Beirut Besieged

To the Editors:

Roger Rosenblatt's haunting journal [July 19] brings home the tragedy of Lebanon with more impact than anything else written on that subject. I hope the diary finds its way to Prime Minister Begin's desk, and makes him pause and think.

Jacques Liwer Holliswood, N. Y.

Many people may understand Begin's obsession with humiliating and destroying the P.L.O. However, few will forgive him for the many civilian lives he has taken to accomplish this.

Norman J. Meunier Northampton, Mass.

West Beirut is becoming the tomb of sympathy for Israel.

Jane Arney Bremerton, Wash.

I cannot understand why world sentiment is against Israel. The nation is finally responding to continuous attacks against its border towns. And the P.L.O.? They hide behind innocent civilians. The blame for these casualties lies solely with Arafat, who sets up shop in urban ghettos.

Jeff Stober Toronto

I am not a diehard supporter of everything Israeli, but I have lived in Beirut for four years. The Palestinians have brought this war upon themselves. The crime is that they are bringing Lebanon down with them. After years of terrorism, they now assume an injured innocence and cry foul when they find themselves on the receiving end. They talk about their rights but refuse to give the Lebanese the right to control their own land.

Charles H. Eypper West Berlin

One cannot help applauding the brilliance with which Yasser Arafat has maneuvered through this crisis in Lebanon.

His objective, which is to have his people recognized as a group without a home, has come much closer to reality. At the same time he has put Israel in the vulnerable position of being judged as the "bad guy" in world opinion.

Hanif Mohammed Patni Vancouver, B.C.

Pipeline Policy

Your articles on START and the Euro-Soviet gas pipeline [July 12] clearly show the inconsistencies in our policy toward the Soviets. With START we are indicating our desire for economic and military cooperation. Yet we are trying to impede the construction of a pipeline that will be a significant Soviet investment in Western Europe. The willingness of the Soviet Union to build such a link should be accepted and welcomed by our European allies and by us as a stabilizing factor in Euro-Soviet relations.

Danny Samson Urbana, Ill.

N.A.A.C.P.'s Achievements

The N.A.A.C.P. had a great convention in Boston [July 12]. Unfortunately, TIME did not correctly reflect the event. TIME derided our tried-and-true methods, but failed to note that these methods resulted in 1 million more new registered voters last year and the year before. In addition, your story mentioned our suit against the Legal Defense Fund, saying that "some association insiders charge that so much of the N.A.A.C.P.'S $7 million budget for 1982 has been earmarked for the case that important programs will have to be curtailed." From the moment the legal papers were initiated, we have stated that none of the money allocated for programs will be used for the suit. To defray costs, the N.A.A.C.P. has created a special fund-raising committee.

Margaret Bush Wilson, Chairman

Benjamin L. Hooks, Executive Director

N.A.A.C.P.

New York City

Computer Phobia

Refusing to learn to use a computer [July 19] is as stupid as trying to achieve status by not owning a TV set. As a professor of Anglo-Saxon and medieval studies, I look forward to updating and advancing my courses through computer research. Scholarly books and articles will also be produced much sooner by using electronic methods.

A. Robert Bell Long Beach, Calif.

In a tough job market, computer illiteracy will facilitate the replacement of the over-50 executives by their eager, young counterparts.

Kenneth B. Sherman South Berlin, Mass.

God and Suffering

Rabbi Harold Kushner's effort to restore religious faith to those whose personal calamities have caused them to forsake it is desperate and misguided [July 19]. Giving up belief ought to be seen as the valid conclusion to a tragedy. It is remarkable that disasters of every sort can be contorted into reasons to continue, rather than abandon, religious conviction.

Fred Woodworth The American Atheist Austin

If I had to believe that there is a divine plan that gives reason to my son's senseless death, I would no longer have any use for God. Rabbi Kushner has given me the only basis for any rational understanding or acceptance of this tragedy. There surely has to be a randomness at work in this world. A good and loving God cannot be the one who orchestrates senseless traffic accidents, air crashes, terminal cancer and wars.

Louise H. Shearin Crofton, Md.

Rabbi Kushner has missed the point. God is in control, and everything does happen for the best. Why else would the personal tragedy have had such a positive result, that is, a book that has comforted so many others in their grief?

Margot Wagoner Los Angeles

Expanding Airport

TIME'S article "The Jubail Superproject" [July 12] falsely compares the management effectiveness on the Riyadh and Jiddah airports in Saudi Arabia, one involving Bechtel and the other Parsons.

Contrary to the implications in the article, Parsons neither designed nor built the King Abdulaziz Airport in Jiddah. A joint venture of Parsons and another company has served as construction and program manager for this project since 1976. Expanding enormously since the originally modest plan was prepared in 1965, this airport is now by far the largest and finest in the world, with a major military complex, two commercial terminals, a royal pavilion and the Haj terminal, having a capacity to handle more than a million pilgrims arriving and departing within less than a month each year.

Dorn Dicker, Vice President

Parsons Corp.

Pasadena, Calif.

TIME did not mean to imply that the higher final cost of the Jiddah airport was due to Parsons' mismanagement rather than changes in scope of the project.

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