Dear Editor
Dear Editor Timerman I am glad I read Irving Louis Horowitz' review of Jacobo Timerman's Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number ("Jewish Soul on Ice," NL, June 1) before the melodrama and...
...Kit-man seems to revel in the very stuff he is criticizing...
...Since Timerman is not ashamed of his relationship with Graiver, whom he now likens to Captain Dreyfus, there can only be one explanation for the exclusion of Graiver from the book: Mentioning the shadowy financier would have spoiled the carefully nourished pretense that Timerman was jailed for publishing the names of the desparecidos...
...This was further corroborated by Robert Cox, former editor of the Buenos Aires Herald, in an otherwise pro-Timerman piece on the Op-Ed page of the New York Times: "I too was astonished that in his book Jacobo Timerman made no mention of David Graiver, who was his friend and financial backer at La Opinion...
...For all his complaints...
...Goodman seems to be advocating becoming powerless ourselves so that we can remain untainted by the compromises and difficult choices that are an inevitable part of wielding power...
...Dear Editor Timerman I am glad I read Irving Louis Horowitz' review of Jacobo Timerman's Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number ("Jewish Soul on Ice," NL, June 1) before the melodrama and politicking that have eclipsed the book's strengths and weaknesses began...
...Only the powerless have the luxury of being able to see through the smoke of exigency and speak from the heart," says Goodman...
...It can't bother him all that much to hear about the intimate lives of famous people-otherwise he would simply change channels...
...Timerman's outcry against his torturers and the regime that let it happen deserves sympathy and attention...
...that the Argentine Government's suspicions of Graiver, founded or not, were what did Timerman in...
...All the points made so far about the Timerman-Graiver tie are irrelevant...
...Unfortunately, the doctoring of the Graiver link may reflect on the accuracy of Timerman's narrative and invalidate some of his conclusions...
...But he ends on such a curious, jarring note that I feel compelled to comment...
...One can only reply that unless we acquire some power, we shall have little luck in protecting the interests of "the victims...
...In fact, we would run the risk of becoming victims too...
...Graiver's name does not even appear there...
...It is irrelevant whether Graiver was a bank swindler (he was), whether he was in fact the investment broker for ransom-collecting guerrillas, whether the authorities managed to prove the latter connection, or whether Timerman knew of this connection if such existed...
...It would have reduced Timerman from fighting hero to a swindler's fall guy...
...And the originality of Horowitz' analysis of Argentine realities far surpassed anything I have since read elsewhere on the subject...
...Brookline, Mass...
...Benno Weiser Varon Terrorists Most of Walter Goodman's piece on political violence trenchantly anatomized the cant that passes for debate on the issue ("Our Terrorists and Theirs," NL, June IS...
...WashingtonD.C...
...What matters is that Graiver was Timerman's partner...
...Robert Harrison Privacy If Marvin Kitman is as upset as he claims to be by the current glut of breast-baring on television, then why does he gloat over it in such detail ("Dirty Linen," NL, June 15...
...ing editorialist, but because of his regrettable entrepreneurial connection...
...Without being uncritical, Horowitz' measured and sensible praise gave Timerman his due...
...Boston John Geakd In reviewing Jacobo Timerman's Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number, Irving Louis Horowitz starts out by accurately observing that prison literature tends to be "exceedingly self-serving and self-aggrandizing...
...And it would have supported the prevailing belief among Argentine Jews that Timer-man was not arrested because he was a Jew or a darThe New Leader welcomes comment and criticism on any of its features, but letters should not exceed 300 words...
...1 doubt that Walter Goodman really wants us to replace political action with masochistic passivity...
...Those of us happily unburdened by power are privileged to keep our outrage alive, to force it upon the interests, if not the consciences of the mighty, to compel the decision makers to hear and never stop hearing the cries of the silenced...
...But let liberals-A word connected with liberty????stand with the victims...
...and that although this was common knowledge in Argentina, it was not included in Timerman's book...
...Let the ideologues and practitioners of the practical draw their distinctions among terrorists, sort out favorites, rationalize atrocities, turn away from embarrassing reality...
...New York City Martha Looms THE NEW LEADER Subscriber's Service Coupon...
...The Timerman camp considers any reference to his link with Graiver as hostile, if not defamatory...
...Outrage alone does not accomplish much...
Vol. 64 • June 1981 • No. 13
