U.S. Relations With Soviets
Robin Wright’s article (“U.S. and Soviets Seek Joint War on Terrorism,” Part I, Sept. 29) quotes Soviet science academician Andrei Shoumikhin as saying: “The Soviet Union is genuinely committed to do whatever is necessary to eliminate terrorism, preferably with the United States.” I suggest they first begin by ending their sponsorship of terrorism against the United States and its allies.
Where do the PLO and Col. Moammar Kadafi get their military hardware? The Soviet Union, of course. Ignoring this, Brian Jenkins of the RAND Corp. suggests that the KGB (leader among terrorist elements) will turn against those their government sustains. This is truly beyond belief.
It’s bad enough that our government gushes with praise for Gorbachev’s garble (i.e., glasnost and perestroika ), but let’s not assert that the totalitarian Soviet Union, whose diplomats and citizens suffer no foreign terrorist activity, is in the least bit concerned with preventing brutal deeds being committed against us.
If we are to combat terrorism, we must punish the states that sponsor it--as we did in the 1986 raid against Libya. But since that is impossible where the Soviet Union is concerned, at the very least we should point out their sponsorship of the complicity with the organs of international terrorism (and) not pretend it doesn’t exist.
STEVEN LOPEZ
Laguna Hills
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
