George,

Thanks for sending out the quote by Rumsfeld. I have been seething ever since I saw it.

My issue is not the Draft, as such (I support it) but the cavalier way that he denigrated the sacrifice by thousands of young men dragged from their familes and communities to fight in a little-understood war.

While Lott's comments about Thurmond inadvertently indicated long-suspected attitudes, Rumsfeld's are much worse. Not only are they totally insensitive to the feelings of family members of men who died in Viet Nam, but they are gratuitously insulting to their memory, and, I feel, to the efforts of all who served there.

His comments illustrate the patrician focus of this Administration. He should be made to apologize to all concerned at the Wall.

Al Weed (electronic mail, January 12, 2003)