Kirkpatrick on Terrorism

Jeane Kirkpatrick’s column “Is Terrorism No Longer Terrorism?” (Op-Ed Page, Nov. 16) makes a powerful case against Syria’s current attempts in the United Nations to create a topsy-turvy world wherein the civilian victims of aggression would be redefined as proper targets for “national liberation movements” like Abu Nidal’s gang.

However, former United Nations Ambassador Kirkpatrick ‘s point that “The debasement of language is today, as when Orwell warned against it, a necessary accompaniment to the dehumanization of victims” seems to have application in our own hemisphere.

For instance, when President Ronald Reagan calls the Contras “Freedom Fighters” while they attack and kill civilian farmers in Nicaragua that also is a debasement of language--not to mention international decency.

JERRY LUDWIG

Los Angeles