Sir, - U plus S does not equal UN. The UN has been in existence for more than 50 years and has a proud peacekeeping record. For all its faults, the world would have been a worse and more dangerous place without it. It is sad and regrettable that it has again been politically and morally subverted by the United States and Britain.
Saddam Hussein's record is despicable. He is responsible for the deaths of many Iraqis, Kurds, Iranians and others. He should be held to account like Karadzic, Pinochet and other despots. But he is also in part a creation of the West, which was quite willing to use him when it suited. Moreover, the most recent actions of the US and UK led to the deaths of civilians and conscripts and achieved nothing: Saddam is still in power.
The outstanding feature of US policy in the Middle East is hypocrisy. Another state in the region has violated UN resolutions for more than 20 years. It has weapons of mass destruction on a scale far greater than anything the Iraqis possess. It is in continuing illegal occupation of territories which do not belong to it and it violates the human rights of the people of those territories on a daily basis. Far from condemning this state, the US continues to arm it, pay its debts and defend it politically, in the UN and elsewhere. This double standard, which includes the demonising of Arab states of all complexions in the West, is partly responsible for the existence of Saddam Husseins.
Bill Clinton has done much for Ireland and we should be grateful for that. Equally, we are moving towards a new relationship with Britain and must hope that this will lead to a long-term settlement of our own affairs. However, we should not lose sight of the need to promote an ethical politics of international relations based on moral authority, even-handedness and respect for human rights. It is essential to rehabilitate the UN and make it a genuinely representative and effective body.
The principle that superpowers with vested interests should not be directly involved in peacekeeping and peace-enforcement, and should not become virtually the sole arbiters of international policy in this field is still a good one. A US-dominated UN is not good for the world; it is probably not even good for the US.
The glory days of Ireland's UN role in the 1950s and 1960s are gone and the world has moved on. However, Ireland and other similarly placed countries can still play a major role, independently and within the various supranational bodies of which they are members, by promoting a dialogue designed to restore the credibility and acceptability of the UN in all parts of the world. We are a non-NATO member of a wealthy power bloc, but we also have good relations with the majority world, including all parties in the Middle East. We can and should use our position and moral authority to advance these issues, even if it means falling out occasionally with the US and with our nearest neighbour. - Yours, etc., Piaras Mac Einri,
University College Cork.