U.S. Launches Air Strikes in Persian Gulf

Your somber editorial (“Nothing Is Ever Simple When the Question Is One of War,” Jan. 15) helped me place my own feelings in the proper perspective. I lived through World War II as a teen-ager in Budapest, Hungary. Although I was not sent overseas, I was trained as a Marine during the Korean conflict. My son, his wife and three children now live in Israel.

I was very lucky to have survived World War II. I could have died in Korea and my son and his family may die in Israel. But I firmly believe that our President is on the right course in resolving the Iraqi conflict. It is more noble to fight and die for freedom than to live under unprovoked cruel occupation and oppression.

I hope our President will succeed. May he become the American Joshua whose valiant efforts crumbled the walls of Kuwait and shook the walls of Iraq. And, in the process, he helped establish a new era of political life in the Middle East where nations will live by the tools of their toil and not by weapons of death.

KENNETH Z. LAUTMAN

Los Angeles