Letters
What's needed for Northern Ireland
Responding to your May 9 editorial "Decision time in Ulster": If Northern Ireland is ever to leave behind its violent and troubled past, there must be a full accounting of governmental and security force misdeeds, just as there has to be a full accounting of murderous acts by paramilitary groups - loyalist and republican.
All sides of the conflict carry secrets that make for disturbing reading. But only the truth and full truth is a basis for a new security. Only the truth will force the warring parties to let go of the jaded shibboleths that have retarded the growth of a viable and inclusive democracy.
Sir John Stevens, commissioner of metropolitan police, is investigating the allegation that elements of the British government security apparatus in Northern Ireland engaged in acts of collusion with loyalist paramilitaries. A full public inquiry into collusion might take place.
An inquiry would certainly require full access to the Stevens report before it could reach publicly acceptable conclusions of its own. It is better to reveal fully the findings of the Stevens inquiry, either as a complete document in its own right or as evidence in the course of court prosecution. Then we will all better understand the history of Northern Ireland.
John O'Day
Forestville, N.Y.
To characterize Sinn Fein as the political wing of the Irish Republican Army is to miss the reality of a political party which has demonstrated its commitment to democratic process and peaceful change.
Additionally, it is the IRA that is faulted; there is no indication of the existence of unionist paramilitaries and the violence these forces perpetrate against the nationalist community.
The North now moves into "the marching season." One can only hope that the level of violence against nationalists by unionists is not exacerbated by Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision to bow again to pressure by David Trimble and the Ulster Unionist Party.
The situation in Northern Ireland would be very different today if, in 1998, the Nobel Peace Prize committee had also recognized Gerry Adams's contribution, and the contributions of Sinn Fein, to the peace process.
Virginia Davis
Portland, Ore.
David Sterritt's May 16 review "Ready for a Neo world order?" is the first I've seen to hint at what is the largely ignored premise of "Matrix Reloaded": More than a religious story, I believe the Wachowski Brothers - the film's creators - uncovered the totalitarian nature of capitalist society.
The wool is pulled over Neo's eyes in the first "Matrix" to hide the truth that humans are just a source of energy - what does that attest to other than the role of the laborer in corporate society? We are entertained and distracted by television, film, and video games, but it's an illusion of the "real": spiritual fulfillment, sense of connectedness - things that cannot be purchased.
John Nicholas
Olympia, Wash.
Regarding the May 16 article "This is your parents' rock 'n' roll": The woman I went to the 1969 Woodstock with became my wife. I took my young children to the 1989 Woodstock reunion and to the Saugerties Woodstock.
My daughter took my wife to Lollapalooza and I took my son and his girlfriend to see the Rolling Stones. We all saw Cracker, Spin Doctors, Elvis Costello, Metallica, and James Taylor together.
So it goes.
Gus Acevedo
Jackson, N.J.
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