The first casualty of war
ONE OF the first causalities of war in this country is always the radio-listening public. As soon as there is any hint of strife anywhere in the world radio listeners in this country duck for cover knowing that we are about to be bombarded with some whingeing, hectoring type from Trocaire lecturing us in advertisements so bad they put the ad industry to shame. And it's difficult to put those boys to shame.
Justin Kilcullen, the head of Trocaire, has now taken the lecturing to the pages of the Irish Times on whose letters page he has set himself as an expert on American foreign policy. Now the Irish are fairly good to give to charity and we don't really need anti-American lectures from members of the charity industry to encourage us. If anything, Justin's thoughts on weapons of mass destruction and his challenging of, "those who, through political and military actions, break international law and condemn millions of people to misery" is likely to alienate much of middle Ireland, Trocaire's market.
The Shannon peace-camper types don't in general have huge disposable income from which to give to Trocaire. But in referring to "those who condemn millions to misery" in his latest anti-US missive, Justin can't just have been referring to the Yanks, because they have already saved thousands of lives simply by being in Iraq.
So perhaps what Justin is doing is lumping the US in with corrupt regimes and dictators around the world. This kind of frightening moral equivalence between democracy and dictatorship suggests that Justin has difficulty knowing right from wrong. I know I won't be giving to Trocaire again.
Brendan O'Connor
