Military

I have been fiercely opposed to the missile defense project, but I've decided to cool my anger. It's clear to me that it will never work. Meanwhile, the billions used to develop it should be considered President Bush's WPA project for the military manufacturing industry. What the heck. It will provide jobs. Irving Zeiger Los Angeles

Behrouz Saba tries to sound very authoritative about how "any military or police apparatus fights far more fiercely within its own ranks than it battles the enemy or criminals," then uses two works of fiction as "proof" (Letters, May 10). Gee, then I wonder how those millions of dead German and Japanese soldiers in World War II got that way? Somebody was fighting them. I don't know in which branch of the military Saba served and fought and risked his life, but in the real world, misfits, thumb-sucking mama's boys and other losers who whine about adult discipline usually wash out during basic training, or else inevitably they're later arrested, court-martialed and imprisoned for their troublemaking.

The U.S. military is providing intelligence and surveillance video from unmanned aircraft to the Pakistani army to assist in its week-old offensive in South Waziristan, marking the deepest American involvement yet in a Pakistani military campaign, officials said. The assistance includes imagery from armed Predator drones that Defense officials say are being used exclusively for intelligence gathering in the offensive. Providing such information fills gaps in the Islamabad government's spying arsenal, officials said, and helps show how the Obama administration intends to intensify pressure on insurgents in Pakistan as the administration overhauls the U.S. military strategy in neighboring Afghanistan.

Is Anat Kam an Israeli hero or a traitor? She is accused of secretly copying more than 2,000 military documents, many of them classified, while serving mandatory duty as a soldier from 2005 to 2007, and then releasing some to the press. One document appeared to show that the Israeli army tried to circumvent court orders meant to rein in its use of targeted killings. Supporters say the 23-year-old Kam, who is on trial at Tel Aviv District Court, acted according to her conscience.

The U.S. government's "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning openly gay military service members will be at the center of a legal battle played out in a federal courtroom in Riverside on Tuesday, with the policy facing its first major constitutional challenge since a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Texas case struck down anti-sodomy laws. In its lawsuit against the government, the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights group, argues that the Texas ruling means the military can no longer interpret a mere admission of homosexuality as justification for a discharge.

This is to all the military experts in and out of uniform: When does a swagger become a swish? ROBERT S. ALBERT Claremont

The March 8 article in The Mature Traveler column by Bill Hughes about "Space Available" for military air travel was misleading. The veterans he was referring to were, of course, retired military. However, space available military air travel is authorized for all active duty military, some government employees overseas and dependents of both groups. My wife and I have crossed the Pacific for $10 and for the same fare made many trips in the Far East. BILL LEWIS Pusan, Korea

Pentagon auditors say billions in military spending go unchecked because they can't keep pace with the defense budget and combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Defense Department inspector general estimated that nearly half of the military's $316-billion weapons budget went unchecked last year. The March assessment was obtained by the Project on Government Oversight.