Reaction to Gorbachev Views

Perhaps the witty and urbane Gorbachev would tell the world why there is a factory in his country that manufactures small brightly colored bombs shaped like toys, which are taken to Afghanistan and dropped from helicopters into villages where they blow up in the hands of children.

Or maybe with “telling humor” Gorbachev could put into perspective for us the planned genocide that has killed more than 2 million Afghans and driven more than 30% of the entire population from their homes. Would he perhaps invoke “God on high” to explain why thousands of Afghan children are being forcibly taken from their parents and shipped to the Soviet Union for indoctrination--including the attempt to destroy their religious faith?

We must not allow ourselves to be so paralyzed by the fear of nuclear apocalypse that we lapse into wishful thinking concerning the true intentions of the Soviet leadership. Gorbachev may be a charming fellow, but it is not words but deeds that are the measure of a man or nation.

EDWARD D. SOADY JR.

Calabasas