‘Pressure on Nicaragua’

The article (Editorial Pages, Feb. 25), “Contras: Our First Line of Defense,” by retired Army Maj. Gen. John K. Singlaub is typical of the rhetoric of political dinosaurs who still view the world through Joe McCarthy’s kaleidoscope.

In his article, Singlaub attempts to make legitimate the terrorist actions of the Nicaraguan contras. He warns that if the contras fail, we are in danger of surveillance from the Soviets, incursion across the Rio Grande by the Palestine Liberation Organization, and a destabilizing increase in “ordinary” illegal immigration.

He ignores the fact that the Soviets watch us not only from their satellites, but also from the decks of their freighters docked in many U.S. ports, while buying our grain. Yasser Arafat can come to New York any time he wants on a Concorde, if he’s in a hurry. As for illegal aliens and refugees, war makes them happen. War is what Singlaub would like to rain down on Central America, in the mistaken belief that he’s fighting communism.

Insurgencies blossom when fascism and oppression invite them. We caused the Sandinistas to exist by sanctioning a dictator in Nicaragua for 40 years. You can expect the same to happen elsewhere, anywhere the United States props up one form of oppression to ward off another.

LAWRENCE POPIELINSKI

Tarzana