Letter: End it now

End it now

Sir: What is going on here? Nato started this war with three worthy aims: ensuring the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia in order to avoid the certainty of a wider Balkan conflagration should the KLA's goal of independence for Kosovo be achieved; restoring a degree of autonomy to Kosovo, to diminish support for the independence movement; and preventing the flight of refugees that would result from Serbia's prosecution of the war with the KLA.

Unfortunately but predictably, the Nato bombing campaign unleashed the Serbs to pursue all-out war with the KLA and triggered what is arguably the worst humanitarian crisis in post-war Europe.

The original goals have now been forgotten, and self-preservation and an affirmation of Nato's relevance in the post Cold War era have taken over. A ground victory must be achieved. The KLA has become the instrument of that victory, and Nato has become what it always protested it would not - the KLA air force.

A KLA victory in Kosovo will plunge the Balkans into decades of violence, making the flood of suffering humanity of today seem like a mere trickle. The US will wash its hands of it, and Europe will be left alone to bear the consequences.

This must end before it is too late. We have to stop the bombing and negotiate an equitable solution with the Yugoslavs, now.