Sir, - To those who prefer the "piratical venture" to the "just war" analysis of NATO's Kosovo campaign, we should demand straight answers to two simple questions: (a) Do you agree that the murderous brutality of Serbian fascism had to be resisted?
(b) If so, what alternative strategy would you have deployed to achieve such an effect?
From John Pilger, Noam Chomsky, Vincent Browne and John de Courcy Ireland we have heard only stock responses ranging from the US world-domination fantasy to the military-industrial complex conspiracy theory, through the Rwandan diversion all the way to the preposterous attempt to actually shift blame for Serbian atrocities on to NATO. These are the rhetorical flailings of the student debater and reflect an outdated Cold War prejudice towards supporting the little guy over the big guys, even when, as in this case, the little guy is a racist cut-throat hell bent on mayhem and slaughter.
Thank God for Kathy Sheridan and Fintan O'Toole; she for portraying the human catastrophe so vividly on the ground, he for so trenchantly analysing the criminally muddled responses of the appeasers. - Yours, etc., Bert Wright,
Hillside, Dalkey, Co Dublin.