Madam, - We, the undersigned staff at NUI Galway, wish to express our support for the students who have written a public letter in opposition to the recent visit to the university by the US ambassador.
Ambassador Thomas C. Foley was invited by the student law society. In a previous post, the ambassador was sent as a representative of George Bush and Dick Cheney to implement privatisation in Iraq under the Coalition Provisional Authority.
In that capacity, he assisted in a war in which it is now estimated that over one million Iraqis have been killed, the majority women and children.
Of course many more have died as a result of the occupation, from food shortages, pollution from uranium and other toxic weapons, lack of clean drinking water and medicines.
The culture, heritage and environment of Iraq have been devastated and oil and other resources of the Iraqi people have been stolen for the profit of private corporations.
Many people have also been raped and tortured by US forces while others have fallen victim to the US "rendition" policy, in which Shannon Airport plays a role. This has led former US President Jimmy Carter to comment recently that the US is now a torturing state.
The majority of people in Ireland have been with the peoples of the Middle East against the occupation; we have been through this ourselves in past centuries.
The ambassador has spoken of how Ireland and the US share the same foreign policy goals. What are these goals?
Bombing people into democracy? Forced privatisation? The imposition of market values in our universities? We always welcome visiting students from the US. But we are shocked that the student law society should invite Ambassador Foley - as we were when it invited the Israeli ambassador last year - and we are glad to add our names in support of those students who have opposed the ambassador's visit. - Yours etc,
MAGGIE RONAYNE, TADHG FOLEY, SINÉAD NÍ FHAOLÁIN, KIERAN O'CONOR, JOHN WADDELL, National University of Ireland, Galway.