Letter: A damning verdict on our generation

Sir: Your coverage of the Bosnian tragedy in today's Independent is admirable and necessary but the entire situation, and our pitiful response to it, needs to be placed in the appropriate historical context.

Future historians will shake their heads in utter disbelief that a so-called civilised Europe allowed such suffering of the innocents to go on so long. And this will occur while our children-scholars will be rewriting the history books that my generation was brought up on, and in which such great stock was placed on the principle of 'never again will there be genocide in

Europe'.

It will be perplexing for future generations to reconcile the availability of the greatest multinational concentration of military force in the history of the world - backed up by economic resources and capabilities - with what they will read about in these new history books. It is on this that our generation, and our leaders, will be judged. The verdict will be damning and shameful.

Yours faithfully,

MARTIN McCUSKER

Director, Defence and

Security Committee

North Atlantic Assembly

Brussels

28 October