Sir, – Since the outbreak of the crisis in Ukraine, The Irish Times has published several letters questioning the moral authority of the United States being involved in seeking a resolution. American military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is usually cited as the reason for their objections.
However, I have yet to read any mention of US participation in the last war that took place on European soil. I am of course referring to the 1990s Balkans war that followed the breakup of Tito’s Yugoslavia.
During the entirety of that conflict, Europe sat on its hands while its Serbian neighbours carried out horrific acts of ethnic cleansing.
After years of bloodshed, it took a US-led Nato bombing campaign of Serbian military positions to bring an abrupt end to the war.
It should be pointed out that the United States had neither strategic nor economic interests in the Balkans. Afterwards Bill Clinton said his only regret was that the US did not intervene earlier.
The perceived rights or wrongs of US participation in previous conflicts should not preclude them from doing what is morally right in the present situation. – Yours, etc,
JOHN BELLEW,
Paughanstown,
Dunleer,
Co Louth.