To: John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia
Re: Death sentences delivered against two Australians found guilty of drug trafficking in Indonesia

Again, Mr. Howard, you seem to suffer from a basic lack of logic. You say, of the two Australians just sentenced to death in Indonesia: "In the case of two people, their lives could well be taken. You can't expect governments in other countries to take a soft view of drugs."

There are, you must agree, many sentences that fall well short of judicial murder that could not be classified as "soft." And yet you seem tacitly to justify and approve of the death sentences, even as you claim to oppose them.

You seem to want to have it both ways. And, may I suggest that when you say "you can't expect governments in other countries to take a soft view of drugs," you are not making sense. No one expects that. What you could say is that "governments in some other countries like to inflict draconian sentences on people as a way of reinforcing their tyrannous hold over their own citizens."

I fear, though, that not only do you lack the analytic abililty to see these distinctions, but also the courage to say this to some of our more murderous neighbours.

Sadly.