Mideast Ground War Begins

I am writing to congratulate Sam Fulwood III on his excellent article about Gen. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Feb. 17). I personally admire the general’s intelligence and graceful style before the TV cameras. He does not have the jerky macho mannerisms that helped to make the military the subject of so much ridicule during the Vietnam War era. I think we should be grateful for this almost Kennedy-esque presence during our time of crisis.

As for the identity crisis suggested by his success and the implied “sell-out” to the white power structure, I find myself in strong disagreement with his critics. The Gulf War should not be viewed as a race war, nor should Powell be viewed with the kind of suspicion that is more appropriately due to a black officer in the South African Security Forces. I find it outrageous that there are people so race conscious that they feel they must endorse a poseur such as Saddam Hussein, a man whose concern for his own country’s social problems is negligible and whose own racism was demonstrated when he gassed his fellow Kurdish citizens to death.

I am very confident that Powell will succeed with the allied forces and that his success will benefit black American as well as the world at large.

ALEXANDER WELLS, Hollywood