Blood Bath in Mideast

Your editorial “A Blood Bath Beyond Our Grasp” (April 2) is a tragic comment on the last 10 years of American foreign policy. Apparently it was within our grasp to support with millions of dollars of aid the brutal Contra insurrection against the government of Nicaragua. It was within our grasp to support with more millions the South African surrogate Jonas Savimbi in his bloody attacks on the government of Angola. It was also within our grasp to restore a decadent despot to power in Kuwait and protect a feudal monarch in Saudi Arabia.

Now we are told it is not within our grasp to offer arms and air support to the incredibly brave Kurds and Shiites of Iraq who are simply trying to overthrow Saddam Hussein, the cruel dictator President Bush asked them to overthrow, the tyrant he compared to Hitler.

There is one thing within the grasp of every American, the bitter knowledge that the past 10 years of American political leadership, both in the White House and Congress, has not only left our country fiscally bankrupt, it has left us morally bankrupt as well.

MARVIN A. GLUCK

Topanga