Letter to the NYTimes:
To the Editor:

Like the great majority of those who have become prominent conservative political and media figures since Vietnam, John R. Bolton declined to serve in combat forces back then because, he said, he "had no desire to die in a Southeast Asia rice paddy." Is there any precedent in history for an elite that has been so successful in influencing the government toward assertive military policies while largely declining to serve in combat forces themselves?

Mark Rosenman
Montclair, N.J., May 1, 2005