Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Gorbachev

In response to Cal Thomas’ “Reagan’s Doing, Gorbachev’s Glory” (Commentary, Oct. 19):

The Nobel Peace Prize for Reagan, not Gorbachev? Sour grapes! While Gorbachev was disengaging Leonid Brezhnev’s army from Afghanistan, Reagan had resumed U.S. military aid to nuclear Iraq, reversing the embargo Jimmy Carter had begun in response to Saddam Hussein’s atrocities--crimes that both Reagan and Bush have chosen to ignore until recently when an excuse was needed to prepare for war over oil.

Gorbachev would have reformed the Soviet Union regardless of who was President of the United States; but the Berlin Wall would still be standing today if the Soviet conservative were still in power. Reagan deserves some credit for neutralizing the American war lobby over the issue of cooperating with our former enemies, but compared to the magnitude of Gorbachev’s challenges to the conservative rottenness of his own political party, Reagan’s contribution is minor.

DENNIS LUCARELLI, San Diego