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These moves were central to the origins of the dispute. The Soviet Union provided missiles to help protect Cuba against such actions. As Defense Secretary Robert McNamara stated at a conference in 1989, "If I had been a Cuban leader, I think I might have expected a U.S. invasion." Kennedy is often praised for his handling of the crisis. But less discussed is the skill with which he hid the U.S. insurgency campaign against Cuba. DEREK MULLINGS Dubai, United Arab Emirates
FIGHTING THE COMMON COLD
Your article about the tests of a new decoy drug that relieves the common cold [MEDICINE, Oct. 13] was intriguing. If some future geneticist could produce a creature in his own likeness in the laboratory, wouldn't that scientist want to come up with a way to protect it against all the diseases of the earth? How could that be achieved?
Perhaps it could be done by making it susceptible to a weak, rapidly mutating virus that didn't cause much trouble but ensured that the creature's immune system had to keep firing up every now and again to guard against nastier problems. The common cold is a strange disorder and has so far defeated all efforts to get rid of it. Could it be a form of protection devised by God or nature? And if the common cold is a defense mechanism, would it be wise to get rid of it? ROBERT W.K. GARDINER Kirbymoorside, England
Until three years ago, I was getting a cold three or four times a year. But since I started eating garlic, I have not had a single cold. Each day I have a garlic clove with breakfast, along with a spoonful of parsley to eliminate the odor. I don't know about vampires, but it sure works against colds. PAGET SAYERS Managua
A YEN FOR ZEN
When the old god Jehovah, or Yahweh, ceased to frighten most people, new prophets arose. People listened to preachings about capitalism, democracy, humanism, socialism and communism. When even these failed to fill the human soul, the unexplored exotic religions of the East, such as Buddhism [RELIGION, Oct. 13], beckoned. But here in the West, those religions are artificially implanted in a society that is spiritually lost. The followers are ready to be led like sheep into any corner of the religious corral--be it to mass suicide, sexual excess or even murder. Eastern religions are Eastern in their mentality, and Buddhism in America will go the way of other fads. ROMAN STASTNY London, Ont.
VIEWS ABOUT LAND MINES
Your story on Jody Williams' winning the Nobel Peace Prize for her campaign to ban land mines [NATION, Oct. 20] failed to mention many of the major disadvantages of the proposed land-mine treaty. It would ban land mines, without any exceptions. But these weapons can be a small nation's first and only line of defense against a larger aggressor. Also, I fail to see how the treaty will prevent most of the deaths and injuries. A large number of land mines are planted by terrorist groups which will not be bound by a piece of paper. MEHAL SHAH, age 14 Amherst, N.Y.