Sir, - In accusing me of "repeating mendacious propaganda", Mr Feighery (May 7th), overlooks the basic flaw in his argument. While Martin Bell may be very good at his job as a reporter, he is no more an expert on ballistics, shell crater and shrapnel patterns, and the type of wounds caused by different explosive devices than I am. We both rely on the evidence produced by the military experts, and it is just a question of whom one approaches for the information, and how far one is prepared to dig to get at the facts.
Not only do I stand by my statement of April 29th, but I would draw Mr Feighery's attention to the book by the late President Mitterand L'Annes des Adieux, in which he says that UN Secretary General, Boutros Boutros Ghali, had stated on several occasions that he could not, for high political reasons, publish a report of UN experts on the market massacre, but Boutros Ghali did tell him that he was convinced the market incident had been a "Muslim provocation". Furthermore, French journalist, Bernard Volker, who was the only one to report that Muslim troops were responsible for the crime, was heavily censured by his colleagues, only to be fully rehabilitated later on.
Regarding the programme, The Death of Yugoslavia, already shown on BBC, the Irish viewers, like their British counterparts, will be aware that the recorded interviews have been heavily edited, and that many events have been glossed over, if not completely ignored. It makes for good viewing, full of drama and emotion, but as a piece of serious historical contribution to the understanding of the Yugoslav tragedy, it has little value. - etc.,
Serbian Information Bureau,
Hermitage Lawn,
Rathfarmham,
Dublin 16.