Different standards

MICHAEL JOB wonders if he is “missing something” in comparisons between US and Iraqi insurgent treatment of captives (Irish Examiner letters, June 30).

He is. Mr Job seems to think the insurgents are simple amateurs whereas many of them are trained mercenaries.

The comparison is obvious. Nobody condones the ill treatment of prisoners, but the difference is that when Allied military personnel transgress they are held accountable and, if found guilty, sentenced to terms of imprisonment and their actions condemned.

Perhaps Mr Job can tell us where was the condemnation by Islamic fundamentalists of the torture and beheading of the likes of Ken Bigley and the abduction and murder (presumably) of Margaret Hassan, who had devoted 30 years of her life to the well-being of the Iraqi people?

Cliff O’Hanlon

Kilconnor

Shanballymore

Mallow

Co Cork.