Regards, Ivan
Posted on 04/06/2003 3:24:23 PM PDT by MadIvan
DEAR PRESIDENT BUSH,
AS ONE of the few Irish journalists to support your war against Saddam Hussein, I want to welcome you to Ireland. Although Iraq and Israel will dominate the public agenda, Sinn Fein will be privately told the score. Apart from that, you came to say thanks to the Irish politicians who stood by you in your hour of need. None of them are Northern nationalists.
Sinn Fein IRA loathes America, fondles Farc, and despises the useful idiots in the Irish-American community and the State Department whom it fooled for many years until it was recently found out. The SDLP, too, is no help. John Hume's speech in the House of Commons debate on Iraq was so hand-wringy that it was hard to make out what side he was on. And now Mark Durkan tells you he is "uncomfortable" and has "profound reservations" about your visit.
But you owe three people big. First, the Protestant people of Northern Ireland who provide most of the 1,500 men and women from the province serving in the Gulf, and most of the recruits to the Royal Irish Regiment and the Irish Guards (which also include some brave southern soldiers), bywords for bravery around Basra. Lt-Colonel Tim Collins, who composed a call to arms superior to any speech of Churchill's, is also one of "them".
Second, you owe David Trimble. As Tony Blair will tell you, Trimble made the best speech in favour of finishing off Saddam Hussein in the House of Commons. And at the Irish Association meeting in Trinity College last week, he again flatly told the anti-war audience: "We should have no doubt about the nature of the regime in Iraq. It is an anti-Semitic nationalist dictatorship."
Let's hope your State Department staffers (some of whom were a bit sucky to Sinn Fein in the past) point out Trimble's tough dig at Gerry Adams: "Because he has difficulty swallowing some of the core aspects of the agreement, it comes as no surprise to me that Gerry Adams and his colleagues line up with the Kim Jong-Ils, the Mugabes, and the Saddams - that is, with some of the worst regimes in the world."
Third, you owe thanks to a southern Irish nationalist. His name is Bertie Ahern and on Iraq he held his head (in his hands, sometimes, but held it) and kept your warplanes flying through Shannon in the teeth of an anti-war hysteria that seemed to suggest that we wanted Saddam to win. Trimble generously dismissed this suggestion in his Trinity speech.
"I don't believe that is what the Irish people want and I don't think that is the policy of the Irish Government. Not for the current Irish Government the gross, hilarious hypocrisy of Caoimhghin O Caolain's amendment in the Dail last week, calling on all states in possession of weapons of mass destruction to put them verifiably beyond use!"
Finally, you owe me. So just before you leave Belfast, tell the IRA's Republican Guard to disband or you will destroy them. Just joking, Mr President.
EOGHAN HARRIS
Regards, Ivan
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