Sir, - Having listened to Hamide Latifi, a Kosovar Albanian journalist, last week, I was overwhelmed by her horrific accounts of oppression, systematic rape, forced sterilisation and mass murder being inflicted on her people by a systematic genocide organised by Milosevic and his agents. Kosovar Albanians who were present felt that any response, even by NATO, was justified and right in the circumstances.
I have no problem in calling this genocide real evil and the "if only" response is totally inadequate in the circumstances. Something must be done here and now to save these people from further repression.
However, the NATO total war response is also an evil and cannot be called good in any way. It ignores international law, and even the Geneva Conventions which were developed over centuries to lessen the evil effects of war, especially on non-combatants. The only moral principle I reluctantly rely on to sort out a saving response for the Kosovar Albanian people is that of the "lesser of the two evils" principle. The greater evil is the genocide of the Kosovar Albanians and at present the lesser but growing evil is the war-hungry NATO response.
A nuclear-armed army can have no place in the resolution of conflict and oppression in our post-Cold War era. The development of a rapid response UN force for real peace is the way forward and should now be developed and expanded. - Yours, etc., Brendan Butler,
Pennock Hill, Swords, Co Dublin.