Sir, – This crime against humanity by the Assad regime in Syria, aided and abetted by Russia and Iran, cannot be ignored, and the perpretators involved must be brought to the International Court of Justice to answer for this horrific atrocity.
Otherwise the flagrant violation of human rights, such as we are witnessing in Syria and elsewhere in our world, will become the brutal but acceptable norm through which states will act with impunity either against their own people or other states, and the charter of international human rights which defines our common humanity will be consigned to the dustbin of history. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BUTLER,
Malahide,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Matthew d'Ancona suggests that but for "sanctimonious procrastination" caused by memories of the Iraq War, the UK could be part of a righteous western military effort to confront the regime of Bashar al-Assad ("Don't expect the west to act on Syria's latest horror", Opinion & Analysis, April 8th).
He’s also on record as agreeing with Tony Blair’s claim that, after 9/11, “the kaleidoscope has been shaken”. He approves with the former British prime minister’s belief, according to d’Ancona’s own words, that “the conflicts of the future were going to be very different, some of them pre-emptive in character”.
It must surely have occurred to Matthew d’Ancona that if Britain and the US had not attacked Iraq then Syria might well not be where it is today? And if the West is to go charging gung-ho into yet another major Middle-Eastern conflict then, as with Iraq, the unforeseen consequences may be as many and grotesque as post the 2003 invasion? – Yours, etc,
JOE McCARTHY,
Arbour Hill,
Dublin 7.