Kissinger and Nixon

I had a very bad Sunday, thanks to your Opinion Section!

Between Kissinger’s mealy-mouthed article, and the accolade accorded Richard Nixon by Bill Stall, I wonder just what kind of hypocrites we, the people, are expected to become.

To boil Kissinger’s lengthy essay down to one sentence: It’s quite OK to let a dictator murder his people and plunder his starving country, as long as he acts like our ally . . . even if the money we send to his country ends up in his own pocket. So forget about human rights and democracy, they’re not worth supporting. How soon before these principles will apply in our own country?

Regarding Nixon, while it is difficult for me to imagine the brazenness of a deposed President, who was all but convicted of heinous crimes against the nation he had sworn to “protect, preserve and defend,” in venturing forth to inflict his twisted moral opinions on us and the world again. In one of the countries Kissinger admires, Nixon would have faced a firing squad.

But I am more ashamed of our leaders and politicians, who still applaud and welcome him and his hindsight judgments.

It’s no wonder Jimmy Carter was defeated. This group could never stand an honest man for two consecutive terms.

Let’s have a big hand for the late Shah of Iran, Jean-Claude Duvalier, Marcos, Nixon, Spiro Agnew, maybe we can get Moammar Kadafi and Idi Amin to join our club someday.

ARTHUR FLORMAN

Los Angeles