When You Think of Ireland, Do You Think IRA?

The revelation that a group of medical doctors based in the UK have been fomenting plans of destruction and death is unsettling, however amateurish they may be. But how could otherwise decent, compassionate people...Why generally is there such anger in the Islamic world about the Americans and the West?

They are not all crazy, not all devoured by irrational hatred, not all mindlessly angry. They are incensed by what we - the West - are doing to counties where Muslims are in a majority, by our unconditional support for a state (Israel) founded and maintained by the brutal denial of the rights of Palestinians; by the invasion and despoliation of Iraq on a pretext to do with weapons of mass destruction but, in reality, to do with oil; the support of despotic regimes in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan; the continued threat to two other Islamic states, Iran and Syria...Does it not make sense to defuse that anger? All the more so when doing so also accords with the demands of justice? A familiar response is anticipated: that an amelioration of such anger "plays into the hands" of "terrorists", encourages them and others to threaten our "way of life" and our "freedoms" (all these parentheses do imply a scepticism of the underlying ideas - "terrorists", do they include those who drop bombs from the sky and order others to do so; "way of life" what way of life, one heedless of the rights and sufferings of others; "playing into the hands of terrorists" a linguistic cover for injustice; "freedoms", freedom to vote every five years, freedom of be poor and remain poor; "democracy" fine except when we don't like the outcome as in Palestine).

There is an example for dealing with "terrorists" which we know a little about here, which Britain should know about and which has worked rather well. Talking to them. Co-opting them. Meeting their demands for justice. It worked with the IRA, why not with the Islamic terrorists? All the tired arguments were deployed about not talking to the IRA. And those arguments seem a little silly now.

There is a way out of this awful mess the West has artfully devised: require Israel to disengage from all the lands it acquired in and since 1967; require Israel to disengage from Gaza and all the West Bank; establish and fund a new Palestinian state (the funding must be generous);

That was Vincet Browne writing (writing absolute dribble though).

Source

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I sent the paper this letter:

Victor Browne, among other reasons for his being rather upset with Western attitudes towards Muslims, includes the perceived thinking that, in his words, "'democracy' is fine except when we don't like the outcome as in Palestine" (July 4).

In other words, the fact that hundreds of millions of Euros have been embezzled by the Palestine Authority from the EU and other donor nations; that a coup d'etat has been done; that a civilian population is still under almost daily rocket attack; that the Gaza residents have accrued no benefit from their political leadership; that political opponents are tossed off high-risers; that there is no freedom of the press; and the litany goes on, should not influence in any way Western attitudes towards Muslim Arabs. Moreover, we should accept them totally as they are without making any attempt to help the suffering people from their oppressive regimes?

This orientation, no pun intended, seems to be woefully immoral, irrational and not helpful to anybody, the Muslims or the West.