Sir, - Heartiest congratulations to Martyn Turner on his most appropriate cartoon (The Irish Times, September 8th). The clear criticism of the sale of armaments by the UK government to Indonesia is richly deserved, and the hypocritical parallel between that same policy and decommissioning in Northern Ireland is quite properly drawn.
I have no recollection of Slobodan Milosevic and the Serbian people being asked for their permission to allow ground forces to enter Yogoslavia or, indeed, to consent to the mass bombing of their country. It would seem that the principles which were so recently applied to Kosovo, where Christians were killing Muslins, will not be applied to East Timor, where Muslims are slaughtering Christians. Are we to accept that where you happen to be standing at any particular time will determine whether or not your life is worth saving?
I await the imminent announcement by the UN War Crimes Tribunal, in keeping with its rapid indictment of President Milosevic, that President Habibie of Indonesia has been similarly indicted.
Because of the similarity between both sets of circumstances, failure to take such action must provide Slobodan Milosevic with a most favourable argument in his defence. That is, if he ever appears before the tribunal, which I'm beginning to doubt. A case of making fish of one and flesh of another, maybe? - Yours, etc.
W.G.A. SCOTT, Friars Hill, Wicklow.