Russian Debt

We were impressed with the media coverage of the recent departure of Mr. Armand Hammer aboard his corporate jet (no less a Boeing 727) on another of his “Missions of Mercy”, loaded with medical supplies and enroute to Russia, his favorite country. Mr. Hammer stated that the supplies were requested by his Russian friends for victims of the disaster at Chernobyl, but the Russian government insisted that they pay for them. They were adamant in the fact that the supplies not be a donation from either the American people or the American government.

I think this is commendable on the part of the Russian leadership which is apparently on a pay-as-you-go basis. Now, as another humanitarian gesture, maybe Mr. Hammer could collect the World War II debt of almost a billion dollars (includes interest) owed to the American people by these dear friends of his in the USSR.

Mr. Hammer could bring this money back to us in his corporate jet as a return favor to the American people. Instead of financing this trip himself Mr. Hammer could charge it off as a businss expense on his 1986 tax return I doubt the IRS would contest the deduction.

GENE B. PYEATT SR.

Anaheim