YOU DON’T WAIT FOR THE BIG WIND TO THATCH YOUR CABIN

Dear Editor,

There has been much frenzied commentary and analysis in the international media, especially business and economics publications, about the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites.

Economists warn of the direful consequences for the world economy, with oil prices soaring; increased instability in the Middle East and the Gulf region, and a major global recession that would diminish us all. Many of these articles conjure up an impression of Israel as a paranoid nation that is eager to let loose against its enemies.

But surely you’re not being paranoid when what you fear is real? The Iranian regime has repeatedly expressed the view that Israel should be wiped off the map, that it should cease to exist.

The same regime has sponsored the activities of organisations in other countries that are pledged to the destruction of Israel, including Hizbollah and Hamas. So when that regime is edging closer to enriching uranium, and therefore to the ability to produce nuclear weapons, is it not logical to expect that it will either launch a direct nuclear strike on Israel or arrange for a proxy terrorist attack involving a nuclear device?

The U.S. administration in recent days is said to be seeking a rapprochement with Iran, and to be less keen than previously on military action to prevent it acquiring nuclear weapons.

Does that scenario sound familiar? During World War Two, pleas to the Allied nations to bomb the death camps fell on deaf ears. Such action wasn’t deemed a priority in terms of winning the war. So the innocent Jewish men, women, and children continued to perish. I watched a documentary a few months ago on the Holocaust and a comment from a survivor who was interviewed really stuck in my mind.

He said: “If there had been a State of Israel in existence in World War Two, and if it had an air force consisting of only one plane, I believe that plane would have taken off to bomb Auschwitz.”

Because there wasn’t an Israel when the Nazis were committing genocide, the Jews were soft targets for them. Today, we have a regime in Iran that will never have to resort to death camps or any other form of labour intensive mass murder to achieve its stated aim of eliminating the Jewish State.

A nuclear attack could kill as many innocent people in a few hours as the Nazis murdered in the course of their entire “extermination programme”. That’s the downside of the present Iranian crisis.

The upside is that the Jewish people now have the means to defend themselves against another vile dictatorship that is bragging daily about the threatened upcoming destruction of Israel in fiery speeches and obsessive propaganda bulletins.

This time, hopefully, there will be no scenes of Jewish people being herded like sheep to the slaughterhouse. If a few Israeli jets and their pilots could be transported back in time, just imagine the havoc they could wreak on the murderous Nazis and their camps. That can’t happen. It’s just fantasy. But those planes can take off to disable or destroy Iran’s nuclear sites.

There is an old Irish proverb that says: “You don’t wait for the big wind to thatch your cabin”. Just as Hitler could more easily have been stopped if the Western nations had tackled his regime at an earlier stage, such as his re-occupying of the Rhineland in 1936, Israel has the potential to stop the Persian tyrants in their tracks.

Sooner has to be better than later. World recession, higher oil prices, increased political instability, further terrorist outrages. Not a pleasant prospect, but what a small price to pay for avoiding a second Holocaust.

Thanking you,
John Fitzgerald,
Lower Coyne Street
Callan,
Co. Kilkenny.

GOVERNMENT MUST HONOUR DEMOCRATIC VOTE

A dhuine uasail,

I have a message for An Taoiseach and Fianna Fail. It would be a mistake to think that we, the voters, ‘did not understand’ the Lisbon Treaty. Naturally, the legalese of the document itself was completely impenetrable: the ‘Information Leaflet’ we got through the door was staggeringly obscure.

No, we didn’t understand the legalese, but we could recognise a con when we saw one. No other country was to be allowed to vote on it.

What does that tell us? We also knew that it was virtually identical to the European Constitution that was being rejected by country after country until our masters hurriedly called off the scheduled elections. Cheer up, Fianna Fail!

Political parties have no role in a referendum. The power goes directly to the individual citizen. You had no right to be using your organisation to lobby either for or against. Referenda are on a completely different playing-field from regular party politics.

You forgot that to your cost. What we want is a partnership of independent nations. This has worked again and again in history. Enlightened self-interest produces plenty of checks and balances.

We do not want to find ourselves maneuvered into a faceless empire controlled by unelected Brussels bureaucrats, and a majority of Europeans now know that this is where they are trying to take us - in the small print, while trying to sell it as ‘the only way to prosperity’.

The undemocratic spirit is alive and well in the EU politicians who are still repeating that the Treaty cannot be re-negotiated. Oh yes it can, lads. Legally, it must be. We have played our honourable part and voted in a democratic way.

You must now accept the prior commitment to honour a democratic rejection. That’s what elections are for, remember? And no, we do not want to lose our Irish Constitution - without which there would have been no vote here at all.

Your sincerely,
M O Fearghail,
Loreto,
Sallybrook House,
Glanmire,
Co. Cork.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FOOTPATH?

Dear Editor,

I wonder if your readers are aware of the history of the stretch of road from Ballyarthur to Kilcrumper turnoffs Fermoy?

The old road had a sharp bend at the end of John ‘the yank’ Connell’s (O’Connell) farm building and a new road was realigned through Mr. O’Connell’s field which is what we have now.

The old road reserve boundary stone wall still stands and at the other side of the road was also a stone wall with a footpath next to it. This lot was all bulldozed away and landscaped to put back for agricultural use for Mr. O’Connell.

My point, short and sweet, is why a secure footpath was not incorporated in the new design? Was this progress in the early fifties? Up to that time, people from Cork Road walked on a footpath all the way to Kilcrumper, then hey presto the council takes out a dangerous bend and a safe footpath at the same time!

What were the council engineers thinking about at the time? Would county councillors Aileen, Kevin and the progressive lad from Glanworth plus ‘me cozzen Brian’ care to comment?

Believe me when I am at home it scares the living daylights out of me walking on this stretch of road/ footpath!

Yours sincerely,
Pat Power,
Avondhu and Zambezi .