MICHAEL HIGGINS,
Madam, - Yap, yap, yap. It's as bad as that little dog over the fence in the neighbour's yard. The Irish do so love to yap and yap about America. Well, mostly against America, it seems.
Oh dear, that horrible George Bush is at it again. Oh my, those terrible US warmongers. Oh, I'm sure it's only for the oil. Oh, poor Mr Saddam with no weapons, and such a nice man too.
On and on the yapping goes. As a US expatriate living here I find it has become quite tiresome - though I must admit, I did like the idea of naming the coming war "Operation Gunslinger" (Letters, January 28th). That's cool.
Could we please put an end to the inane yapping once and for all? Perhaps the Government could hold a referendum - call it Reality Check - with just three simple questions:
1. Do you make your living, all or in part, from the tourist industry?
2. Do you realise that the people who own and run Dell Computer, Intel, Hewlett Packard, etc. are in fact the mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters of the proud American military personnel who are bravely fighting the war against terror?
3. Do you favour closing Irish air space and Shannon Airport to all citizens of the United States of America who appear in uniform on their way to or from their international duties?
My favoured date for this vote would be September 11th, but that is too far away.
For the US military, losing Irish air space and landing rights would be nothing more than a minor logistical hitch - a longer and more uncomfortable flight for the young men and woman of the US armed forces.
For Ireland, such a move would be a disaster. With the exception of the middle of March and any time when it holds a seat on the UN Security Council, the Republic doesn't get much coverage in the US press.
But closing Ireland to the US military now would play on the front page of every newspaper in America. And it would not play well.
Americans see the coming war differently from people in Europe - a Europe, by the way, where all the skyscrapers are still standing. Saddam has weapons. Saddam supplies terrorist organisations with money and support.
Some day soon Saddam will supply the terrorists with weapons. Those weapons will be used against America.
It's just not worth the risk, and some good could come out of ridding Iraq of Saddam as well.
I'm sorry, but it's not about oil, it's not about Israel, it's not about colonial ambitions.
It's simply about an American president not wanting to bury 3,000 people in a single day ever again. And it's about those countries which give support and comfort to the Americans who are working to ensure this. - Yours, etc.
MICHAEL HIGGINS,
Adare,
Co Limerick.
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Madam, - The carnage of the first World War was in part justified by the public being led to believe that it was "the war to end all wars". Instead, it sowed the seeds for the emergence of the fascism and nazism which led on to the second World War and the holocaust.
At present there would appear to be a bitter irony totally overlooked by President Bush and the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, that it was Britain and the US which were so determined at the end of the War to establish a United Nations Organisation that would not fail as the League of Nations had done.
Far from perfect though it may be, the UN remains our only global authority apart, that is, from that being assumed by the military might of the United States and the barking bulldog spinning behind at its heels.
We should congratulate the women who are demonstrating at Shannon Airport against war in Iraq. They are doing their best to uphold Ireland's increasingly shaky pedestal of neutrality.
Peace Maker?
By some strange twist of logic and in spite of the US's dismal record in peace-making President Bush seems to be asking us to believe that the US has the moral authority as well as the military might to do whatever it wants in to-day's world. Some peacemaker!
If indeed he believes his own propaganda regarding the assumed moral authority of the US then he may wish to answer the type of questions which are now being put to Bagdad:
1. Does the US possess weapons of mass destruction?
2. Has the US ever used a weapon of mass destruction against another country?
3. In particular, has the US ever used such a weapon against the civilians of another country.
4. Has the US ever sold weapons of mass destruction to another country?
5. Has the US ever undertaken such sale in the knowledge that such weapons are likely to be used?
6. Has the US ever interned its citizens without trial or worse, has it ever interned the citizens of any other country without trial or the prospect of a trial?
7. Does the US have any weapons of mass destruction hidden in secret locations?
8. Would the US be prepared to show the peace-people of the world where such locations are to be found?
9. Is the US prepared to publish for our information an inventory of all its weapons, most especially of those which could be classified as weapons of mass destruction?
It now seems that the US and Britain will attack Iraq whether or not the UN sanctions such attack. In doing so they may well be striking the death knell of the organisation which they inaugurated in 1945.
10. The tenth question which should now be asked of the US is whether the weaponry which it hides from our knowledge and which it may deny having, would be used by it in the event of a direct attack by the army of a foreign power on its soil? The answer is as obvious for the US. as it must be for the powers that be in Iraq.
The US and Britain seem about to launch violence on the people of Iraq on a massive scale yet we citizens have received no concrete evidence to justify what may be done on our behalf.
If surmise and provocation are to be the cause of mass slaughter, then, before the judgement of human-kind, woe betide Britain and the US after the war is over.
If indeed weapons of mass Iraqis agaidestruction emerge to be used by nst the invaders, some people are bound to say, "we told you so"!
Others may, with more understanding, respond, "what did you expect?" - Yours, etc.,
JOHN ROBB,
Charlotte Street
Ballymoney,
Co Antrim,
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Madam, - I am in total agreement about decommissioning.
Let us decommission Shannon Airport now! - Yours, etc.
KEITH NOLAN,
Quayside,
Bulloch Harbour,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.
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Madam, - Eamon Ryan is correct in his assessment of the risks involved in a war with Iraq but his faith in the efficacy of UN weapons inspections and of Saddam's likely co-operation in any further deals offered by the UN is unrealistic.
Saddam showed his disregard for the UN in 1998 when, after months of playing cat and mouse with the inspectors, he ordered them out of Iraq and resumed acquisition of biological and chemical agents along with the missiles to deliver them. The UN lost credibility when it failed to act at that time.
Against that dismal showing it is most improbable that Saddam would now honour a UN package that offered an end to economic sanctions in return for compliance with restrictions on arms, all to be enforced by the UN.
The Security Council continues to dither and, given the current posture of France and Germany, there is little reason to suppose that the threat of a future UN-authorised military response would impress Saddam.
Indeed, Mr Ryan's proposed solution would merely allow history to repeat itself, with the added danger that when next found to be in breach of UN resolutions, Saddam would be a much greater threat than he is now.
Saddam Hussein has thwarted inspections, survived sanctions and spurned diplomatic initiatives. As grave as the risks might be, there is no longer an option to the use of force. Depend on the US to act accordingly, with or without the UN, and count on France, Russia and Germany to jump on the bandwagon once they see it serves their own narrow interests to do so. - Yours, etc.,
DENNIS MURPHY,
Maple Avenue,
Burlington,
Ontario, L7S 2K1,
Canada
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Madam, - Minister Seamus Brennan was quite upbeat when declaring on Morning Ireland (January 29th) that 40 per cent of the revenue generated at Shannon Airport came from refuelling military aircraft.
This is a sad reflection on modern Ireland when the economy of the Shannon area is becoming increasingly dependent for its lifeblood on refuelling military aircraft designed for the destruction of life somewhere on this planet.
Soon Shannon Airport can be redesignated as a military refuelling airport. How shameful. - Yours, etc.,
BRENDAN BUTLER,
Co-ordinator,
NGO Peace Alliance,
134 Phibsboro Road,
Dublin 9