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Sir: When things get rough, they will send for the heroes to replace the military politicians.
GEORGE COTTON GILLILAND Colonel, U.S.M.C. (ret.)
Riverside, Calif.
Sir: As a gladiator with 15 campaigns behind me. it is apparent to me that the Pentagon's "thinkers and planners" are getting us gladiated the hell out of Southeast Asia.
IRISH WALLER
Boulder, Colo.
Sir: McNamara and the Administration finally put together a team to run the military. Everyone "reasons" together, and no one says no to the Administration.
PAUL KARNIK
Fair Lawn, NJ.
Sir: Would someone give the command "At ease"? I've been standing at attention ever since seeing your cover picture of the Joint Chiefs.
JOHN VASSILES
Kew Gardens Hills. N.Y.
Sir: I was amused by your article in the humor section on "McNamara's Band."
D. N. DOWLING
Mattoon, Ill.
Home Sweet Zoo
Sir: Almost all exotic animals [Feb. 5] are unsuitable as pets. Most have no idea of the time, money and trouble involved in looking after them. Many of them are very delicate, others require highly specialized diets, and yet others (particularly monkeys) are extremely dangerous when mature.
NIGEL SITWELL Editor Animals
London
Sir: The snake you identified as a boa is actually an African rock python. The python usually makes a hardier, longer-lived, more interesting, gentler pet than the boa, and is much larger.
CRAIG PHILLIPS
Arlington, Va.
As demonstrated by Herpetophile George Kleinsinger who has a boa (left) as well as a python.
Never Too Late
Sir: We read with surprise the item on Ethiopia [Feb. 12]. Addis Ababa's municipal center was totally financed by Ethiopian taxpayers. However, the municipality would welcome $2,500,000 from the U.S. to finance new projects in its five-year plan for other services.
ZEUDE GABRE HEYWOT Mayor
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
General v. General
Sir: General Weygand [Feb. 5] was a great interservices and inter-Allied chief. He sacrificed himself in 1940 when he accepted the post of commander-in-chief at a time when the battle was already lost. He was brutally dismissed in 1941 on Hitler's orders. He had won the respect and affection of all the French veterans. The decision of the government, denying him a funeral at Les Invalides, has had a disastrous effect on public opinion.
CHRISTIAN DE GUILLEBON
Nancy, France
Sir: No doubt many would-be heirs of Napoleon will object to your impertinent Milestone about the shame of General Maxime Weygand. But your judgment was quite right; the old soldier typified the weakness of his time and of his country. Compared to the now-disparaged "Anglo-Saxons," Weygand and his colleagues were made of mousse. Surely only Gallic "rationalism" combined with characteristic grandeur could induce any Frenchman today to think otherwise.
PHILIPPE BECKER
New York City
The Whitmore Affair