Dear Editor

...Dear Editor Objection I was upset over Richard H Shulman's comments in two recent letters on subjects half a world apart In the February 2) "Dear Editor" column, Shulman seconds Irving Louis Horowitz' review of Jacobo Timer-man's The Longest War ("Timerman's New Country," NL, January 24), chiding the former Argentinean editor's "support of juntas" and his unqualified criticism of Israeli society and war aims Horowitz, Timerman and Shulman are clearly entitled to their opinions about Israel and each other But it would be proper for Shulman to note that whatever Timerman's sins of omission were prior to his arrest, torture and imprisonment, when he supposedly backed the junta and ignored his fellow Jews, his deeds thereafter amply made up for them Later, in the April 18 "Dear Editor' column, Shulman used Robert Lekachman's "Transatlantic Echoes" (NL, February 21) to virulently attack England's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher His case is without merit, and not warranted by Lekachman's comparison of Thatcher and Reagan's apparent devotion to "Social Darwinism " Here again, Shulman is entitled to his acrimonious critique of Thatcher's mismanagement of the Falklands affair The official documents exonerating her are available, as described by Lekachman Nevertheless, I am disturbed by Shulman's attempt to portray the Argentine government as rational, perhaps even democratic This vicious group of generals encouraged and prompted the Malvinas misadventure to distract the nation from their own failures Thatcher's "hollow victory" may have spent "precious nato arms," but the British triumph also deflated a great deal of the Argentine totalitarians' cant-to say nothing of their waste of manpower and short supplies, or of their total disregard of democratic values Shulman would be better advised to vent his spleen where it rightfully belongs, not on friends and allies West Orange, N J Bernard R Beder Wheels Jamie Kitman's review ot Brock Yates' confused diatribe against Detroit The Decline and Fall of the American Auto Industry ("Unmade in Detroit," NL, April 18), contains an invidious comparison to a book of mine Referring to "B Bruce-Biggs' [sic] The War Against the Automobile, an unsubtle blast of conservative think-tank boostensm," Kitman cites me as saying "that 'We must not let' Detroit 'be destroyed by the machinations of the new plutocrats and demagogues "' In fact, my book is a defense of the automobile and of mass auto ownership It has no relationship to any "think tank " As for being "conservative," the book concludes "The American mass-transportation system-the auto-highway complex-has made real the ancient dream of personal mobility that was reflected in the myth of the centaur, giving every man the liberty of movement once afforded only the rich, and permitting the masses a quality of life previously inconceivable We must not let it be destroyed by the machinations of the new plutocrats and demagogues " Kitman's review nicely mirrored the slovenliness, vacuity and meanness of the book under review Croton-on Hudson, N Y B Bruce-Briggs Jamie Kitman replies B Bruce-Briggs may have a legitimate quarrel with my choice of words Looking afresh at the illustrative quotation I borrowed from his book-reprinted above in an extended form-I see that "conservative" was the wrong selection Conservatives focus all blame for Detroit's problems on labor, environmentalists, safety lobbyists, and the Japanese Nevertheless, I think it is ridiculous of Bruce-Briggs to further suggest that the "ancient dream of personal mobility" remains anything other than a myth for the millions of Americans who cannot afford their own automobiles (This is not to mention the billions of souls elsewhere who have yet to benefit from the auto-highway complex ) The conservative view may be mistaken, but at least it bears a nominal relation to objective fact Guatemala Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo's remarks on his country ("A Talk with Guatemala's Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo," NL, March 21) reminded me of what Porfino Diaz once said about his native land "Poor Mexico-so far from God and so close to the United States' Dallas Robert Prescott...