FRED Shawcross (BEN, August 10) takes an unfair advantage.

Not only was the letter about Hiroshima and Nagasaki that I sent to the BEN mislaid, but, as a columnist, he has much more space at his disposal.

To rectify this imbalance and to give me a proper right of reply, may I propose the BEN sponsors a debate between Mr Shawcross and myself on the motion 'That this House believes that the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki constituted a war crime'.

Neither of us, I am sure, would have difficulty finding seconders, and some prominent local cleric, councillor or educationist could be persuaded to be chairman.

CND is still a national organisation with an annual conference -- Bolton is sending three members to the one in September -- a regional office for the North-west in Manchester with a core of paid staff, and a very active civil disobedience wing, Trident Ploughshares.

Opposition to the use or threat of the use of nuclear weapons is based on international law as clarified in relation to nuclear weapons by the international Court of Justice.

Using an international law defence three Trident Ploughshares activists were acquitted by a Sheriff's Court in Scotland last October because the Crown had not answered their case.

For Catholics and Anglicans, in particular, international law is supplemented by the doctrine of the Just War.

Some 50 years ago, the prominent Catholic philosopher, GEM Anscombe, opposed the granting of an honorary degree by her university to President Truman on account of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Of course, many members of the CND, like myself, are pacifists.

My own pacifism is based on the impossibility of making a logical distinction between war and murder.

If one is horrified by the murder of a James Bulger, how can the killing of thousands of Japanese James Bulgers be acceptable?

Some 70 years ago Aldous Huxley pointed out that while throwing a baby on a fire was a terrible crime, throwing fire on a baby (as in air raids) was regarded as defensible.

I don't suppose the baby noticed any difference.

Malcolm Pittock

St James Avenue

Breightmet