Crusade against Nazis was fully justified

I read with fascination the letter by Bernard Wijedoru, (South China Morning Post, March 4). His premise is that wars are the inevitable consequence of capitalism and, therefore, the Axis and Allied powers were equally responsible for causing World War II.

He feels that war crimes tribunals should have been established to judge the Allies and that it may not be too late to establish such tribunals.

I disagree strongly with Mr Wijedoru. If ever there was a moral war, and with the benefit of hindsight there have been few moral wars, the crusade by the Allies against the Axis powers was fully justified.

It is apparent to all of us that the present world, dominated by the liberal democracies, is not perfect. Nevertheless, the prospect of a 21st century world dominated by a victorious Nazi Germany and a militarist Japan is chilling. In the world today there are a few states which equal the Nazis and the Japanese military in barbarity, intolerance and inhumanity, but they do not dominate.

It is important, in a free society, that people like Mr Wijedoru are permitted to state their views regardless of the fact that they contradict the mainstream. I have been disappointed by the decision of my own government in Australia to refuse entry into the country of persons publicly refuting the existence of the Nazi's industrialised murder of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, Slavs and other dissenters.

We need to hear periodically from the people who deny those events, and Japanese atrocities such as the Rape of Nanjing, so that our society can be reminded of the need for vigilance internally and externally to ensure they can never happen again.

GREG WILLIS Mid-Levels