Sharon vs. Time Libel Suit

In your Jan. 25 edition there are several reports on the Sharon vs. Time magazine libel suit. One of these notes that the jury found the Time story about former Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon to be “false and defamatory” and declared that the magazine acted “negligently and even carelessly.”

Later in that same report, Ray Cave, managing editor of Time, is quoted as responding: “The procedures (Time’s) are sound . . . They’re more sophisticated, more detailed, than the procedures used by almost any other news-gathering organization.”

Cave’s response is a disturbing assessment of his trade--apparently he would expect most other news-gatherers to act even more carelessly.

JOHN W. McDONALD

Huntington Beach

Now that the American people have suffered the “Butcher of Lebanon,” Ariel Sharon, and his phony libel suit against Time, do we now expect the “Butcher of Lyon,” Klaus Barbie, to initiate a similar suit against Newsweek?

I fear our judicial tolerance has gone too far.

JOHN A. JOHNSON

Lompoc

Your editorial (Jan. 27) on the Sharon case was well-reasoned and appropriate to the disposition of the case by the jury. It as, therefore, disconcerting to glance across the page and discover Conrad’s usually display of venom. The cartoon depicting Sharon gloating over his moral victory in the midst of dead Palestinians was revolting and blatant anti-Semitism.

BART MARSH

Los Angeles

The cartoon showing Sharon with massacred people at his feet and the Time magazine in his hand saying, “I showed those arrogant bastards,” is very deplorable.

It shows Conrad repeats exactly the defamation and falsity for which the Time magazine was blamed by a jury.

HANS SEIDENBERG

Culver City

Conrad’s “arrogant bastards” cartoon is a classic example of the pot calling the kettle black. Time magazine is arrogant in its persistent avowal that its story was correct, and Sharon may have been arrogant in his pursuit of vindication, but the most “arrogant bastard” is Conrad, who refuses to acknowledge that it was Christian Lebanese, not Israelis, who murdered those Palestinians.

ALEX BRADIE

Laguna Hills