Sir, - In the wake of last Tuesday's unspeakably evil events, Fintan O'Toole's article in your edition of Saturday was a timely reminder that evil has many faces.
President Bush's crusade "to rid the world of evil", while well-intentioned, is deeply worrying, as is the jingoism which underscores the call for war from the likes of Tony Blair. Tanks cannot crush ideas, beliefs cannot be bombed into oblivion. And a crusade which brings Jiang Zemin on board is no gathering of shining white knights.
Who will define the parameters of this war "to drive the evil of terrorism from the face of the earth"? For Jiang Zemin, this is the cue to complete the obliteration of the Muslim Uighurs who are fighting for their survival in Xinjiang. There have been bombs in Lhasa, so Tibetan "separatists" will be similarly daubed with the brush of "terrorist evil".
Finally, supposing bin Laden confessed tomorrow, who would suffer most if Afghanistan was "taken out"? Not the willing Taliban martyrs, but precisely those who are already suffering most in that devastated country, the women and children who bear the brunt of the Taliban's vile regime.
Let us all pray that wisdom will prevail and that the USA will take time to think, as Fintan O'Toole hoped, before unleashing its vengeance. - Yours etc.,
Anthony O'Brien, Tibet Support Group Ireland, Ailesbury Road, Dublin 4.