Madam, - In his Irishman's Diary of September 20th, Kevin Myers expresses great admiration for the courage displayed by average Americans who are prepared to enlist in the country's armed forces to serve overseas, putting their lives at risk in Iraq and elsewhere.
He sees their sense of patriotism as standing in direct contrast to those in Europe who show no appreciation for such a lofty sense of duty through their criticism of the invasion in Iraq and American foreign policy as articulated by the Bush administration.
Mr Myers is right to point out that many Americans are motivated by a deep and admirable patriotism, and are prepared to risk their lives for it. He is also right to decry inarticulate, naked anti-Americanism.
But patriotism, like strong human emotions such as love, can be blind. Are Americans - and there are a growing number of them - who oppose the war, rightly or wrongly, because they feel it debases those lofty principles which they feel America should and does represent, any less patriotic for so doing?
We do indeed owe a debt to America for its role in defending the world from the spread of Communism and rebuilding Europe's economy after the second World War. But there are many who might argue that past actions, no matter how altruistic or far-sighted, cannot be allowed to justify what they regard as the present folly. - Yours, etc,
NICKY DUNNE, Westmoreland Park, Dublin 6.
Madam, - One of the things I most love about my country is our heritage as a thinking and contemplative people, as manifested in our ancient monks, scholars, poets, and even druids.
That heritage should be evident in our patriotism, so I do not think it unreasonable to pose oneself some heart-searching questions on being asked to bear arms.
Should the duty we are told we have to God and the State take precedence over the qualms we feel inside about taking life?Isn't the core message of Christianity that suffering should be chosen over inflicting violence in any circumstance?
Patriotism can accommodate both men of action and the dreamers and thinkers. And I think perhaps our best contribution to the Western struggle for freedom would be as dreamers and thinkers (considering the size of our armed forces).
Tempering American force with a little European shilly-shallying might be a wise thing. - Yours, etc,
RO CATHAIN, IFSC, Dublin 1.