Scaled-Down ‘Star Wars’

Your front-page photo of Teller and the President tells the story better than words: Dr. Frankenstein rubs his hands as he and Reagan cackle over the cruel hoax they have worked on the American people.

We might have expected that at least one voice of common sense might have been found in the White House or the Pentagon to keep a gee-whiz President from taking off on a mindless Superman swoop. But, although all can see that the emperor has no clothes, the slavish chorus has gone on flying in the face of the facts.

With 90% of reputable scientists in the country calling “Star Wars” on overblown fraud, nevertheless it lurches forward, already having leeched on the taxpayer to the extent of $10 billion. And it has grown a bureaucratic incubus which will be almost impossible to get rid of.

The Reagan Administration has many crimes to answer for. Leaving this malignant monster to feed off the taxpayer, to endanger our defenses by its threat of first strike and turning space into a combat zone, is one of the worst.

FREDERIC E. PAMP

Santa Ynez