Conservative wars.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)

SIR: The rather slight contribution by Tom Switzer and Neil Clark (December 2005) contains some extraordinary comments on the Balkan conflicts of 1991 to 1995 which should not go unchallenged.

They write that "The Conservatives' refusal to take sides in the Balkans, in particular with the Bosnian Islamists" was "the proper Tory policy" and "as subsequent events have proved, the right policy too".

In my view, the British Conservative government's conduct during that conflict represents one of the most shameful and contemptible episodes in the history of British foreign policy. John Major, Douglas Hurd, Malcolm Rifkind, Michael Rose and the rest of the guilty men, supported by Labour under John Smith, stood by and watched the Serbian onslaught against Bosnia, the mass murders, rapes, concentration camps and the rest of the atrocities while mouthing casuistries about "not taking sides". Not that the other European countries were much better: the only attempts to ameliorate the conflict appeared to consist of various statesmen flying to fashionable resorts and issuing earnest appeals after genial dinners.

With the final American intervention and with Blair assuming office, the guilty fell silent, although several of them took to the pen to try to justify their pusillanimity. Margaret Thatcher, to her eternal credit, consistently spoke up throughout for armed intervention, and for her pains she was insulted and abused by both sides of politics.

Mass graves are still being discovered in Bosnia. "The proper Tory policy and the right policy too"?

Alan N. Cowan, Yarralumla, ACT.

SIR: Tom Switzer and Neil Clark prefer Neville Chamberlain Conservatives to Winston Churchill Conservatives. They prefer Scowcroft and Eagle-burger Republicans to George W. Bush Republicans. They state: "No strong operational links existed between the secular Iraqi tyrant and the. fanatical al Qaeda terrorists bent on martyrdom all over the globe."