author of the opinion-page article ``West Must Back Reform

Efforts in Algeria,'' states that the country's current strife is reminiscent of the war of independence against the French; ``the only difference is that this time Algerians are killing Algerians.''A sad fact is that Algerians were killing Algerians even then, at the same time as they were fighting the French. During the war, there were three deadly Algerian versus Algerian conflicts, starting with elimination fights between revolutionary organizations. Second, since revolutionary groups were financed largely by dues from working Algerians in France, the bodies of apparent deadbeats were showing up constantly. Third, and most important, the rebel bands roving the Algerian countryside had to terrorize the civilians into supporting them. Rodney Angove, Mountain View, Calif.

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