Letter: Shame and sadness of Bosnia tragedy

Sir: Over the past year you have consistently advised courses of action in regard to Bosnia that have been clear, unambiguous and in my belief sensible. If adopted, they would have responded to the moral imperatives of the developing tragedy; and if adopted in good time, they would probably have limited the human suffering and the political damage.

Now it is too late. Your leading article today ('Another Palestine in the making', 25 May) and Andrew Marr's column ('We all share the shame of Bosnia's betrayal') in the same issue together deliver a stinging and justified judgement on the behaviour of the Western world. Dismay, yes. Shame, yes. Disbelief that we between us can have been so politically inept and so morally unprincipled. But above all, I feel very, very sad.

There are several aspects of British government domestic policy at the present time, and many aspects of British democratic backwardness, that make me angry. But in the case of Bosnia, the effect of Western (including British) pusillanimity and incompetence is simply an overwhelming cause for sadness.

Yours faithfully,

ANTONY DUFF

London, SW1