I found your Feb. 16 cartoon titled “Sheik Down” offensive and misleading. First, it never would have occurred to you to portray a black or Jew in the ethnically sterotyped manner in which you portrayed an Arab. Such portrayals tend to fuel resentment and hostility against Arab-Americans.

Second, only a portion of the OPEC nations are Arab. Others are South American, African and Asian. Third, one need only review the policy of the U.S. and European corporations toward the Third World to realize from whom the OPEC nations learned the art of getting the best price for their product. When our corporations maximize their profits from investments in other countries, we should not criticize other countries for doing the same to us. Is that not what free enterprise is all about? Thomas E. Martin Ellsworth