_______________MANDELA'S BAD COMPANY BY TODD PITOCK (11/03/97)
	Todd Pitock's article has one fatal flaw -- its America-centrism. Sure, Salon is published in the U.S. and has a large U.S. readership, but it is also read internationally and, more importantly, this piece was intended as a commentary on international affairs. Yet, because such leaders as Gadhafi, Arafat and Castro are America's enemies, Pitock assumes they are universally seen as monsters and villains, and questions why Nelson Mandela chooses to even speak with them. If the Libyan government was formally involved in the Lockerbie bombing, then that is reprehensible and those responsible should be brought to justice. That evidence has never been presented and, as far as I can ascertain, Gadhafi's only involvement in the whole affair is in protecting (from his perspective) two Libyan citizens from an international court he does not trust. Arafat, despite his terrorist past, certainly seems far more committed to Middle East peace than U.S.-supported Israel at this point. I do not share the perspectives or the tactics of Gadhafi, Arafat and Castro. I also do not judge all the world in American terms -- and neither does, nor should, Nelson Mandela. -- David Geelan Perth, Australia
	Your article on Nelson Mandela's visit with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi plays to the worst stereotypes America's self-censoring press has produced. Your worldview is based on a distinction of good and evil which was once the moral high ground for what came to be known as the Inquisition. If you prefer journalism over propaganda you should at least inquire what Mandela was doing there. Instead you chastise him for not playing according to your political correctness by casting doubt on his moral virtues, something in which you are hardly competent. -- Manuel Torres
	In the Nov. 3 Newsreal, Todd Pitock writes: "Mandela ignored the U.N. boycott of Gadhafi in retaliation for harboring two Libyans suspected in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing." This is incorrect. The U.N. has not imposed a total boycott on travel to Libya, only a ban on air travel. Mandela complied with this ban, flying to Tunisia and traveling overland into Libya. Mandela may be in a unique position to end Libya's isolation by settling the Lockerbie affair. His proposal is that the two accused men be tried in a neutral country under British law, and it appears that Gadhafi is willing to accept this proposal. So should the U.S. and Britain, as it is unlikely that the accused could get a fair trial in the U.K. "In addition to Gadhafi, Yasir Arafat, Fidel Castro and a dream team of late 20th century villains have basked in the great man's glow." This implies that these men are "20th century villains." Castro is no worse a dictator than many that have been honored by the U.S.; Arafat is the democratically elected leader of the Palestinian people. Mandela's policies and views are not identical to those espoused by, say, The Economist. The West (especially the U.S. and the U.K., which were de facto allies of the apartheid regime for a number of years) has no unique claim on what is "moral." Deal with it. -- Joe Buck SALON | Nov. 5, 1997

R E C E N T L Y+| STOP THE VIOLINS! BY SARAH VOWELL

If you'd like to submit a letter to the editor for publication,
please e-mail us at salon@salonmagazine.com.
Letters may be edited for clarity and conciseness.
If you do not wish the letter to be published, please say so.

---