Sir, - I have read with incredulity recent articles and letters in your paper which argue for a cessation of NATO's military action and for maintaining an Irish stance of neutrality. Once more we are pretending to hold higher moral ground than other Western states and to care more for the Kosovans than they do while at the same time we do nothing to save them from the Serbian campaign of genocide. This is unfortunately in keeping with our shameful policy of neutrality. During the second World War we denied asylum to Jewish refugees and proceeded to sign the book of condolence for Hitler. In 1994 our Government failed to press for military intervention in Rwanda as one million people were butchered in 100 days. We did nothing to stop ethnic cleansing in Bosnia - indeed, we opposed the air strikes on Serbia which made some sort of settlement possible. Now we proclaim our neutrality as thousands of Kosovans are ethnically cleansed.
Instead of arguing for an intensification of the bombing and preparing for the use of ground troops, we somehow conjure up the view that the objective is to stop the war rather than to bring justice to the people of Kosovo. We delude ourselves by believing that NATO's actions are a cause of the problem rather than recognising that Milosevic is a propogator of ethnic hatred and genocide who would have pursued this path anyway. We fool ourselves into believing that Milosevic, a war criminal, can be trusted to keep his promises when history teaches us that he breaks his word consistently and that a viable settlement must involve his defeat.
In the face of all we have learned this century, how can we stand idly by? How can we be so hypocritical, uncaring and immoral? How can we fail to choose sides between Milosevic and an alliance of Western democratic states acting from a mixture of altruism and concern for European security? The truth is this: an early end to this war will mean victory to Milosevic and despair for the Kosovans. Victory (terms at least as good as Rambouillet) will come at a price but, given the lessons of the 20th century, it is one we should be willing to pay if we really mean it when we say: never again. - Yours etc., Tom Wright,
Wolfson College, Cambridge, England.