Phoney war won’t provide the answers

JOHN CLARKE writes (Irish Examiner, March 13) regarding the Madrid bombings that the terrorists show “no mercy, no compassion, no attempts to avoid harming the vulnerable like children or the elderly.”

This is the same attitude that those in power in Washington and London displayed towards Iraq.

When the Clinton administration was told that the US-inspired sanctions were resulting in the deaths of around 1,000 Iraqi children every month, they shrugged their shoulders and replied:

"We think the price is worth it." (Madeline Albright's words to the UN Assembly).

People in America and Europe now face a choice they can continue to allow their politicians to wage a phoney war on terror or they can seek to understand why people fly planes into skyscrapers and bomb train stations.

Michael O'Flynn,

7, Loretto Park,

Friars Walk,

Cork.