Taoiseach shouldn’t give shamrock to terrorists
Recently we have been seeing further images of the British army perpetrating sadistic acts of brutality on Iraqi youths, and further revealing acts of barbarism and state-sponsored terrorism carried out by the Americans in Iraq.
Surely the two most glorified terrorists on the planet now come in the guise of George Bush and Tony Blair.
They attacked Afghanistan to secure freedom for the people of that country and to rid the world of the Taliban.
Well, the USA and Britain certainly achieved freedom for minorities; in this case the poppy growers, who have re-cultivated their crops to feed the drug habits of the western world.
They did not succeed in their second aim either. Bin Laden is alive and well and corresponding via video release with the Western media on a regular basis.
The Bush regime is torturing people in its Guantanamo Bay gulag and throughout the world through extraordinary rendition with the assistance of a number of governments within the EU, and his good pals in the UK.
They toppled the despot Saddam Hussein in Iraq and freed the Iraqi people from his cruel thugs.
However, they replaced one torturer with another, introducing their own particular brand of brutality to subdue the Iraqi people, including sensory deprivation, religious desecration, sexual assault, buggery and rape.
It is to our shame that our Government has facilitated the smooth passage to the Middle East of these American war criminals and thugs via Shannon, with such consummate ease.
It would no doubt be revealing to undertake a statistical comparison of the death count in the Afghan and Iraqi adventures with those murdered under the previous regimes.
No doubt An Taoiseach will once again lead the pilgrims to Washington, carrying the bowl with one hand and an ingratiating pat on Bush’s back with the other. This act of homage sullies our national emblem. Mr Ahern should be made aware that St Patrick used the shamrock for the glorification of God and Christian ideals.
To present the shamrock to this warmonger is an insult to the memory and lofty ideals of St Patrick in the same way as the depiction of the Prophet Mohammed in the Danish cartoons are to the Muslim world.
Joe Harvey
Thorndale
Letterkenny
Co Donegal
