In an otherwise well-written and reasonable commentary on Europeans’ reactions to America’s military actions, Elizabeth Scanlon Thomas uses a poor example to prove her point (“Europeans blanch at U.S. muscle,” Commentary, March 17). She tells of how English people used to fear going into the center of London in December because “it was packed with holiday shoppers and that was the IRA’s prime time to get in some good bombing.”
She also refers to the IRA’s bombing of school buses, how some Americans have funded the IRA and that these actions should make us want to cry.
She goes on to say that, “England has never bombed Ireland in retaliation.”
While certain actions taken by the IRA are deplorable, there isn’t enough room in a year’s worth of Sunday papers to print the stories of cruelty and injustice done to the Irish people by the English government, stories that would make people seethe with anger let alone cry.
So to Thomas, I would say there are better examples to prove her point–especially on St. Patrick’s Day.
