Letter: Truth in warfare

Sir: Dr Nigel Franks, of Bath University, is quoted as saying 'military propaganda naturally lies' ('A show of force in the colonies', Science, 3 May).

There is nothing natural in propaganda that lies. Richard H. S. Crossman served as director of political warfare in the political intelligence department of the Foreign Office during the Second World War. After 1942, Crossman wrote later: 'We returned in the end to the conclusion that, even by the strictest standards of military expediency, the most effective weapons for demoralising a totalitarian enemy are truthfulness and integrity.'

Yours sincerely,

A. CHABLO

Oxford

4 May