IN reply to Chris Wrigley (Letters, June 1) who said Tony Blair was a coward if he supported the air attacks in Serbia and Kosovo, disregarding the safety of refugees, I would suggest the decision to carry out the air campaign was more of a move for diplomacy and discretion.

The war was waged to try and get hundreds of thousands of Kosovars back to their homeland.

Many were murdered, raped and had their homes burned by Milosevic's henchmen who were targeting only civilians, unlike NATO who tried to target strategic objects,

Unfortunately, some innocents were killed in the raids. This was regrettable but Mr Wrigley seemed to think ground forces were the way to deal with the situation.

Did he believe the bombing would have ended? - Not likely; many more soldiers on both sides and more civilians would have died in a land battle.

Coward is a strong word. Since he wrote, peace has been achieved. Maybe Mr Wrigley should rethink his choice of words.

K SOWERBUTTS (Mr), Southwood Drive, Baxenden.

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