To the Editor:

 
We were outraged by the repeated references to Nazis, the Gestapo, "Hitler's Brownshirts" and "Herr Howie" in Ralph Peters' column accusing Howard Dean of trying to muzzle the criticism of his fellow Democratic challengers ("Howard the Coward," Jan. 5).

Such loathsome comparisons are wholly inappropriate, deeply offensive and repugnant.  Surely, Mr. Peters could have found some other words to criticize Dr. Dean without reaching for base comparisons to the perpetrators of the Holocaust.  Using such images demeans the Holocaust and the memory of the six million and others who died at the hands of the Nazis.