Dear Sir,
FOR fear of being called a cynic, one cannot help but wonder at the decision by 17 Partido Popular councils on the island to suddenly make a complete U-turn to now be against the Iraq war. A few weeks past, they were all silent on this issue, or war advocates. Can it be that they are seeing popular opinion (95% of the Spanish are against this war) eroding their chances of election? Surely it cannot be the pictures unfolding of women and children being killed or maimed as the war progresses. Anyone with an ounce of intelligence would have known this would happen with American bombardment, etc. The letter in the Majorca Daily Bulletin last week from Ms Courtney-Lewis, calling on a stop to protests and a call for aid collections, really have nothing to do with each other. The democratic right to peacefully protest is what democracies stand for, and aid to repair the damage caused by the US/UK break from UN to take action unilaterally, are not connected at all. Anyway, when the shooting stops and the dust settles, I am sure those who advanced this war (a bit one-sided at best) and aid required, will have no difficulty in being financially recompensed from the oil wells of Iraq which has the fourth largest deposits in the world. Cynical? I think not. As Sir Humphrey of Yes, Prime Minister aptly put it: A cynic is what an idealist calls a realist.
Yours sincerely,
Graham Phillips
Palma