Letters: Aug. 16, 1982

• Share

To the Editors:

I support the Iraqis in the Iran-Iraq war [July 26] because Iraq is keeping Iran at bay. Iran is a country that is being ruled by a man whose goal is to have his own "Islamic Empire." Iraq is helping to prevent this horrible vision from engulfing the entire Middle East.

Matthew McCarthy Suffern, N. Y.

It's odd to know that the U.S. is siding with Iraq while an ally of ours, Israel, has been helping Iran. Iraq has been a friend of the Soviet Union, and Iran has vowed that it will "destroy" Israel. The Soviet Union is now aiding Khomeini against Iraq. I am dizzy.

Don Costa Gibbsboro, N.J.

The War in Lebanon

I am Jewish and a supporter of Israel, and although I have long despised the P.L.O.'s tactics, I find the present situation in Lebanon [July 26] totally incomprehensible. It strikes me as bizarre to kill and wound countless numbers of women and children in order to get the 6,000 terrorists safely loaded on a bus bound for Syria or parts unknown. I suspect that if Menachem Begin were a surgeon, he'd kill the patient and save the cancer.

Burl Prelutsky Santa Barbara, Calif.

In the past few weeks, I have read as much misguided, uninformed bellyaching from P.L.O. supporters as I can stand. If the P.L.O. were as concerned about Lebanese casualties as it would have us believe, why then does Yasser Arafat insist on hiding his troops in the midst of innocent Lebanese civilians? In doing so, Arafat knowingly puts these people in jeopardy and shows that he is willing to sacrifice them to carry out his terrorist activities.

Patrick Downs Altamonte Springs, Fla.

Don't send a peace-keeping force of U.S. Marines to Lebanon. The arrival of the Marines is sure to cause a new dilemma, and the action will provoke the Soviets. Meanwhile the P.L.O. will sit back and watch. The Israelis are capable, and they are the masters of this war. Let them be in charge to the end.

Arye Dagani Whittier, Calif.

TIME'S interview with King Hussein was most notable for the questions not asked: Why did King Hussein drive the P.L.O. out of Jordan, with perhaps 3,500 or more killed, when he appears to be so sympathetic to them now? Why didn't the King do something about establishing a Palestinian state when he controlled the West Bank?

Milton Maidenberg Marion, Ind.

World's Economic Woes

In the story on the global slump [July 19], your economists did not stress the fact that huge expenditures on arms around the world, except in Japan, are absorbing the productive capacity of nations. President Reagan is right about cutting domestic spending: the upward spiral had to be stopped. But replacing it with an arms race is madness.

Florence M. Timmons Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

You state that environmental protection groups "have helped create a regulatory atmosphere that has been hostile to industrial growth." Is it not a fact that economists' avoidance of any long-term consideration of the planet's renewable and nonrenewable resources has resulted in cyclical economic "recessions" and the current debacle? Perhaps a dose of environmental planning combined with an economic development strategy would create a more stable climate for sustainable growth.