TIM SPALDING
Madam, - Minister Willie O'Dea draws attention to the level of US investment and the number of jobs dependent upon this investment. Perhaps he could tell us how many dollars or how many Irish jobs does he consider an Iraqi life to be worth?
He also draws attention to the Belfast Agreement and the US role in its negotiation. Might I remind him of the fourth paragraph of the declaration of support which states "we reaffirm our total and absolute commitment to exclusively democratic and peaceful means of resolving differences on political issues, and our opposition to any use or threat of force by others for any political purpose, whether in regard to this agreement or otherwise".
Perhaps the weasel word is "political" as it is clear that the US is only interested in this war for economic reasons, which is what Minister O'Dea also drew attention to as being his motivation for supporting the US.
Maybe he, and the rest of his Government are missing the point. This war is morally wrong. - Yours etc.,
TIM SPALDING Kerykeel, Co Donegal
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Madam, - So now we know the truth of the matter. Minister of State for Justice Willie O'Dea tells us that he is "unashamedly" on the side of the US and that "American investment accounts for tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands throughout the country". In other words, for the benefit of our economy, our Government is quite happy to help America slaughter thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians.
Bob Dylan once declared "money doesn't talk, it swears". How true.
Our neutrality is now exposed as a sham, and our democracy as an empty lie. Ireland is now a state driven by unfettered capitalist greed - and has finally shed any last vestiges of morality, decency and independence
I have never been as ashamed to be Irish as today. - Yours, etc.,
LIAM CARSON, Jones Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 3
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Madam, - Michael Higgins (January 31st) writes that the coming war is "simply about an American President not wanting to bury 3,000 people in a single day ever again."
Funny: I thought that was just what Bush was planning to do. - Yours, etc.,
BRIAN J GOGGIN, Stradbally North, Castleconnell, Co Limerick, Ireland.