Abuse of prisoners in Iraq

Madam, - Mark Steyn (Opinion, May 17th) writes that "post-Saddam Iraq is the only country in that grim region (apart from Israel…

Madam, - Mark Steyn (Opinion, May 17th) writes that "post-Saddam Iraq is the only country in that grim region (apart from Israel) where torture is not a routine instrument of state policy".

I choose this paragraph as a typical example of Mr Steyn's style of journalism. There have been many others I could have chosen, but we haven't got all night. Two points of fact:

1. The US government has effectively admitted through releasing to the public its "Interrogation Rules of Engagement" that the use of torture was and is official policy for its agents and so also is for those agents working for it in the territory controlled by its puppet regime in Iraq.

2. Amnesty International has documented in detail the use of torture by Israeli security forces on a regular basis and to such an extent that it can only be described as "routine".

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Madam, I have been reading this newspaper for 20 years. I believe in the right to free speech. I am happy to read columns by people whose views are opposed to mine. John Waters has his occasional moments of brilliance. Breda O'Brien is one of this country's few intelligent exponents of old-fashioned values. Kevin Myers, for all his ranting, is often amusing and challenging and nearly always tells me something I didn't know.

But Mark Steyn has nothing to contribute except standard neo-con double-talk peppered with inaccuracies. I reserve my worst insult for him: boring and an offence to intelligence. If I wanted to read this kind of rubbish I would buy the Sunday Independent. - Yours, etc.,

GERALD KELLY, Victoria Street, Dublin 8.