Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-07-31
LETTERS TO THE STAR
Public Debate Continues on the Middle East M


Western disapproval Of the
new regime? Western recog-
milton Of the status quo is
most desirable for the sta
bility Of the Iraqi govern
ment.
3. They hope for more
freedom (of the press than
under the royal regime"
Nasser controls Cairo radio.
the strongest radio station
in the Middle East. Having
commentators capable of
exciting the emotions Of
Arabs. NaSser swamps the
Middle East with propaganda
Of unreasonable dissatisfac-
ton with the old regimes.
AS he became more and more
involved with the Soviets. his
ambitions to extend his rule
over the Middle East became
more and more evident. Is 1t
not possible that any strict
ness Nuri Said used on the
press was for the better good
of Iraq and, therefore, in
keeping with freedom Of the
press? After all freedom Of
the press is not absence from
restraint to print anything
one wants. but rather absence
Of restraint to reasonably
print the truth.
In summary then. could it
not be that Nasser's ambi-
items and previous connection
with Russia have made it
possible that he had a hand
in the overthrow of Iraq's old
regime? Clearly, in this
article, the author gives no
convincing evidence that the
new Iraqi regime Is not pro-
Communist.
Ronald ScheideIman.
= \ -
Harrison A. Meyers
formula for bringing rap
prochement between this
country and Nasserism proves
how far Arab propaganda has
gone, for it has succeeded in
misleading us by playing up
the Palestine problem. Mr..
Meyer suggests in his letter
that we sacrifice Israel, one
of our few remaining staunch
allies in the Middle East, at
a time when we need friends
so badly. We are not anti
Arab nor do we oppose Arab
unity and its genuine ma
tionalism, but we must object
to NasseriSm which seeks to
dominate and destroy the in
dependence of all the sover-
eign countries there.
AS for Palestine, it is not
the cause of our conflict with
Nasserism. While it may be
one of the factors, it is GER
tainly not a major one.
Nasser's propaganda keeps
telling us that its fight
against the West is a fight
of life and death which goes
back to the Crusades." So
why should we search for
scapegoats?
Israel was established by
the United Nations. not by
the United States, and Rus
STA was our partner in this
venture. Newborn Israel
neither made war upon the
Arabs nor threatened to do
so. The Arabs started the war
of 1913 and by any criterion
this was a naked aggression!
The Arabs lost their war
which aimed at frustrating
the Judgment of the over
whelming majority Of the
civilized world. Israel, there
fore. cannot be charged with
moral fault and the respon-
sibility rests with the Arab
states who made that war.
Sara X. Evans.
1t was extremely refreshing
and satisfying to read the
letter by "Teen-Ager" on the
situation in the Near East.
1t was one of the few let
tiers published which showed
an intelligent understand
ing of developments in the
near East and Of the forces
behind them. The writer has
an appreciation Of the ethi-
cal and moral problems in
volved. Most Americans. APP
parently. can think only in
terms Of power politics and of
oil.
Most people realize. / sup
pose, that the majority of
teen-agers are intelligent,
upright young people who
never get into any kind OF
trouble. But most items in
newspapers, unfortunately,
are about the small minority
who do get into trouble. We
need to be reminded, as we are
by this letter. that there are
teen-agers who are more
learned and have a better
sense Of moral values than do
a tremendous number Of their
elders.
Robert Bradfeld.