Dear Editor

...DEAR EDITOR ALGERIA Permit me to express my astonishment at Lorna Hahn's review of Michael Clark's Turmoil in Algeria (NL, November 30), which begins by snidely insinuating that Clark had some personal motives in writing it...

...If the French are driven out of Algeria, any serious effort to defend "Western Europe will and can be frustrated...

...It is a factual report of precisely what has occurred, with a critical analysis by a trained observer of Arab states of what may happen if certain political policies are continued...

...Arab domination of the North African littoral from Suez to the Atlantic, when viewed in the light of the general instability of Moslem states, presents to the Soviet Union the strategic means, so well understood by Hitler, of turning the European flank by the south...

...The lesson of Clark's book is clear...

...These are considerations, of course, beyond our interest in the defense of minority rights—which are generally unrecognized by Arab states and apparently also by Miss Hahn, and which alone justify support of France in Algeria...

...It is because he has permitted his country to be used as a privileged sanctuary THE NEW LEADER welcomes comment and criticism on any of its features, but letters should not exceed 300 words, for the Algerian rebels, who are obtaining munitions from Egypt's Nasser and Communist countries and thereby prolonging the struggle...

...Clark's book is not, as the headline improperly and unfairly states, "A Pro-Colon View of Algeria...

...If, for example, Tunisia's President Habib Bourguiba is not regarded by Clark as a shining light of democracy—as Miss Hahn suggests—it is not because he has "done everything possible . . . to bring about a cease-fire on terms favorable to France...

...Algeria presents a problem not alone for France but for all of Europe...

...New York City CLIFFORD FORSTER...