ISN’T it interesting how President Bush and his increasingly desperate sounding supporters like Irish Voice columnist John Spain don’t dare talk about those mythical weapons of mass destruction anymore in seeking to justify Bush’s disastrous war in Iraq?

Now, of course, Bush’s backers, such as Mr. Spain, try to claim that the “justification” given all along for this unprovoked invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation “can be found in the vast mass graves” and other atrocities of Saddam’s rule. They want us to simply forget all the original justifications given to us for why we had to attack Iraq. 

All that endlessly propagated pre-war stuff about Saddam posing such a grave, imminent threat to America with his supposed nukes, poisonous gases and ties to al-Qaeda has been largely flushed down the Bush propaganda machine’s memory hole because it all turned out to be a bunch of politically-concocted bull. 

And so Mr. Spain was unintentionally half-right when he stated in his column in the May 26-June 1 issue that the Abu-Ghraib torture scandal “in no way negates the reasons why the U.S. intervened in Iraq in the first place.” 

Abu-Ghraib is actually irrelevant to that issue. What really “negates” the officially-stated reasons for the U.S. assault on Iraq is the fact that those reasons were revealed to be a lot of lies. 

But the horrifying revelations regarding Abu-Ghraib and its attempted cover-up does prove one thing yet again – that all these self-proclaimed crusaders for democracy in the Bush administration are nothing but shameless, cowardly hypocrites. 

Yet, Mr. Spain, like so many other right wing commentators chooses to ignore this blatant hypocrisy, this very obliviously cynical misuse of human rights as a cover for Bush’s ruthlessly Realpolitiks agenda. That’s what’s so galling about Mr. Spain’s willfully ignorant, ridiculous attack on the international anti-war movement as having been the ones who “remained silent during the decades of Saddam’s butchery.” 

It was not peace activists who supplied Saddam with the components for the gases he used to exterminate the Kurds, it was European and American corporations who did it while their respective governments looked the other way. 

It’s not a peace activist shown warmly shaking Saddam’s hand in that infamous 1980s newspaper photo, it’s then-envoy Donald Rumsfeld sucking up to Saddam on behalf of the Reagan administration. 

And many of those mass graves that Mr. Spain mentions in his column came about as a result of Bush Senior coldly turning his back on the mass anti-Saddam uprisings that took place at the close of the first Gulf War because the aristocratic, anti-democratic Bushies preferred and elitist military coup to a possibly controllable popular revolution. 

It’s Mr. Rally-Round-the-Flag Spain, not the anti-war Irish media or activists, who seems like he “never grew up,” assuring us all that we can “trust America to do the right thing in the end.” 

Yeah right, like the U.S. did in Vietnam, where it left behind a war-ravaged wasteland so saturated with bombs, landmines and chemical toxins that people there are still dying from that conflict 30 years after it officially ended. 

Kevin O’Neill

West Babylon, New York

Memorial Mass for Carvill

THE board and staff of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center would like to thank all who participated in the Mass celebrating the life of our friend and colleague Frank Carvill.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Frank’s family. We know his unflinching generosity and good humor touched their lives as it did ours, and his loss will leave a void in all of us. 

We are especially thankful for the presence at the Mass of our immigrant chaplain Fr. Colm Campbell and Ireland’s Consul General Eugene Hutchinson and his wife Adele. Once again, as they have done in so many ways, they showed their concern for the well-being of our community.

We are mindful that many could not make the Mass. The many organizations that have benefited from Frank’s work have scheduled a memorial Mass to honor him and his life at Holy Trinity Church, 213 West 82nd Street, New York, N.Y., on Sunday, July 11 at 5 p.m. We hope all who knew Frank, and thus benefited by his presence in their lives, will join us then.

Brian O’Dwyer

Chairman, Emerald Isle

Immigration Center

Woodside, New York

Carvill: One of a Kind

MY name is Sergeant First Class Tom Falconer. I have known and worked with Staff Sergeant Frank Carvill in the New Jersey National Guard for over 10 years. 

Everything that was reported about Frank in the article “Irish Hero Dies in Iraq” (June 9-15) was 100% accurate, except one thing. The article stated, “In one of the many cruel twists of fate in the Carvill family, he died on the day he had been scheduled to ship home for leave. Carvill was supposed to be flying home to New Jersey on Friday, but another serviceman had to take leave for family reasons and Carvill was forced to remain.” 

Yes, Frank was supposed to come home on leave, but he was not forced to stay. True to his character, Frank volunteered to give up his leave time so the other soldier could go home and take care of his situation. 

Frank always placed others above himself without question. If you tried to refuse his generosity or repay his kindness he would protest. If you insisted, he would protest more until you gave in and accepted his gift. 

Frank epitomized selfless service with unwavering consistency. He had a unique way of convincing you that you agreed with him and had no choice but to accept his offer, even if you truly did not. 

I have never known before, nor do I expect to know again, anyone with such devotion to making sure others are taken care of and happy. He was a true NCO, always placing his soldiers’ concerns above his own.

Thank you for the wonderful story about Frank. I am sure he would be pleased.

Thomas R. Falconer

Hopatcong, New Jersey

The Real Reagan

RONALD Reagan was the paymaster for three terrorist armies — the Contras in Central America, the Unita group in Africa and the Holy Warriors of Afghanistan.

In Central America his policies led to the deaths of an estimated 100,000 Catholics. Among the terrorists trained on his watch was Osama bin Laden.

I would say the Irish Americans who cheer him have a conscience limited to the unborn, and a viewpoint which holds American lives sacred but the lives of others as expendable.

Robert A. Schauder

Flushing, New York

Welcome, President Bush

LET me identify myself. I am a Bronx Irish Catholic. Yes, the Bronx — home of Democrats for generations, and yet there are many of us who welcomed and would welcome again President Bush and the first lady.

I am a person with Co. Clare roots. So I take issue with Cormac MacConnell, who is opposed to the visit of President Bush to Ireland. Mr. President, you are indeed welcome to the Banner County and wherever else you travel in Ireland.

In short, we have a president who is trying to follow Christ, and is not ashamed of doing so. He proclaims his Christian faith.

I wish our Catholic, pro-choice, pro-gay marriage politicians would do the same. Letter writer Mike Murphy of Chicago would really be upset if instead of denying the sacraments to those terrible politicians, the bishops and priests proclaimed from the pulpit not to vote for these fakes.

John P. Dillon

Bronx, New York