireland and Europe (An Irishman's Diary, April 11th). What a breath of fresh air amid the haze of hot air wafting across the Atlantic. - Yours, etc.,
JACK and PAT CRONIN, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.