Sir, - Like other US citizens in Ireland I am grateful for the outpouring of grief, shock and compassion. However, I write to emphasise recent reports that US citizens do not unanimously support military action in response to this disaster and unanimity does not exist on the issue of strikes against any particular Muslim state, training camp or individual.
In fact a coalition has been established here in Ireland, called US Citizens in Ireland for Alternatives to War, to ensure that policy-makers are made aware of the diversity of opinion on this matter. We also aim to ensure that alternative responses are identified and openly debated before more lives are lost.
We are grateful for those few voices which are calling for restraint - we have a particular history which demands it: after the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941, mass hysteria resulted in the imprisonment of many thousands of Japanese Americans, and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
While the US had a clear right to respond to attack, the imprisonment of Japanese Americans was a gross violation of human rights and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki one of the darkest, most regrettable acts of the last century.
We are grateful also to hear many voices calling for a better understanding of the issues which lie behind the bombings and for those urging a more reflective response.- Yours, etc.,
Mary Van Lieshout, US Citizens in Ireland for Alternatives to War, 10 Upper Camden Street, Dublin 2.