Doomed 747

To the Editors:

By refusing to admit their guilt in shooting down a commercial 747 jetliner [Sept. 19], the Soviets have once again passed up an opportunity to show the world that they can be gentlemen who want peace. Instead, they have made themselves out to be murderers.

Christian Dupuis Montreal

After spending years writing letters against nuclear weapons, I now realize that we must keep up with the Soviets in the arms race or they will annihilate us on the flimsiest excuse. Military strength is the only sensible strategy for the U.S.

Jean A. Robinson-Pownall Camillus, N. Y.

It took 269 lives to prove President Reagan right about the Soviet Union.

Eric Thuna Skokie, III.

Imagine the outcry if the U.S. shot down a Soviet-bloc airliner. There would be riots abroad and demands for damages. But when the Soviets do it, Europe shrugs and shuffles its feet.

John J. Marvel Hoyt Lakes, Minn.

The downing of an unarmed airliner by the U.S.S.R. emphasizes the degree of the Soviet paranoia and the folly of pur placing provocative first-strike Pershing and cruise missiles on its borders. A situation will be created involving nuclear weapons that will threaten millions of lives. Only by establishing better relations and easing tensions with the U.S.S.R. will we avoid more air tragedies and the ultimate catastrophe, World War III.

Phil Klein Syracuse

A paranoid nation, like a paranoid person, never admits to anything it is accused of. Instead, it defends and counterattacks in order to save face. If you want a country like the Soviet Union to accept responsibility, you have to assume it acted out of innocence. From the beginning, the U.S. should have said that it regarded the shooting down of KAL Flight 007 as an act the Soviets would never knowingly commit, that it was an unfortunate tragedy. This approach would have presented some chance of eliciting an apology and compensation. The line our Government took only fueled the Soviets' paranoia.

Henry T. Close Plantation, Fla.

It is a pity we cannot send governments to prison for murder.

David A. Colvin Santa Fe, Argentina

I agree that the Soviet attack on the Korean passenger jet was an atrocity. However, dumping vodka and painting over our red cars are ridiculous acts of protest. The shooting down of the plane was in part a result of the increased tensions between the Soviet Union and the U.S. If relations between the two nations improved, the weapons buildup and covert activities would diminish, thus lessening the chance for more of these tragic incidents.

Thomas Walker Arcata, Calif.

What is this hullabaloo about the borders of the Soviet Union being sacred? The U.S.S.R. applies a double standard on moral values: one for them and another for other countries. What should the Afghan say about the Soviets' violation of his sacred borders?

Marianne Ridge Kusnacht, Switzerland

Leathernecks in Lebanon

The presence of the Marines in Lebanon [Sept. 19] exacerbates the tensions there. The U.S. should remove its troops and let the factions settle their age-old scores. Peace might not ensue, but at least the dead will not include Americans.

Glenn DelGrosso Saratoga Springs, N. Y.

In comparing Lebanon with Viet Nam, I find there are more dissimilarities than similarities. However, one striking resemblance exists. When a limited force with limited authority and a limited objective faces an enemy without those restraints, the mission is doomed.

Kenneth S. Woodman Richmond, Ind.

Your article explaining the longstanding feud between Christians and Druze leads me to believe that we are wasting the lives of our men by trying to stop a war between neighbors who teach their children to kill each other.

June M. Mudgett Trinity, Ala.

When I hear the words peace-keeping force, I think of a group of heroic men who are ensuring peace and prosperity in an unstable country. The Marines in Lebanon are not intimidating any of the battling groups. If our troops are going to be peace keepers, they ought to be just that and not targets.

Brian Kimball Richfield, Utah

Shamir's Image

In your profile of Israel's Yitzhak Shamir [Sept. 12], you mention that he was associated with the Irgun Zvai Leumi and the Stern Gang, militant bands whose activities helped force the British to give up the occupation of Palestine. Your description gives the impression that these two organizations were heroic national liberation movements that freed Palestine from British imperial rule. You fail to mention that these same groups were also responsible for the terrorizing of innocent Arab-Palestinian peasants, which led to the exodus of Palestinians in 1948 and created the refugee problem.

Kaikobad Irani Cambridge, Mass.

Are you certain you had the correct information on the life of Israel's Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir? Your biographical sketch reads more like the history of Yasser Arafat.

Thomas William Verhoeven Stuart, Fla.

Marital Rape

In your story "Rape: The Sexual Weapon" [Sept. 5], you reported that while I was a California state senator I protested a state law allowing prosecution for marital rape. You quoted me as saying, "If you can't rape your wife, who can you rape?"

Four years ago, when I was chairperson of the California state senate judiciary committee, I was invited to dinner with three ladies. These ladies were supporting legislation, which was then pending in my committee, that would make marital rape a crime. I told the ladies that I wholeheartedly supported the measure but that the bill would have a difficult time passing the legislature, since there were those in that body with the mentality that believed "If you can't rape your wife, who can you rape?" When the legislation was finally heard on the state senate floor, I not only voted for the law but spoke in favor of its passage.

Bob Wilson Sacramento, Calif.

Crime Among Marielitos

Your articles describing the lawlessness among the Cuban refugees from Mariel [Sept. 12] show that Jimmy Carter's worst character flaw was his naivete.

President Carter may have meant well by allowing all the Marielitos into our country, but that is no consolation to those who have been victims of their crimes.

Lisa Penz Atlanta

One way we could deal with the criminals among the Marielitos would be to airlift them to our naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and lead them out the gate. If these troublesome refugees cannot respect what they have in the U.S., then let Fidel Castro have them back.

Frank V. Puglia San Diego

I can see America as a melting pot but not as a trash dump for foreign undesirables. Letting in all those criminals and mental patients among the Mariel refugees was Jimmy Carter's biggest mistake.

Douglas Watson Bolton, Miss.

Bodies and Biceps

The article on the "new Spartans" [Sept. 19] was an excellent portrayal of the current addiction to fitness. Sedentary people have no idea of the mental and physical advantages that come from exercise and body building. To all the fatties out there: Catch us if you can!

Thomas K. Higgerson North Brunswick, N.J.

As a nursing student, I know that patients tolerate surgery much better if they are in shape. I am also aware of how a fitness program can reduce the stress that comes from studying. Before I started working out 3'/2 years ago, I suffered pains in my neck, back and legs. Tension and depression interfered with my sleep. Now, if I am feeling down, I just push harder on the Nautilus or kick higher in aerobics. Everyone should be so addicted.

Alice Erskine San Francisco

The new Spartans are really failed masochists.

Tom Gill Columbia, Md.

Working for a beer distributor this summer, I was among people who load and unload trucks ten to twelve hours a day. They are the strongest and fittest individuals I have ever known. The true Spartans are not prancing around in designer tights or contorting themselves on weight machines. They are using their muscles to make a living.

Michael Alpert Marlton, N.J.

Helping Ears

I can understand why it took President Reagan more than 40 years to get a hearing aid [Sept. 19]. For 20 years I have worn one, always making sure that my hair covered my left ear. The problem is not vanity but the fear of not being accepted by others. I hope that the President's example will encourage others to do the same.

Kristin Steen San Diego

Shooting Dogs

I wish to protest the indictment of humane societies in the report on the Pentagon's practice of purposefully wounding dogs to give military physicians patients to work on [Aug. 8]. The article states: "Defense Department researchers were planning to pay licensed dealers $80 to $130 for each doomed dog, instead of buying unclaimed dogs from humane societies--which would have put them to death anyway--for as little as $3 to $10 a head."

Private humane societies throughout the nation do not sell dogs to researchers or research institutions. If such animals are purchased, they are procured exclusively from public dog pounds or from organizations obliged to release animals for research purposes by reason of their having contracted with municipal or county governments to administer an animal-control program. Those of us who work within the animal-welfare movement detest the necessity of euthanizing unwanted animals. However, in most cases, we regard it as preferable to permitting the animals to become the victims of further trauma, suffering and potential abuse in the hands of researchers.

John A. Hoyt, President The Humane Society of the U.S. Washington, D.C.

Invasion of Privacy

I can see no possible reason to justify KSL-TV's demand to air the film of Barney Clark's artificial heart operation [Sept. 12]. To say that the public has a right to see the procedure is ridiculous. It amazes me that the family of a man who gave his life for medical research is being asked by a television station to let millions of people peer into his chest as if he were some kind of sideshow.

Bruce Berg Mesa, Ariz.

What do they mean "the public right to know"? I do not need to see the inside of Barney Clark's chest to know what accomplishments have been made by this surgery. What the public has the right to know is the facts, not the visual sensationalism that goes with them.

Sue Besch Mansfield, Ohio This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.