]]]]]]]]        YELLOW RAIN AND SOVIET LIES DON'T COMPARE     [[[[[[[[[[ 
                     The New York Times 12-3-88             (12/10/1988)
(The writer, a former Defense Department official (1983-87), is now  di-
            rector of the Center for Security Policy.)

                 [Kindly uploaded by Freeman 07656GAED]

  To the Editor:
    "A Lonely Dissent on 'Yellow Rain'" (editorial, Nov. 10) implies that 
  the United States Government's publication of evidence of Soviet use in 
  Southeast Asia of toxin weapons (dubbed "yellow rain," lest we  forget, 
  by those who report that they have been attacked by them) is comparable 
  to  the  brazen Soviet disinformation campaign  representing  the  AIDS 
  virus  as  a United States biological warfare experiment gone  awry,  a 
  view that is truly astounding.
    I  have  visited Hmong refugees of  Soviet-Vietnamese  aggression  in 
  their  Thai camps, and heard first-hand the horrifying accounts of  the 
  terror and killing wrought by plane-delivered "rains."  The  experience 
  leaves  an indelible impression:  technologically primitive peoples  in 
  remote regions are prime targets for chemical and biochemical  weapons.  
  The difficulty in obtaining more than fragmentary evidence; the  readi-
  ness of "civilized" societies to discount eyewitness accounts, and  the 
  industriousness of the likes of Matt Meselson in promoting  alternative 
  explanations--no matter how fanciful or illogical--all tend to make  it 
  practically  impossible to "prove" to tendentious skeptics the  use  of 
  such weapons.  Indeed, these factors encourage that use.
    Your lionizing of Dr. Messelon is unjustified, not to say  appalling.  
  He  has  made  a public career of understating  and  misconstruing  the 
  actual  character and capabilities of the Soviet chemical weapons  pro-
  gram and has for years sought to minimize the significance of threaten-
  ing Soviet activities.                             FRANK J. GAFFNEY JR.
                                                 Washington,Nov. 11, 1988                  

 
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