Freeing the World of Nuclear Arms

Re “Free the World of Nuclear Arms,” Commentary, Aug. 7: Robert McNamara’s pious hope that we can revert to a nuclear-free world is, unfortunately, unrealistic.

He feels that we can, if really motivated, manage to put the nuclear genie back in the bottle. Wonder if he has ever tried to put back the toothpaste into the tube.

One good feature of the recent brouhaha over the dropping of the bomb over Hiroshima, made apparent to those who did not know it, is what one nuclear bomb can do. An entire city devastated with over 100,000 casualties. And to picture the effect of our newer horror--the hydrogen bomb, 1,000 times more powerful.

But to expect a rogue nation, with a Saddam Hussein or a Moammar Kadafi at the helm, to not try to gain access to this devastating horror is being puerile.

Many of us are not looking forward to the 21st Century. Let us pray.

JACK CHESNER

North Hollywood

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* This is to add a strong yea! to McNamara’s plea for a world free of nuclear arms.

The cessation of hostilities using arms has been a hue and cry of women since Aristophanes’ Lysistrata in 411 B.C. When, if ever, will feminine wisdom (understood by some men) prevail?

To ban the bomb everywhere is a beginning. To see the bomb as a deterrent to war perpetuates the admission that man lacks the ability to reason and negotiate. True, the irrational is always with us--but how rational is it to spend millions on a “deterrent” when those same millions are denied to humane entitlements and social services?

Let’s see things in perspective. We deplore the horrors in Bosnia. Let’s not continue building our own military arsenal at the expense of our humanity at home and elsewhere.

PEGGY AYLSWORTH LEVINE

Santa Monica