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Balkan ghouls

Thank you for Helle Dale's Op-Ed column "Balkan ghosts" (Wednesday).

I agree with much of Mrs. Dale's argument, but at the same time take exception to two points.

Like many other foreign policy analysts, she has used the following cookie-cutter statement: "horrendous war crimes committed by all sides."

This simple statement detracts from the validity of her work. It is a cardinal rule of effective journalism not to paint all groups with the same brush. By referring to "all sides," she could be seen to be allocating war crimes equally among the three main ethnic groups, even though it may not be her intention to do so. For the unaware reader, Mrs. Dale is painting a misleading picture.

It may be true that both the English and Germans committed war crimes in World War II, but it must be stressed that what the Germans did from 1939 to 1945 was incomparable in terms of numbers of victims, horror and brutality.

Therefore, as a responsible journalist, Mrs. Dale owes it to your readers to mention that according to the International Criminal Tribunal, more than 90 percent of the murders, rapes and tortures were committed by Serbian forces. This was also noted by the CIA.

As for Mrs. Dale's argument that Croats forced the ethnic Serbian minority to flee: This, too, is disputed by fact. Serbian leader Milan Martic ordered his residents to leave before the Croatian push for liberation.

ALAN NEMARIC