THE MIGHT OF THE RIGHT

Regarding Chilton Williamson’s review of “Destructive Generation” (Book Review, March 19). How could you assign Horowitz and Collier’s book to a senior editor of the National Review for review? That is like asking Roy Cohn to review a defense of Joe McCarthy--there isn’t a critical--in any sense of the word--sentence in the review. Williamson’s review is a rehash of the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal and the lies of the Bush campaign. Why are opponents of racism and the Indochina War “enemies of democracy”? What was more “dishonest”--the actions of small groups in the undefined “left” or the last four occupants of the White House?

Did it ever occur to you what interests are served by Horowitz and Collier’s book or Williamson’s review? I’ll give you a clue--Horowitz and Williamson are apologists for the Contras, a demonstrable failure of American policy, perception, action and strategy. What qualifies apologists for the cruel exercise of American state power, no matter how incompetently or at what human cost, to write or review a book about those who criticized that power in the 1960s?

I am disappointed in The Times.

JONATHAN B. EDDISON

LOS ANGELES