U.S. Raid on Libya and ‘Spiral of Violence’

I want to express my profound respect and gratitude for the courage, foresight, and will displayed by President Reagan and our armed forces as regards our Libyan air strikes.

As of this writing I am certain that Col. Kadafi along with all despots and international terrorists throughout the world rest less secure. The rhetoric will, of course, be to the opposite, and I have no doubt that in the short term, terrorism will in fact increase throughout the world; this is, has been, and will continue to be the cost of freedom. But the cost of choosing tyranny is ever so much more costly--incomparably so. It is tragically unfortunate that justice can not always be bought at a negotiating table; in the future, with God’s help, this will not be so.

I am reminded of 1938 when Britain’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in the pursuit of peace and security achieved neither while at a negotiating table in Munich. For Great Britain, Europe, and the world at large, the lesson of appeasing overt and apparent criminality came hard. Thankfully, our President chose instead the insight and wisdom of Sir Winston Churchill. As a result, freedom, international law, and justice are once again affirmed by our nation. That the bulk of Europe chose not to follow our lead can only be a source of shame; a badge of cowardice within the international community.

BRENT GOLD

Los Angeles