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.

Murray Silberman San Jose, Costa Rica

Adults Play Soldier

Many readers of John Skow's story on the National Survival Game [July 19] will undoubtedly ask how men find pleasure in playing war the way they did when they were children. Some aspects of human nature are never outgrown. At the end of the day, I'm sure, the participants had a stronger awareness of the will to win, of courage, camaraderie and self-preservation. By failing to recognize these traits in all people, an entire nation can be gulled into war.

Greg Walker New York City

The National Survival Game does not sound sick or macho-childish to me. Pitting man against man in a life-or-death situation is the ultimate form of danger and the game provides a chance to act out harmlessly a fantasy for people who find danger exhilarating.

Jennifer Murray Mississauga, Ont

Truth in Television

I am glad to see from your story on CBS and its documentary on Viet Nam [July 26] that the press is being held accountable for its actions. Better yet, the investigation has come from within its own ranks. American journalism lives in a world of freedom, protected by the Constitution and supported by its own Government. Please don't abuse the First Amendment. Give us objectivity and accuracy.

Robert M. Patterson Temple, Texas

I appreciate CBS for charging in its program The Uncounted Enemy: A Viet Nam Deception that Pentagon Hero William Westmoreland knowingly underestimated the strength of enemy forces. Prior to the 1968 Tet offensive, I could not go on a patrol without seeing numerous North Vietnamese troops. As those who were on the scene can attest, the number of encounters with skilled North Vietnamese fighting men increased greatly between mid-1966 and Tet. But what does a foot soldier know?

James V. Parker Jr. Holly Hill, S.C.

Prayer in Public Schools

We can be sure that politicians who have become involved in disputes over public-school prayer [July 26] did so out of concern not for those little souls but for their own jobs. As a Baptist public-school educator, I am against prayer in public school. I don't want someone else's faith taught to my children in the captive environment of a classroom, nor do I intend to teach my faith to those who have no choice but to listen to me.

Wayne Webb Houston

I think the issue is not whether the government should provide the prayers to be used, but whether there should be praying in the public schools. Do we want our children taught by teachers or evangelists, by an Albert Einstein or an Oral Roberts? We must not confuse patriotism and religion. Are prayers in school a way for children to show their love for God, or are they just a way to get new recruits?

Randy Baumberger Oceanside, Calif.

I was stunned when I learned that in the Soviet Union people were not allowed to pray. But I never dreamed that I'd see the day when the U.S. forced its students to pray. Considering the social pressure on school-age children, there is no such thing as "voluntarily" reciting prayers in public school.

Pamela Hanket Lawrenceville, Ga.

Freedom for the Haitians

The treatment of the Haitian refugees [July 26] by our country is inexcusable. These people are not fleeing their homes and leaving their families behind to attend a picnic. They are looking for an opportunity to live, work and be free. Their government didn't give them that opportunity. Why can't we?

Maureen Donnelly McQuiggan Quincy, Mass.

I sympathize with the Haitians, but I feel a greater sorrow for us, trying to keep a job and pay taxes to support them, either in detention centers or on welfare. It makes me sick when these people use our laws for their gains, when they come here unwanted, unasked and illegally. I refuse to feel responsible for them.

Ilene Matthews Evanston, Wyo.

Valued Authors

I am appalled by your Essay "Writers We Would Miss" [July 26]. Indeed, I miss John Cheever, as I will miss Lillian Hellman, Herman Wouk, Truman Capote and John Irving when they die. Please do not be so brash as to dismiss our "modern" writers. They have a richness that touches the heart and warms the soul.

Janice Thiel Scranton, Pa.

Am I actually supposed to take Lance Morrow's word for it that John Cheever's death was not "a disaster" for literature?

Mekeel McBride Strafford, N.H.

Miami Revisited

After your cover story on South Florida proclaimed a "Paradise Lost" in Miami [Nov. 23], we soon mobilized Miami Citizens Against Crime. In nine months this group has put law-abiding citizens back in charge of our streets and devised a detailed plan of action that is a model of private initiative. By July 1, the business community had contributed $6,911,350 to a Liberty City Revitalization Program, an undertaking prompted by the race riots there. Your article stimulated introspection and created activities that have made us prouder than ever of our city and our neighbors. Perhaps we should replace our earlier condemnation with gratitude.

Lester Freeman Miami

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