Israeli Attack

To the Editors:

In just a few minutes Israel did more for the nonproliferation of atomic weapons by destroying Iraq's nuclear reactor [June 22] than all the treaties have done in all these years.

Liviu Brill

Newton, Mass.

Why does an oil-rich country like Iraq need a nuclear reactor? Certainly not to produce electricity.

Berklee Robins

Fairport, N. Y.

Iraq's Saddam Hussein, who invaded Iran, isn't known for his peace-keeping efforts. For Menachem Begin this assault wasn't politicking, it was survival.

Marty Siders

Pacifica, Calif.

What if Cuba had a nuclear plant that produced fissile materials suitable for constructing nuclear weapons? Would the U.S. have tried diplomacy?

Charles Margolis

Cincinnati

I am distressed by the worldwide condemnation of Israel for the destruction of the Iraqi reactor. Yet I prefer reproach to expressions of pity had Israel suffered an atomic bombardment.

William Braiterman

Hadera, Israel

I lost my Jewish parents in Treblinka and endured twelve years of Israeli citizenship, including combat in three wars. Nevertheless, I emigrated from Israel in disgust with Begin's settlement policy on the West Bank. The raid on the Iraqi reactor was pure electioneering.

Yehuda Hirsh

Rijswijk, The Netherlands

President Reagan should have reminded Prime Minister Begin that his paranoia only strengthens the belief that Israel is, in the minds of its enemies, war prone. Until Israel is guided by cooler and saner leadership, the U.S. should not send it so much as a firecracker.

Owen Baldwin

Kingston, Mass.

Deporting Haitians

The argument that we must take in Haitians who are fleeing their country [June 22] because we admitted Cubans makes no sense. With that logic we would have to admit everybody. The U.S. is not obligated to destroy itself in a futile effort to save other countries from suicidal overpopulation problems.

John Clark

Englewood, N.J.

So illegal Mexicans and Cubans are permitted to pour into this country by the thousands, but we deport the Haitians? I say that's racism.

Helen Rice Magee

Tarzana, Calif.

Tempering Timerman

The acrimonious debate over Jacobo Timerman's views [June 22] should not detract attention from the plight of thousands in the jails of Argentina. Quiet diplomacy may suit President Reagan, but we ordinary citizens must call attention to the fact that the detention of many Argentines without charges and for indefinite terms violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Argentina's constitution as well as the conscience of concerned people everywhere.

Leonard A. Gordon

New York City

The tragedy of Timerman's ordeal is more than his personal anguish. The Jewish community of Argentina and others should recognize this fact. The ovens of anti-Semitism may be waiting again, but no Jew will ever dig his own grave or walk placidly into those ovens.

Ina R. Gottlieb

Atlanta

Although I do not justify indiscriminate violence from the right or left, I do regret that Timerman is carrying his personal vengeance to the point of forgetting that Argentina has been and is a haven to thousands of Jews. They are prospering physically, emotionally, intellectually and economically.

Jose Garcia

Chicago

Rage and Pain

Your article states that "no one knows the cause of Crohn's disease, although researchers suspect that a virus or flaw in the body's immune system may be involved" [June 22]. If "externalized anger and rage" can cause an Adolf Hitler to act as he did, if it can cause men to attempt to assassinate Presidents and Popes, and shoot blank cartridges at Queens, why cannot "internalized anger and rage" cause the bowels to churn themselves into inflammatory masses, coronary arteries to turn into morbid spasms and bronchial tubes to go into asthmatic constrictions? There are many professionals who believe there may be a great psychosomatic component to Crohn's disease.

David Hertz, M.D.

Encino, Calif.

Mind Your Missives "Don't Write Any Letters" [June 22] was an amusing Essay--and I'm writing you regardless. But you might have quoted the old verse:

Lives of great men all remind us As their pages o 'er we turn, That we're apt to leave behind us Letters that we ought to burn!

Erika Strauss

Hightstown, N.J.

Your Essay on letter writing brought to mind the quotation: "Would that mine enemy would write a letter."

Ralph W. Snyder

Indianapolis

Most people are reluctant to write letters because they feel they must produce a masterpiece every time they pick up a pen. It usually turns out that the receiver is so happy to get a letter that the literary style is ignored.

Patrick Moran

Boxborough, Mass.

Annotating Adler

The great instructors are not those who can teach motivated students with high IQs like Mortimer Adler's group as described in American Scene [June 22]. The great teacher is one who can reach the child from a broken home, or from a family with alcoholism, or with a criminal record. Let's see Adler attempt the same discussion with a girl who has been sexually abused by her stepfather, or a boy so stoned he is barely able to pronounce his name. If he can succeed with these youths, then I will be impressed.

Doug Beers

Holcomb, N. Y.

Teaching in a small town, I was so amazed at the potential of my high school students that I brought Swift and Voltaire into a great books curriculum. Such stuff is food for American youngsters and I found they are hungry.

Sally Ketchum

Elk Rapids, Mich.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.