Preventive strength

Munjed Farid Al Qutob's salute to Holocaust Day (Letters, February 11) is naive and shows an unawareness of modern history.

Atrocities such as those in Cambodia, Bosnia and Rwanda disprove his assertion that such high crimes will never occur again. It is not knowledge of such crimes that will prevent them (awareness of the destruction of the First World War did not prevent the Second), but rather other states having the means and the will to prevent them - however distressing this harsh reality is to liberal commentators.

Jonathan Oates
Middlesex