Sir, - Concern for the poor and deprived seems to be the motivation for those who are urging caution in the United States's response to the recent atrocity. Those who have gone so far as to blame the US itself for the attack also cast themselves in the role of champions of the poor. Before we go along with these people we should remind ourselves of a few facts.
The population of the US is largely made up of Europe's poor and deprived, people who did something about it. They emigrated, achieved independence and created the greatest democracy on Earth. They took the concepts of freedom, wealth creation and human welfare to a higher plane than any other people in history. And they have always been generous.
They gave their blood in the cause of freedom in Europe. There has always been millions of American dollars made available to nations who tried to climb out of poverty and deprivation. And as long as I can remember there have been cases of babies being flown to the US for life-saving operations, the techniques used being later disseminated to hospitals around the world.
As regards Muslims, the generous spirit of the American people can be seen here too. There are several million Muslims in the US, most of whom have run away from regimes that would have kept them in poverty forever. Ten times more Muslims would migrate to the US right now if they could get a green card.
The fact is that the poor and deprived have never had a better friend than the United States, nor poverty and deprivation a greater enemy. For Ireland to stand beside the American people in the coming conflict would be an honour, and we would be taking sides against poverty and deprivation also. - Yours, etc.,
Kevin Cooper, Forest Avenue, Kingswood, Dublin 24.