THE EDITOR, Sir:
AS I watched The BBC news report recently and seeing Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House in the U.S. and third in line to the Presidency, looking bewildered while speaking of Spain's stated intention of withdrawing their troops from Iraq, describing it as "appeasement of terrorist" and expressing his disappointment about the Spanish electorate removal of the government of the day, I could not help but be amused.
We have in Haiti a bunch of criminal rebels, some ousted in 1994 by the very same U.S. forces, along with a complicit Opposition that terrorised the country in an attempt to remove a democratically elected government. Despite various initiatives, the opposition and criminal rebels held steadfastly to their position that an elected leader must go.
The U.S. did not attempt to resist the terrorists. They simply appeased them and 'escorted' Mr. Aristide to safety in some far-flung region.
Where is the vigilance against terrorism? Where are the principles that are necessary in this war against terror?
What Mr. Hastert obviously finds painful to accept is the wisdom of the Spanish electorate to peacefully, through the ballot box, remove from office a government that did not respect the wishes of the people. They too think, along with most of the rest of us, that the war in Iraq has no relation to the vaunted 'war on terror'.
The U.S. has not lost a partner in the fight against terror, only an accomplice in an unjustified war and, like in Haiti, a partner in an unprincipled foreign policy.
I am, etc.,
ANTHONY BARROWS
St. Catherine
