Tirman on Peace Efforts

I have never read such nonsense as Tirman’s piece, claiming that the new arms control agreement between the United States and Soviet Union is largely due to the efforts of what Tirman called the “peace community.”

The agreement we apparently will have has been reached despite such efforts. It has been reached because the NATO alliance pressed forward with the deployment of Pershing IIs and ground-launched cruise missiles in the face of Soviet-abetted “peace” movements and demonstrations in Western Europe; because the Reagan Administration rebuilt American military strength, the only language the Soviet Union understands, and because we have been firm in refusing to compromise the Strategic Defense Initiative or any of the other measures necessary for our national security.

What Tirman calls the “peace community” might more aptly be termed the “appeasement lobby.” These are people who may be well-meaning, but who are certainly misguided, uninformed and ill-advised. They are of the school responsible for the “arms control” debacle of the 1970s that saw the balance of strategic power shift sharply in the favor of the Soviet Union.

RICHARD P. SYBERT

Los Angeles