Western foreign policy is built on self interest and not on democratic values

‘He may be a son of a bitch but he’s our son of a bitch’ was an oft-used expression by the US military in the 1970s to explain their country’s support for the many brutal US-backed dictators then in power in Latin America.

Unfortunately, little appears different about the West’s role today in the Middle East. Both the US and Europe continue to arm and protect the most violent governments and regimes of that region, from Zionist Israel to Islamist Saudi Arabia.

At the same time, the US and Europe use massive violence itself with appalling consequences for the mainly Muslim citizens of the region. According to the British medical journal, ‘The Lancet’, the illegal Anglo-American led attack on Iraq in 2003 resulted in 655,000 civilian deaths by the end of the first seven years. This figure is now well over a million, and rising. However, that unpunished crime is long forgotten – by the West.

Also forgotten is that it is, almost exclusively, Muslim soldiers who are fighting and dying in the battle with ISIS while the West postures with high-altitude, high civilian-casualty bomb and drone attacks – in the process adding exponentially to Muslim grievances.

The repercussions of this have, until recently, been kept at a ‘safe’ distance. In the aftermath of Paris, Ireland finds itself again under pressure to abandon what remains of its neutrality and to assist, however indirectly, with the usual violent response.

If only the next government had the courage to represent the long-term interests of Ireland and Europe by highlighting the duplicity of former colonial powers. In so doing, it would redefine what it means to be ‘a good European’.

Billy Fitzpatrick

Ashfield Park

Terenure

Dublin 6W