Madam, - Bertie Ahern is a remarkable creature. His willingness to depict black as white is astounding and seems to know no bounds.
As an anti-war activist currently serving a 60-day sentence for peacefully opposing the misuse of Shannon Airport by the US military, I find it utterly bizarre to read in your edition of December 12th that Mr Ahern is once again attempting to portray himself as an opponent of the US war on Iraq.
According to Mr Ahern, he was in fact resisting the US war effort while allowing more than 115,000 American troops and their weapons to trundle through Shannon Airport in 2003.
Indeed, it seems that the anti-war movement always had Mr Ahern in its ranks, even as his Government militarised Shannon Airport and the courts sent anti-war activists such as Mary Kelly and the Catholic Worker Five to jail. It would appear that we simply misunderstood Government policy.
Obviously, this is nonsense. Shannon Airport played a direct role in the build-up to the invasion of Iraq and it continues to facilitate the US occupation of that country. In point of fact, it would not be unfair to describe Shannon as a significant cog in the US war machine.
In this context, Mr Ahern's crude attempt to incorporate the anti-war agenda is plainly ludicrous. How gullible does he believe the Irish people to be? - Yours etc.
Dr FINTAN LANE,
PRO, Irish Anti-War
Movement,
E Wing, Limerick Prison,
Mulgrave Street,
Limerick.