Madam,–Having read Mr Neil Kenealy ’s letter (April 2nd)carefully a number of times, I can only conclude that he didn ’t read my letter of the 31st at all.
In that letter,I argued that it was the lack of integration in the global economy rather than globalisation itself that contributed to the rise of Islamic terrorism and that the solution lay not in the kind of military action which the Americans took in Iraq, but rather in addressing the underlying issues which give rise to terrorism.
Specifically, I argued that to defeat Islamic terrorism we must work for a just and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinian people, remote prosperity in the region by encouraging trade between the nations of the region and between the Arab world and the West and encourage the development of democracy and human rights especially greater rights for women.
This position can hardly be characterised as a simplistic "good versus evil "argument. My argument is in fact,
informed by the United Nations report on Arab Human Development of 2002 which was prepared by a distinguished panel of Arab experts.
As to the quotation about "draining the swamp in which the terrorist hides ", it comes, as I said in my letter, from a speech which Chris Patten recently made in Dublin.
The solutions I propose are based, not on the writings of Richard Perle, but on the distinctive policy approach adopted by the European Union and ably articulated by Chris Patten and our own Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen.I do not believe that an external solution can be, or indeed should be imposed on the Arab world; lasting reform in the Arab world can only come from within.
However, I do believe that Ireland and Europe can and must assist the process of reform. We can provide practical assistance in the form of expertise and grant aid, but more importantly we can offer increased access to the
single market to those nations willing to embrace real economic, social, and political reform.
I have travelled extensively in the Middle East; I have a profound respect for the achievements of Islamic civilisation and no little affection for the Arab people and their Turkic and Iranian neighbours. I object to Mr Kenealy 's attempt to slot me into his limited world view of goodies and baddies. As he said himself, the problems of the Middle East
are far more complex.–Yours, etc.,
EOIN RYAN, Dáil Éireann, Dublin 2.