Madam - Brian Daly (July 7th) refers to missing the main point of an argument. In characterising the recent attempted terrorist attacks in the UK as "relatively minor incidents", I feel he is guilty of a similar error. These "relatively minor incidents" on June 29th and 30th were attempts at indiscriminate mass murder.
What Mr Daly and others of a similar mindset must grasp is that abandoning Israel, withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan, and giving Iran a free hand to do as it pleases will not make the problem of terrorism magically disappear.
In addition to Western foreign policy, Islamism has deep and fundamental objections to Western society, culture and values. Nor do liberals escape its ire - even those who seek to appease. That an arch-apologist such as George Galloway is not immune to the scorn of Islamists serves as a tragic-comic reminder of the depth of hostility which this perversion of true Islam possesses.
Pandering to those who have utter contempt for human life does not strike me as a thoughtful plan. Such a posture would become a greater recruiting sergeant than all combined Islamist grievances, some of which are real, others imagined.
Thankfully, George Bush and Tony Blair are public representatives with limited political life-spans to which their foreign policy will be confined. As an ideology, however, Islamism will survive neo-conservatism in the same way as it preceded it, its zeal and ambition undimmed.
It is worth remembering that the present worldwide jihad was being formulated when George Bush was (badly) running a baseball team. - Yours, etc,
REDMOND KERR, Dyke Parade, Mardyke, Cork