UN must stand up to US and British bullies
It has all the hallmarks of the actions of a bully: the blackmail being used is that those who want the Iraqi people to suffer no longer must cooperate with the bullies on the bullies' own terms or stand condemned for not relieving the misery brought on by the US and British-led invasion.
The answer must surely lie with the UN itself it must stand up to the US and Britain, insist on its own proper role and take over the helm from those who believe they are in charge of the world.
Lift the sanctions, yes, but also censure the two belligerent nations and their allies for having brought it into disrepute.
They must pioneer the humanitarian aid necessary for the elimination of diseases caused by "shock and awe", control the use of Iraqi oil for the Iraqi people until they are able to do so for themselves and insist that no immoral gains go to the warring nations who have perpetrated a disaster in the Middle East on a scale that they are now unable to manage.
Victory for a bully does not mean that the actions of the bully gain a moral value. It is quite the opposite: victory makes the aggression even more immoral as is happening now.
If we moan about our inaction in the face of other empire-tyrannies that clawed their way to power only gradually but ruthlessly, on pretexts that were at least partially plausible at the beginning, let us not now remain silent and impotent in the face of this new threat to world peace and justice.
The Irish Government has repeatedly told us that its first priority was the authority of the United Nations.
Let us hear how loud they cry in protest now that the body they so revere has been sidelined by two of its own members.
Justin Morahan,
71, Scholarstown Park,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.
