Letter: Support for Nato

Sir: Nothing throws into sharper relief the uncertainty at the heart of Nato's war aims than the insistence on returning the refugees. After all, that is only reversing a consequence of the war. It cannot explain why we took up arms in the first place.

In theory, the answer to that is that Milosevic had to be forced to negotiate. But you can't force someone to negotiate. You can only force them to negotiate for less. Anyway, Milosevic was negotiating at Rambouillet. He just didn't accept the presence of Nato troops in Kosovo.

And so we went to war to make him swallow that. But what, realistically, is the difference between forcing Milosevic to accept Nato troops in Kosovo and just invading the place? Nato as a whole signed up to a strategy that amounts in practice to a carte blanche for invasion. Now it just has to hold its nerve.

NICK MARTIN-CLARK

London N17