Sir, - Whatever view we take of the current NATO operation in Kosovo, can we forever drop the phrase "ethnic cleansing"? We speak quite correctly of "murder" and "genocide" as crimes; they occur as real actions, which we judge to be criminal. There is no such action as "ethnic cleansing", because there is no human who is dirt; to use the phrase is already to adopt an arch complicity with the perpetrator, which undermines any intended condemnation. We can use "genocide" or "pogrom" unless and until we invent a more sadly apt expression. - Yours, etc.,
John Maguire, Red Abbey Street, Cork.