Madam, - Philip Donnelly (January 2nd) continues into 2004 what appears to be becoming a tradition in The Irish Times of eloquent polemics against critics of President Bush, seen in previous letters and in the columns of Kevin Myers and Mark Steyn.
As usual, the straw man is set up to be demolished. Opposition to President Bush's dishonest, diplomatically inept, ill-prepared, resource-consuming, tangential leap into Iraq is portrayed as "the peddling of anti-American hatred", and left-wingers are accused of holding out Saddam Hussein as their "great white hope". Spare us, please!
Of course I'm pleased that Saddam Hussein has been captured; whether it was worth that little lad losing his arms, or the thousands of Iraqi civilian and hundreds of American troop deaths is a judgment I'm not qualified to make.
No doubts for Mr Donnelly, though, as the put-down of the straw man is followed by the usual triumphalist flights of fancy with talk of President Bush "finishing the job" in his next term.
Which "murderous psychopaths" are to be overthrown next? Syria? Iran? Saudi Arabia? I'd love to believe that Bush's way will beat terrorism (God knows we have to beat it), but I'm afraid that there's likely to be more truth in the words of that well-known anti-American Howard Dean:
"There is a global struggle under way between peace-loving Muslims and this radical minority that seeks to hijack Islam for selfish and violent aims, that exploits resentment to persuade that murder is martyrdom, and hatred is somehow God's will.
"The tragedy is that, by its actions, its unilateralism and its ill-considered war in Iraq, this administration has empowered radicals, weakened moderates, and made it easier for the terrorists to add to their ranks."
And finally, I may not wave a placard, but I hope Saddam is given a fair trial. That's the point about human rights - we all have them. They're only a joke to people who can see nothing wrong with the obscenity of Guantanamo Bay. - Yours, etc.,
MICK NOLAN, Roveagh, Kilcolgan, Co Galway.