Risking success

I find your Cover Story ``Remembering D-Day 50 Years Later,'' April 11, worthy of some reflection. How difficult it was for the Allies to take the political gamble of conducting such a large-scale operation, realizing the high cost even if the invasion was a success. And to think that success was not guaranteed. I am reminded of the great impact the D-Day invasion had on Europe and am moved by the healthy pride felt by those who participated in freeing an oppressed people.

It seems axiomatic that the higher the principle, the more difficult the task and the greater the risk - and the greater is the satisfaction in pursuing that principle.

It is regrettable that in our recent reawakening to the realities of the Holocaust-past and the holocaust-present, ``high principles'' do not account for much when weighed against the pragmatism of political considerations: the ``what ifs'' of taking a chance and risking success. David F. Schmidt, Arlington, Va.

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