Should we welcome a champion of freedom or sun a warmonger?
Parts of two counties, Limerick and Clare, have been effectively shut down and those who do get through the lines have been told to expect up to four hours added to their journey time for security checks. It's madness.
Why wasn't the president flown into Knock airport where there wouldn't have been the same level of inconvenience?
Helen Flannery,
Holycross,
Bruff,
Co Limerick.
KATHERINE FITZPATRICK (Irish Examiner letters, June 25) believes that people in Ireland should stay quiet on human rights abuses, and on war, when these involve the United States because we need to be more 'grateful' for US investment. I disagree.
It is a fundamentally amoral position to take on war and human rights. Can our silence be bought by economic investment? Where would such an attitude, if consistently applied, lead us? Would we have tacitly supported apartheid if the old South Africa had invested heavily in this country?
Secondly, US investment came to Ireland because there is money to be made here and because Irish workers are skilled, well-educated and hard-working. American investors and businessmen are primarily interested in profits, and that is why they are here.
Finally, the anti-war movement is not anti-American: it is opposed to the policies of the US government. In fact, there is a huge anti-war movement within the US itself and many members of Anti-War Ireland are Americans living in Ireland who are disgusted by the actions of the Bush administration. When we gather in Shannon town centre this evening, it will be to unwelcome George W Bush because of his persistent warmongering.
In no sense will it be an anti-American demonstration.
Dr Fintan Lane,
Convenor,
Anti-War Ireland,
2B Miller's Court,
Cork.
THE motley collection of anti-Bush zealots protesting against the visit, let there be no doubt, would be organising similar protests even if Iraq had not been liberated by the international coalition in 2003.
Astute observers will recall the opprobrium that was visited on the US by the usual suspects when the US routed al-Qaida out of Afghanistan after the tyrannical Taliban regime allowed that state to become, in effect, the HQ for the commencement of the Islamofascist war on the First World.
I do not recall any protests against either al-Qaida or the Taliban in the years immediately prior to September 11; against the USSR when that country illegally occupied Afghanistan, and a succession of other states for decades the despotic regimes in China, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Cuba, etc.
The lesson is clear as far as these professional protesters are concerned: if your government is socialist, communist or Islamofascist, no protest or dissent will ensue from that quarter.
If, however, you have a capitalist, non-secular, anti-terror and anti-crime administration, the full, unyielding and anti-democratic force of disingenuous media-driven agitation will descend on you, and your supporters, ad infinitum.
In much the same way as Ronald Reagan is now being posthumously feted for dismantling the tyrannical Soviet machine in the 20th century, the likelihood is that the Bush dynasty will eventually be commended universally for standing up to the new tyranny of the 21st century Islamofascism.
Thank you, George Bush, and welcome.
Eoin McMahon,
Northumberland Road,
Dublin 4.
AS a war criminal, George Bush should not be welcomed in Ireland. He should be arrested for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
World leaders must have the courage to take this step. Until this happens, the death and destruction daily endured by the people of Iraq and Afghanistan will continue. Our political leaders remind us of the money that the US provides.
That is a prostitute's view. But every day that Ahern, Harney and co aid and abet Bush's war effort they are complicit in his war crimes.
Bush launched an illegal war of aggression based on lies.
This campaign has included indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas (Fallujah, Baghdad) in violation of article 51 of the Geneva conventions.
Bush ordered the placing of prisoners beyond the protections afforded prisoners of war by the Geneva Conventions. The rape, beatings, torture and humiliation of these prisoners violates the United States army field manual regarding the treatment of prisoners.
In addition, such treatment violates article 16 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The only WMD in use in Iraq is the depleted uranium used by US forces. It contaminates soil, water and air.
Mr Bush, like Hitler, has made the world unsafe, and he threatens to plunge us into a greater war. All who planned and executed this war must be held accountable.
In 1967, Martin Luther King said: "The greatest purveyor of violence on the planet... is the government of my country." It remains true.
Paul Meuse,
1, Belgrave Place,
Wellington Road,
Cork.
YOU would think that a person who was xenophobic, homophobic, who didn't believe in the freedom of the press, who stymied all opposition and who allowed attacks on the minority population would incur the wrath of the left, but the silence regarding Robert Mugabe's atrocious reign has been deafening.
I wish I could think of an alternate reason for this, but the only one I can come up with is that unlike President Bush, or Sharon, Robert Mugabe happens to be black.
John McKee,
Damer Court,
Upper Wellington Street,
Dublin 7.
ACCIDENT and emergency units are full to overflowing, patients spend days lying on trolleys in packed corridors and waiting lists, despite the hollow promises made by the Government when buying the last election, have actually worsened.
Yet a unit of Limerick Regional Hospital can be freed up in the off-chance of it being needed by a man who is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans, and who will be in Ireland for 18 hours this weekend.
What a great country we live in.
Denis Hurley,
Kilbrittain,
Co Cork.
I LISTENED with interest to the news announcing the opposition of a senior clergyman and the written opposition by over 100 lawyers, including prominent barristers, to President Bush and to his visit here.
The opposition being expressed by the senior clergyman to the visit contrasts greatly with the silence regarding the carnage visited on innocent victims by the IRA in our country, north and south. Their silence also regarding the call for the release of the vicious IRA gang that murdered Detective Garda Gerry McCabe, and in relation to other atrocities, is truly deafening.
I'm sure also that law-abiding citizens will reassured that in order to police the protest groups, the remainder of the country is being denuded of gardaí.
Who will benefit most from the remainder of the country being left to the criminal fraternity? If offenders are apprehended, I'm sure some of the aforementioned lawyers and barristers will be willing to defend them, possibly on the free legal aid scheme.
Sinn Féin's opposition to the visit is too laughable for comment considering their track record.
The media always seem to place great emphasis on the numbers taking part in protests. In a democracy the majority decide who should carry out their wishes, but we never hear a news report that three or four million Irish people did not take part in a protest in Shannon, Dublin or wherever. Maybe it is not considered newsworthy to be a law-abiding member of the community.
Anthony Fagan,
Bellefield Road,
Enniscorthy,
Co Wexford.
