JOHN T. KAVANAGH,
Sir, - Fintan O'Toole (Opinion, September 24th) has once again exposed the hypocrisy and double standards of US administrations in their dealings with Saddam Hussein over the past two decades.
No less hypocritical is the stance now taken by their favourite European poodle, Tony Blair, who appears to have reinvented his pre-election promise of a "new ethical dimension to foreign policy" - a policy which failed at the first jump when General Augusto Pinochet arrived on his shores.
For too long the international policies of the so-called great powers have protected the tyrants of the world, being based on the principle, "Maybe he's a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch". - Yours, etc.,
JOHN T. KAVANAGH, Braemor Road, Dublin 14.