Letter: Just and unjust war

Sir: Mark Steel appears to attack my reporting on Kosovo when he asks where were The Guardian's "war-mongering front pages of earlier this year, such as those by Jonathan Steele". He implies The Guardian is turning a blind eye to Chechnya and that the "liberal bombers" who advocated military action against Milosevic should be advocating war against Yeltsin today.

The Guardian has carried numerous pieces on the plight of Chechen civilians. In recent days I have regularly denounced Yeltsin's war on Chechnya. But, appalling though the war is, any notion that Nato should intervene by force to try to stop it would be madness, and possibly a prelude to World War Three.

Mark Steel is also wrong to call me a "bomber". From the spring of 1998, when it was clear that Milosevic's forces had launched a campaign to destroy Kosovar villages and displace their people, I repeatedly advocated a ground operation to save them.

JONATHAN STEELE

The Guardian

London EC1