Madam, - The Tánaiste, Mary Harney, justifying the Government's position on the invasion of Iraq at her party's conference last weekend, said: "Ireland is neutral in that we do not belong to any military alliance. But we are not neutral between right and wrong, between democracy and dictatorship, between the rule of freedom and the rule of fear.
"We were not neutral on September 11th. We were not neutral when international terrorists attacked America, for that was not just an attack on America, but an attack on the democratic way of life which unites the entire western world".
This is the propaganda stuff that has been fed out relentlessly by the hawks at the White House as they seek to camouflage their true intentions. Iraq is used in the same sentence with September 11th over and over although there is no connection between the two and the suggestion that Iraq posed a threat to the world was also trotted out at every opportunity. We now know that Iraq was little more than a third-world country struggling to survive from day to day. The US knew that and Mary Harney should also have known that.
Over the same weekend, the White House has begun in earnest to attack and blacken Syria. This is the mark of the bully. Success brings a desire for more. And the Tánaiste of our country behaving like a willing mouthpiece is as shameful as it is embarrassing.
Surely the statements made by Mary Harney call into question her credibility and must at least open up a debate on the morality of members of parties with only minuscule support holding high office in government. Surely this is a perversion of democracy. Mary Harney does not and cannot speak for the Irish people. - Yours, etc.,
JIM O'SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
Sligo.
Madam, - Young people throughout Ireland are "fired up" about the situation in Iraq as rarely before on any issue.
For weeks it has been the main topic of conversation in youth clubs, classrooms and everywhere that young people gather. They have joined protests in their thousands and have spoken passionately and emotionally against the war and the use of Shannon airport.
The invasion of Iraq has politicised young people in a way that has not been known for decades.
The dismissal of their protests has left young people feeling disillusioned and angry. The result will be increased alienation from the political process and loss of respect for Government and democratic action among many young people.
In this sense the casualties of this unjust and bloody war are greater than many of us may imagine. - Yours, etc.,
KEVIN HICKEY,
President,
National Youth Council
of Ireland,
Montague Street,
Dublin 2.
Madam, - "With us or Against us". This linguistic cleaver has cut George Bush his biggest victory to date. It is also the abuser's rationale: regardless of what I do, I demand your loyalty. Betrayal is the only crime, more damning than anything I have done.
Anyone entering this debate is quickly branded friend or foe, and the concept of opposites uniting through dialogue is conveniently dispatched. - Yours, etc.,
GERARD LEE,
St Agens Park,
Crumlin,
Dublin 12.
Madam, - I loved Kevin Myers's diatribe against the womens's naked protest against the Anglo-American rape of Iraq (An Irishman's Diary, April 16th).
Basically, going back to Lady Godiva's time, a woman's naked protest is one in the eye for a man, or men in general. What more does a man hate than seeing his woman, or his herd of women, somehow appearing to be sexually available to other men?
And this war was not a necessary consequence of human nature, but of men's nature. Men need to transcend their violent natures, and women are there to remind us, and make us think. Those 48 women on a hillside in Clare had a practical objective in their protest. - Yours, etc.,
ALAN REPKO,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.
Madam, - So Kevin Myers believes cheap oil "is actually worth having a war about". The implications of this statement are far too dreadful to even consider. - Yours, etc.,
MARK DONEGAN,
Sallins,
Co Kildare.