Galway Advertiser 2003/2003_12_18/GA_1812_E1_038.pdf 

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38 N E W S

Galway Advertiser

December 18 2003

Alt.com
BY JEFF O'CONNELL

Cleaning up the mess
hose who opposed the campaign to remove Saddam Hussein and his odious regime, whose opposition now takes the unpleasant form of latching on to any and every setback to the post-Saddam reconstruction of Iraq, are an odd bunch. The fact that things are going well in the Kurdish areas and the Shiite south of the country, that even in the socalled Sunni triangle, taking in Baghdad, considerable progress is being made, is minimised or ignored. When the less-than-spectacular demonstration against Bush during his recent visit to Britain includes a reenactment of the toppling of Saddam's effigy, only with Bush being pulled off his plinth instead of the captured Iraqi president (it's estimated that more than 1,000,000 people were killed during his long reign), you begin to wonder if those who could organise such a cheap bit of street theatre have lost the plot altogether.

CHRISTMAS SERVICES IN THE CITY CHURCHES - 2003
The Mayor of Galway, Cllr. Terry O'Flaherty, Members of the City Council and Officials of the Corporation will attend Christmas Mass at 10pm on Christmas Eve in Galway Cathedral celebrated by Most Rev. James McLoughlin, Bishop of Galway. CONFESSIONS CONFESSIONS Wed 24th (CHRISTMAS EVE) 11am - 7pm

CHURCH
Cathedral

CHRISTMAS MASSES
Christmas Eve: Vigil 10pm celebrated by Bishop James McLoughlin Christmas Day: 8.30am, 10am, 11.15am & 12.30pm NO EVENING MASS Christmas Eve: 5.30pm Children's Mass Vigil 9pm (Adult Choir) Christmas Day: 9.30am, 11am & 12.30pm NO EVENING MASS Christmas Eve: Vigil 9pm Christmas Day: 9.30 & 11am & 12.15pm Christmas Eve: Children's Mass 6pm Vigil 8pm Christmas Day: 9.30am, 11.30am & 12.30pm Cluster Penitential Service (Mervue, Ballybane, Renmore & Oranmore Maree) Mon 22nd 8pm Christmas Eve: 6.30pm & 12 midnight Christmas Day: 9am, 10.30am & 12 noon NO EVENING MASS Christmas Eve: 12 midnight Christmas Day: 11am Penitential Services: Sat 20th 4.30pm Mon 22nd 7.30pm & Wed 24th 4.30pm Christmas Eve: Childrens' Mass & Christmas Pageant 6.30pm, Vigil 10pm Christmas Day: 10.30am & 12 noon Cluster Penitential Service, Mervue Church - Mon 22nd 8pm Christmas Eve: Vigil 7.30pm Christmas Day: 9.30am & 11am Christmas Eve: Vigil 7.30pm Christmas Day: 11am Christmas Eve: Vigil 8pm Christmas Day: 8am, 11am & 12.30pm Christmas Eve: Live Crib Mass 5.30pm, Vigil 10pm Christmas Day: 9am (Irish), 10.30am & 12 noon NO EVENING MASS Christmas Eve: Children's Mass 7pm Vigil 9.30pm Christmas Day: 10.30am & 12 noon Christmas Eve: 6.30pm & 12 midnight Christmas Day: 10am & 12 noon Christmas Eve: 6.30pm Family Mass Vigil 10pm Christmas Day: 9.30am, 10.45 (Children's Mass) & 12 noon with choir Christmas Eve: Children's Mass 6pm Vigil 9pm Christmas Day: 10am & 12 noon Christmas Eve: Vigil 8pm Christmas Day: 9.30 & 11am Christmas Eve: 12 midnight Christmas Day: 7am, 10am, 12 noon EVENING MASS 5pm Christmas Eve: 7.30pm & 12 midnight Christmas Day: 10.30am & 12 noon NO EVENING MASS

Tue 23rd

T

11am - 12 noon 2.30 - 5.55pm

Christ the King, Salthill

7 - 8pm

10 - 11am 2 - 2.30pm 3 - 3.30pm 4 - 4.30pm 11am - 1pm 3 - 6pm

Church of the Sacred Heart Holy Family, Mervue

11am - 1pm 3 - 6pm 10.30am - 11.30am 7.30pm - 8.30pm

Bush and Saddam: a moral equivalance? You've got to be joking. There are a number of things about the US government's foreign policy which are open to serious criticism, and the unwillingness of the US military to make much attempt to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people (compared to the British, who do seem to be much better at this sort of thing), . But that the Middle East is a much better place now that Saddam and his mob are gone is not even open to debate. Likewise in Afghanistan. Anything is better than what was there previously. But, as with Iraq, opponents of the war that toppled the Taliban and chased Al Quaeda out of the country, seem to take a perverse delight in any setbacks or signs that, after decades of war with the Soviet Union and then the grotesque rule of the Taliban (no soccer, please, and women in black bags), that country has not been magically transformed into a smoothly functioning democracy. Iraq is an even more extreme case. Christopher Hitchens laid his finger on the key factor in the postSaddam reconstruction of the country: "Try to imagine seeing his face on your front page every day for three decades, and hearing that voice and seeing that face every time you turned on the radio or TV. Try to imagine being unable to escape from it when you went to the opera, the cinema, the theatre, or the football. For millions of Iraqis under 35, this indoctrination started at infant school, where lesson one was that Big Daddy was supreme, and could do what he liked to you or your family. Just the mention of the name was enough to bring a look into the eyes of almost any Iraqi: the look of a broken dog that is once again shown the whip." That's why there is something very distasteful in the way certain journalists, such as Robert Fisk, the Independent's Middle East correspondent, appear to positively relish bad news from Iraq, while left-wing writer Tariq Ali dignifies the gang of ex-Baathist security and police members and free-floating Bin Ladenists as the Iraqi `resistance', as if they had anything in common with, say, the French Resistance opposition to the Nazi occupation of France during World War II. The fact that eight months after the end of the war Iraq is still (!) not a smoothly running democracy is somehow taken as proving the war to oust Saddam was an enormous mistake. Well, we'll see. But you can be sure if there are more attacks on Coalition troops and on Iraqis attempting to get their country up and running, Fisk, et al, will continue to declare the whole thing an enormous cockup. Comparisions can be illuminating: Hitler's Third Reich lasted only 12 years, yet it took several years before Germany rejoined civilisation after its immersion in barbarism. Is it really surprising that after three decades of terror, physical and psychological, Iraq has not suddenly been transformed into a model of parliamentary democracy? The wonder is, so much has been achieved in such a short time. With the capture of Saddam, things can only get better. And once the ousted Iraqi dictator is put on trial by his countrymen and ordinary Iraquis begin telling their stories of torture, imprisonment without trial, and the murder of friends and family, perhaps those who opposed the war to oust will change their tune. But wouldn't hold my breath.

Resurrection, Ballinfoyle St. Augustine's

6.30 - 7.30pm 8 - 8.30pm 11.30am - 12.30pm 3 - 4 pm

Before & After 6.30pm Mass 11.30am - 1pm 3 - 4pm

St. Brigid's, Ballybane

6 - 7pm

5.30 - 6.30pm

St. Columba, Castlegar St. Peter & Paul's, Coolough St. Francis, The Abbey St. Ignatius

11am - 12 noon 7 - 8pm 7 - 8pm 10am - 6pm
except during Masses

11am - 12 noon 3 - 4pm 3 - 4pm 6 - 7pm 10am - 6pm
except during Masses

4 - 5.30pm 8 - 9 pm

11.30am - 1pm

St. Joseph's

11.30am - 12.30pm 10.30 - 11.30am 3.30 - 4.30pm Penitential Service Mon 22nd 9pm

11.30am - 12.30pm 10.30am - 12 noon 10 - 11am 5 - 6pm

St. James' Bushypark St. John the Apostle, Knocknacarra St. Oliver Plunkett, Renmore Army Church, Renmore St. Mary's, Claddagh St. Patrick's

After 10am Mass

10.30am - 12 noon 2 - 3pm

12 noon - 1pm 4 - 6pm 12.30 - 1.30pm 6.30 - 7.30pm After 7.30pm Mass

10.30am - 12.30pm 3 - 5pm 7 - 9 pm 10.15 - 11am 1 - 2pm 6.30 - 7.30pm