Sir, - The sub-text to Tadhg O'Sullivan's review (Books, July 18th) of Richard Holbrooke's memoir appears to be that outside intervention in the Balkans is wrong-headed given the depth of the "ancient ethnic hatreds" in the region. There is a marked reluctance in Ireland to concede the occasional necessity to treat with thugs on the international scene on the basis of diplomacy backed up by credible force. A recent example of this was the reaction to Kofi Annan's mission to Iraq. Hailed in Ireland as a victory for diplomacy over force, it was of course nothing of the kind. As the Secretary-General himself was at pains to point out, it was a triumph of diplomacy combined with the credible threat of force backing up that diplomacy - a course of action he recently advocated as a means of halting the spiralling war in Kosovo and achieving a political settlement.
The war in Kosovo - 200,000 displaced, reports of mass graves in the town of Orohovac - is not a manifestation of the aforementioned "ancient ethnic hatreds" thesis which O'Sullivan appears to endorse - a favourite mantra in the corridors of power as a means of avoiding involvement. Rather is it an inevitable consequence of the insistence on the part of the Belgrade authorities on responding to the legitimate political grievances of the Kosovars with brute force over many years - since 1912 in fact. But, as in Bosnia, the international community was required to play its second fiddle role in setting the stage for war: the dismissal of the Kosovar peace party at Dayton followed a year later by the collapse of the Albanian state led directly to the undermining of Rugova's pacifist policy and the arming of radical elements in Kosovo.
The case for intervention is now compelling both on purely humanitarian grounds and on any cold-blooded assessment of the wider political implications, too well rehearsed to repeat here. The legal pretence for non-intervention is paper-thin, as illustrated in Noel Malcolm's superbly documented history of Kosovo. The real reason for hesitancy on Kosovo is political - the fear of jeopardising the status quo in Bosnia, etc. Yet, paradoxically, this fear is more likely to be realised without some kind of diplomatic intervention backed up by force. Acquiescence in the face of Milosevic's continued adventurism is simply exciting the Blut und Erde merchants in Belgrade and threatening to resuscitate the 60year-old programme for the forced expulsion of the Kosovars (incidentally, a programme supported at the time by Ivo Andric - Mr O'Sullivan please note!). - Yours, etc., Peter Walsh,
Ireland Action for Bosnia,
Heathervue,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.