Abscam Scandal

To the Editors:

What concerns me most about the Abscam revelations [Feb. 18] is not so much that some of our elected representatives were caught scrambling to get their hands into the cookie jar. It is far more disturbing that I no longer feel a sense of shock at their clownish, unethical antics.

Helen M. Emery Granby, Mass.

What gives the FBI the right to bribe Congressmen with the taxpayers' money?

Martin J. Rimm Longport, N.J.

Your excellent story states: "The judge was tipped by the FBI before he was approached by the plotters" (with an offer of a $250,000 bribe). Should not the FBI have given the same notice to legislators?

John Costello Red Bluff, Calif.

They actually flushed out a politician who refused a bribe. He deserves sanctuary on the endangered-species list.

Sterling Thomas St. Louis

Solzhenitsyn's Warning

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was chillingly correct in his warning to the West of the Soviet threat [Feb. 18]. It can happen here. Meanwhile, Vietnamese are drowning trying to escape in boats, Cambodians are starving at the hands of the government, Afghans are being subjugated, and the Soviets are taking over African nations. All this is being carried out in the name of antiprofit and freedom from the "oppressive" bourgeoisie.

Norma Powell Hyattsville, Md.

So, Mr. Solzhenitsyn, crying eloquent crocodile tears over Afghanistan and Eastern Europe, would attribute it all to 63 years of evil Communism rather than old Russian imperialism. The fact is that for some 800 years the Russian state and its people--in search of ports, good lands, natural resources and "defensible borders"--have been "liberating" others at every possible opportunity. Communism has merely provided the Soviets with a new banner under which to march.

Igor Bobrowsky Upper Montclair, N.J.

Instead of dismissing Solzhenitsyn again as a paranoid alarmist, we Americans must open our eyes, harden our bodies and brace ourselves for confrontation.

Bill de Gutierrez-Mahoney Hanover, N.H.

What can the West do? How can we prove we are strong short of starting a third world war? I agree that Communist aggression must be stopped, but where do we draw the line?

Bob Bridgeman Camden, N.J.

The Great Non-Debate

You refer to Senator Edward Kennedy's frustration in attempting to engage President Jimmy Carter in a face-to-face debate [Feb. 18]. Could it be that he fears an open discussion will verify his abysmal failures with inflation, rising unemployment, excessive interest rates and foreign policies? He may be enjoying the haven of the Rose Garden, but can he survive the thorns?

Daniel M. Zamorski Colts Neck, N.J.

During times of crisis, the captain belongs on the bridge and should not be running around the ship debating with a braying jackass.

George B. Elliott North Reading, Mass.

There is absolutely no doubt that if President Carter were going around the country politicking and debating, Senator Kennedy would be leading the pack in attacking him for not remaining at the White House to take care of the crises and the nation's business.

Geraldine Gibbs Toledo

A Vatican City of Sport?

TIME'S suggestion that the Olympics be held permanently in Greece, Sweden or Switzerland [Feb. 11] is an inspired idea. It is worth adding the very significant offer by Greece to create a neutral Olympic territory--a kind of Vatican City of pure sport--administered by the I.O.C. or United Nations. This would seem to go a long way toward answering the objections regarding Greece's membership in NATO or possible political instability. And why not a permanent home for the Winter Olympics in Switzerland, the nation of all nations in the world with truly neutral international politics?

Paul M. Muller Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Weakness in Unity?

As a divinity student, I am dismayed by the continuing efforts of U.S. Protestants to create one united church [Feb. 11]. It is one thing to agree that the church is the body of Christ. It is quite another to impoverish that body by stressing uniformity and compromise. In 7 Corinthians, St. Paul writes: "The body does not consist of one member, but of many." One united church would be weaker than a group of churches expressing the Christian faith in its authentic diversity.

Zalmon Sherwood Geneva, Ohio

Incident in Guatemala

Your coverage of the recent tragic incident at the Spanish embassy in Guatemala City, titled "Outright Murder" [Feb. 11], leaves much to be desired.

Just how an embassy can be "peacefully occupied" by persons bearing "machetes ... pistols and Molotov cocktails" may elude some of your readers. Also, some of the 34 "Indian peasants" to whom you refer, including the occupiers' leadership, were in fact students from our national university (Universidad de San Carlos) who, on this and other occasions, have sought to further their own political objectives by cynically exploiting campesino grievances. In panic or by design, one of the occupiers threw an incendiary device that ricocheted off a metal window grille, thereby engulfing the room in flames. The ensuing deaths were caused by burning or suffocation, not by police bullets. Who murdered whom?

In retrospect, the use of force was admittedly premature, and is being thoroughly investigated by my government. On the other hand, as events in Iran have demonstrated, failure to act can also carry a horrible price tag.

Doroteo Monterroso Ambassador of Guatemala Washington, D.C.

Animal Rights

I beg to differ with your headline "In Manhattan: Mink Is No Four-Letter Word" [Feb. 18]. It is a four-letter word to humane-society workers and to the tens of millions of animals that are cruelly trapped or "ranched" each year in the name of fashion and vanity. Those in the humane movement are more than "passersby [who] mutter about cruelty to animals." We speak loud and clear: Animals have rights too!

Cynthia A. Branigan New York City

Whose Ancestor?

Your Science subheading, "Still, the monkey-like creature was our ancestor" [Feb. 18], implies fact. The theory of evolution is just a theory. If you want to claim this beast as your ancestor, be my guest. My relatives were much better looking.

Thomas G. Colling Liverpool, N. Y,

No Choice, No Freedom

All right, America fought for France's freedom, as Reader Wagner said in her letter [Feb. 18], and Frenchmen are not likely to forget it. But does this mean France is no longer allowed to hold an opinion of its own? Surely if there is no choice there is no freedom, and it was not to dictate to France's mind that the U.S. freed our society, was it?

Michel Taille Avrille, France

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