Afghan deaths
From Mr Oliver Kamm Sir: John Collins (Letters, 2 March) dissembles in his defence of Noarn Chomsky's claims of several million casualties of US action in Afghanistan. Chomsky was indeed referring to those allegedly facing starvation rather than those killed by bombs, but he explicitly depicted mass starvation as a conscious outcome of US policy: 'Plans are being made and programmes implemented on the assumption that they may lead to the deaths of several million people in the next few months . . very casually, with no comment' (speech at MIT. 18 October 2001).
This preposterous judgment was offered without evidence and in apparent wilful ignorance of the United States's documented support for the relief efforts of UN agencies. Since then, the bombing campaign has greatly assisted the delivery of aid to Afghanistan by removing from power the theocratic fascists who for years had been expropriating it. Oliver Kamm
Hove, East Sussex
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