Letter: If we do not help, Bosnia's blood will be on our hands

Sir: Europe keeps telling us that the situation in Bosnia is so complicated. Your leading article today reinforces this extraordinary position. For more than two years the evidence of aggression against the territory and peoples of Bosnia has been overwhelming, complete with television coverage of concentration camps. A major European city has been held under siege, millions have been turned into refugees and tens of thousands of women have been raped. In all this, the main burden has fallen on the most significant Muslim community in Europe. Is this the source of the complication?

While the Clinton administration has at least shown some interest, the British and the German governments give the impression of abandoning peoples they do not really consider to be part of Europe.

If Britain and other European countries could support military action against Saddam Hussein, with a million-strong, battle-hardened army equipped with weapons of mass destruction, what military, let alone moral, reason stands in the way of collective action against the aggressors in Bosnia?

Faithfully yours,

JOHN STRAWSON

Lecturer in Law

Faculty of Social Studies

University of East London

Dagenham, Essex

12 September