NATO Bombing in Serbia

A couple of years ago, thousands of Serbian civilians in Belgrade demonstrated every day against the autocratic rule of Slobodan Milosevic. The U.S. government chose not to actively support their aspirations because of its concern about the stability of the Bosnian peace agreement. The Clinton administration believed that Milosevic was crucial to the stability of the region.

Now, the same civilians in Belgrade are being bombed day and night by American military might because of Milosevic’s policies. The Albanian refugees are not the only victims of U.S. miscalculation. Average Serbian families in Yugoslavia are also innocent victims of the same U.S. miscalculation. They include many of my relatives, who have always viewed America as a beacon of hope and decency.

DRAGUTIN M. ILICH

Los Angeles

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Re “Muslims Flood Toward Bosnia to Escape Atrocities,” March 30: I have for some time wondered why the Western news media have said so little about the reactions from leaders of Islamic nations to Serbian attacks on Muslims in Yugoslavia.

Surely no one with even a casual knowledge of Middle Eastern history could assume that Islamic leaders have decided to adopt the Christian principle of turning the other cheek, granting that such an ideal has rarely much influenced Christian behavior, either. But recent years have seen much fiery denunciation of Israel, the United States and other Western powers.

But what then is the explanation for the apparent Islamic quietude about the outrages being perpetrated by Milosevic?

STEVE ALLEN

Van Nuys

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Is there any possible way that both our general foreign policy and specifically the disaster in Kosovo could be in any worse shape than it currently is? What a pity that so many lives are being lost solely to save face and assuage egos. I have heard it argued that either diplomacy or prostitution is the world’s oldest profession. I fail to see any difference.

BILL DAVIS

Calabasas

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The things the Serbs are doing in Kosovo, scorching villages, massacres, forced relocation of innocent people to Macedonia, etc., are reminiscent of what Uncle Sam did in Vietnam. Only Uncle Sam did much more, such as carpet-bombing after making up a Gulf of Tonkin incident, massive spraying of Agent Orange that killed the forests, cattle and humans, devastating the environment on a massive scale. There were perhaps hundreds if not thousands of unreported massacres by U.S. soldiers, like the massacre in My Lai. Now Uncle Sam is playing the good guy for a change. Times have changed.

STEVE S. LAU

Huntington Beach