Iraq: National Integrity for the Few

Regarding the article "Iraqis See Bitter Loss of National Integrity," April 17: No doubt the Sunnis or the minority Baathists, who up to this point have exercised control, see a loss of national integrity. But not the Kurds or the Shiites - they have never had it. From the beginning Iraq was an artificial creation with no inherent integrity, and it never achieved it. Iraq's neighbors are no better, nor is the Soviet empire. E pluribus unum is impossible to achieve if it is attempted as these countries have done.

Wilton Vincent, Auburn, Calif.

My happiness in finishing our work in the Gulf and returning home to my family is interrupted by the events you describe in the Gulf and the Soviet Union. In the midst of our national euphoria over victory, we have two great challenges in foreign policy to meet. One is to solve the Palestinian question. The other is to use whatever influence we can muster to encourage the development of democracy in the Soviet Union.

A democratic Soviet state (or states) is an essential part of a "new world order." A Soviet Union which falls further behind the West economically and technologically will drain the world's economies and postpone the establishment of a new order that can deal more effectively with other Saddam Husseins.

Darrell Stanaford, El Paso, Texas

1st Lieutenant, US Army

Shear arrogance The article "Peelable Wool Not Shear Fancy," April 17, exposes human arrogance as well as naked sheep by stating that biological shearing is easier for the sheep.

Do we humans think we exist outside of biological systems? For what purpose would we tolerate the administration of hormonal treatment disruptive enough to cause ewes to abort? This is an attempt to feed our insatiable appetites of more for less. It should make us ponder the new frontier of biological and genetic engineering.

Dana Toomey, Goshen, Conn.