A 48-Hour Pause for Mideast Peace

An indispensable element is missing from your proposal for a pause in the war. This pause, you suggest, “might pressure Baghdad to come to its senses,” and might make Hussein cry uncle.

But nothing is asked of President Bush, still apparently immovable in his determination to wipe out another nation if his demands are not met to the letter. You say that such a pause would signal “that Washington remains open to diplomacy.” But this is clearly not the case. Yet a pause is indeed needed, a pause for humanity, a time for both sides to reconsider their positions and make a genuine effort to end hostilities. Today, even before a land war begins, enough bloody mischief has been done to assure turmoil and political malignancy in the Mideast for years. Is American diplomacy wholly incompetent at this critical juncture?

W.H. FERRY

Scarsdale, N.Y.