Madam, - I had thought we were blessedly rid of the right-wing American George Dempsey and his crass, abusive language that had permeated the media for too long in Ireland, his host country, until I read his article in Monday's edition.
According to Mr Dempsey, those of us who oppose US war and torture are guilty of "morally obtuse outrage", spinning tales of torture from an "infantile leftist fairyland". And in his court of self-righteous pragmatism, Europe may even be guilty of "sanctimonious grandstanding". Mr Dempsey has again leaped into the breach and decided to put us all right. "Let's do try to be honest," he pleads, before we can ask that favour from himself.
Then, in a spin worthy of Rumpelstilkin, he tells us that although "suspected terrorists" can be snatched up (by the USA) and returned to their home countries for interrogation, this does not entail "rendition" to torture. Rather it is a humanitarian gesture on the part of the US to bring the suspect, chained and shackled, to a country of origin where the interrogators bring "to the job" knowledge and understanding of the suspect's culture and "the comfort of not just his native language but his dialect". The US, he says, monitors all such renditions to ensure there is no torture. This, he says, is a fact. Hasn't Condoleezza Rice said so? And so, his argument rests.
How weak this case is even he himself must understand, for he throws in reminders of the torture practised by Saddam Hussein, former friend of the US, as if we were really morally obtuse, and as if Saddam's use of torture might justify any US use of the same.
The can of worms of US torture has opened and Mr Dempsey's clichés will not put the lid back on. What is disgraceful is that Ireland has become party to the US war and torture by allowing uninspected passage through Shannon to any and every US aircraft, no matter what it contains or what its purpose and destination. - Yours, etc,
JUSTIN MORAHAN, Scholarstown Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
A chara, - I note that Senator Mary White is reported as calling for a Seanad debate on the "lies that are being told" by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and on what constitutes torture (The Irish Times, December 8th).
Such a debate is warranted. However, I hope that Senator White will also raise the various forms of torture perpetrated by Farc and their allies in Colombia and the punishment beatings and killings carried out by members of the IRA in recent times, particularly the cases concerning the McCartney and Rafferty families.
Throughout her support for the three fugitives from the Colombian authorities, Senator White has never once demanded a debate on torture and human rights abuses by Farc or the Provisional movement.
It is all too easy to attack the United States for its failings in these areas - and I agree it has much to do to improve its record - but torture and abuse should be condemned wherever they occur and no matter who carries them out. - Is mise,
Cllr MALCOLM BYRNE, (Fianna Fáil), Gorey Town Council, Co Wexford.