Timothy McVeigh

Alexander Cockburn’s June 29 Column Left (“Where Do We Bury McVeigh?”) is remarkable. His premise is that since Timothy McVeigh was trained to kill by the Army, and all McVeigh did in Oklahoma City was simply what the Army trained him to do, how can McVeigh not now be buried in a national cemetery?

Cockburn seems to believe that all people who underwent Army training are now social deviates who don’t see anything wrong with bombing 168 innocent people. This is a despicable insult to those who have loyally served in America’s military services. Cockburn only uses the McVeigh case as a vehicle to vent his real feelings. His problem is a hatred of the military.

ROBERT H. PENOYER

Monterey Park

Of all the fallacious implications in this article, blaming the actions of McVeigh on his military training is perhaps the most offensive. To equate all the fine men and women in our military service to McVeigh is outrageous.

Furthermore, of the millions of veterans of military service, it is my guess that the proportion of people who are lawbreakers is considerably lower than in the public at large. The purpose of military training is not to produce “killers” but to develop people to serve their country. By and large, that training has been successful.

DON JORTNER

Rancho Palos Verdes