Buchanan on U.S. Interests and Israeli-Arab Tensions

When I noticed that Patrick J. Buchanan had written a column ( “A PLO Trick Shores Up Shamir’s Web,” Commentary, June 3), I expected to see Buchanan’s typical anti-Israeli-tinged dribble. Predictably, I was not disappointed.

First, I found interesting Buchanan’s choice of words for the PLO’s attempted massacre of civilians, i.e., a “trick.” How are five speedboats and 16 guerrillas armed with rockets and machine guns called a “trick”? Then, when Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir is rightly outraged by this act he is censured because the near-tragedy simply served to “shore up Shamir’s web.”

Buchanan vituperates against Israel at the end of his article as to the U.S. support of Israel, questioning what vital interest of ours was at risk in the 1967 war. I find it confusing how Buchanan can spend nearly a lifetime opining about the evils of totalitarian communist regimes and at the same time not see the advantages to lending U.S. support to the only democracy in the Middle East.

MARK D. KALE

Irvine