U.S. Troops in Saudi Arabia

In response to Edwin Dorn’s column “Devil’s Bargain in the Front Lines” (Commentary, Dec. 4):

It is no more unfair that the armed forces are made up mostly of minorities and poor whites than that the good, well-paying jobs go to smart, well-educated people and the not-so-smart, poorly educated ones have the hard, boring, low-paying ones. That’s just the way the cards are dealt.

If these minority and poor white soldiers were not soldiers, they’d probably be unemployed and possibly be adding to the crime statistics. Whereas if the draft were brought back and middle-class college students and young good-job holders were inducted, they’d be unhappy and, to the extent that their educations were interrupted or that they were killed in combat, the nation would be deprived of sorely needed intellectual capital.

Being in the service, waiting in the desert, maybe fighting in the desert may not be a sweet deal, but it’s the best deal a lot of our soldiers have been able to get from life.

JAMES IRONS

Los Angeles