LETTERS
LETTERS A word from the general As one of the generals in the War Against Poverty, I am overjoyed that Jonathan Rowe was a "spear carrier" ['.'I Was A Spear Carrier in the War on...
...We need people like him to keep us informed about the military...
...MARIO OBLEDO Washington, D.C...
...Treasury, then said, "If mounted Stingers are what the Army wants [Avenger] is a much cheaper way to get them...
...Your article should be able to touch the hearts and change the thinking, if they think at all, of those who find the successes of the 0E0 so difficult to comprehend...
...2) Although at any instant in time an aircraft is just a blip on a radar, its time history gives a wealth of information on velocities and accelerations...
...In an October edition full of fascinating polemics against the oversimplifications of "60 Minutes" and political leaders' simplistic views of foreign affairs, you come up with the oldest canard yet about the U.S...
...If they do, we might well have a major league team in Havana before the end of this century...
...Hopefully, the two world leaders most interested in baseball will decide to give the fans what they want...
...Setbacker's point about evasive maneuvers, the short version of which is that while attack aircraft must fly straight and level in the instant they are firing at their targets, this phase often lasts only a second or two...
...Given suitable algorithms and processing power, both of which do exist, a future flight path can be extrapolated...
...Neal raise points that I simplified to spare readers mind-numbing page length...
...I was interested to read that the HAWK missile is considered too elaborate to move around during combat and could not protect troops and tanks...
...4) Aircraft seldom do highly evasive maneuvers when engaging a target...
...random jinks cannot be predicted...
...When writing about the miltary, reporters face the choice of completely unfolding all technical questions, which results in stories frighteningly viscous to the average reader...
...The mast and blades of a hovering helicopter do move and can be tracked but are only a fraction of the size of the helicopter itself (especially when the helicopter is near the ground and viewed in profile...
...I cited this project as an example of the fact that successful weapons development need not involve commando raids on the U.S...
...But it's still a guess...
...I can give you a dozen recent anecdotes about misaddressed letters that dedicated Postal Service employees, against long odds, managed to deliver to the intended recipients...
...The details were to be worked out between the parties involving an autonomy agreement...
...In sum, the president's -initiative knocked the Camp David agreements into a cocked hat...
...Flying in and out, they can jink violently...
...If attack planes are flying at World War II speeds and if our Vietnam jets and helicopters were shot down with visually aimed guns and if Afghan rebels are shooting down the most advanced Soviet planes with visual sights, why is no one disputing The army's need for a new antiaircraft weapon...
...He is also correct to note that DIVAD has optical sights, but they are poor ones, as all the money has gone into electronic aiming...
...Vulcans are hard to aim and awkward to reload...
...Otherwise, this was a great article...
...Easterbrook has both an understanding of and a respect for the military, a rare combination...
...The key unknown is what position the new commissioner of baseball, Peter Ueberroth, will take...
...To answer Mr...
...Postal Service...
...Who lost Camp David...
...More to the point is the following: During fiscal year 1983, the U.S...
...The latrine fan, mounted upright relative to DIVAD, did not produce this coming-and-going effect...
...ambassador to Israel, Samuel W. Lewis, in referring to Reagan's peace initiative, said that the "timing was abysmal, tactics of presentation worse, and the outcome nil" (The New York Times, October 31, 1984...
...When the HAWK (Homing All The Way Killer, in case you have forgotten what the initials stand for) first appeared, the protection of troops and tanks was exactly what it was supposed to do...
...And if the Stinger has a limited range and might not bring down aircraft even if it hits it, why are you touting the Avenger as what to build instead...
...IRVING LEVINE Great Neck, New York DIVAD and Conquer I enjoyed reading Gregg Easterbrook's article on DIVAD in the November issue ["Why DIVAD Wouldn't Die...
...2. Camp David makes no mention of Israel's West Bank settlements...
...It was touted as a highly mobile, front-line support weapon...
...Neal misunderstands me on the last matter...
...Congratulations...
...however there are still cheaper and more effective alternatives," continuing from there to list the many new Vulcan-like systems, in use in nearly every major army in the world except ours, as the best alternatives...
...Setbacker and Mr...
...SARGENT SHRIVER Washington, D. C Sargent Shriver was the director of the Office of Economic Opportunity from 1965 through 1968...
...3) DIVAD does have an optical sight and can be aimed by a human, something which was never mentioned and almost denied...
...We were armed with the latest rifles -and there were several (six, I believe) heavy .50-caliber machine guns in each battery...
...The U.S...
...All of which makes for a smaller target, which can be picked up only at close ranges— like trying to find an airplane by tracking the tip of one wing...
...Mario Obledo is president of the League of United Latin American Citizens...
...Reagan's peace initiative nevertheless referred to a permanent settlement freeze, again undercutting Camp David...
...3. On the question of terrorism and Israel's security, the Reagan plan provided for "progressive Palestinian responsibility for internal security" instead of negotiation, as provided in Camp David...
...Or they added more equipment, making it even more cumbersome...
...Basically a Doppler radar requires a moving target: the fuselage of a hovering helicopter, being stationary, escapes detection...
...Which was a good thing, as the battery in which I served in Bamberg, Germany from June 1961 to May 1962 had no missiles...
...If The Washington Monthly is really interested in bashing oversimplifications, you'll give our 547,328 employees credit where it's due...
...The League of United Latin American Citizens, the nation's largest Hispanic membership organization, recently returned from 35 hours of high-level personal meetings with Castro and other top-level Cuban officials regarding "baseball diplomacy...
...This was why it was immediately rejected by Israel, and subsequently by Hussein of Jordan...
...Setbacker's concerns: First, it is technically possible for Doppler radar to track a hovering helicopter but impractical except under ideal conditions...
...Also for each helicopter blade moving toward the sending radar, another blade is moving away, tending to generate contrasting echoes that interfere with each other as do waves meeting in the sea...
...similar new guns from NATO countries and from General Electric, builder of Vulcan, operate much more smoothly...
...The president's initiative, by specifically in advance providing for ultimate Palestinian control over internal security, was really placing the fox in charge of the chicken coop, thereby completely demolishing Camp David...
...pending negotiation and consummation of the peace treaty with Egypt...
...The transitional period was five years...
...David Ignatius's well-written analysis of the Middle East situation ("The Middle East is Everybody's Fault," November) is otherwise marred by his faulty conclusions concerning the-American position in the Middle East, particularly his reference to President Reagan's misguided 1982 peace initiative...
...Don Hill is general manager of the public affairs division of the US...
...With all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into the 1979 Camp David agreements, Reagan,-at one fell swoop, sabotaged the Camp David agreements: 1. Camp David left open the final status-of the West Bank and Gaza, subject to mutual negotiations within a certain time frame...
...The Hawk missile Mr...
...Army's main antiaircraft cannon, is not outdated in concept, only in that the mechanical parts don't run very well...
...An overwhelming 86 percent favored a major league team in Havana...
...DON HILL Washington, D.C...
...Antiaircraft gunners make similar guesses, using intuition at a much lower cost...
...ROBERT SETBACKER Santa Barbara, California The author replies: In addition to offering their kind comments, Mr...
...Postal Service— an isolated anecdote about a misdelivered letter ["Tilting at Windmills...
...Sugar kings redux Your article, "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Foreign Policy" (October 1984), suggesting a transformation in U.S.-Cuban relations by permitting Havana into the American League may be more serious than you realize...
...Postal Service delivered 64.25 billion pieces of first-class mail, the overwhelming majority of it properly addressed and properly delivered, on time and without complaint...
...The games could be played in the United States and/or Havana...
...I will admit that this requires state-of-the-art technology, but it is possible...
...Begin, by-separate letter, agreed only to a three-month moratorium on settlements...
...As a first step, Cuba has authorized LULAC, without any strings attached, to negotiate for a threegame exhibition series against any major league team beginning this spring...
...I served as a platoon leader in a HAWK battery in 1961-62 and much of our training was devoted to moving from one spot to another and quickly preparing to fire...
...He is also a good writer...
...he is presently considering LULAC's request...
...But neither kind of anecdote is representative...
...Having written about this project more than once, I sometimes lose track of what was said where—details on DIVAD's optical sights can be found in my original Atlantic article, as can more details on Mr...
...Reagan's plan envisaged the West Bank's political and physical merger with Jordan, thereby nullifying whatever claims to the area Israel had, and also killed Camp David's projected negotiations, thereby assuring the complete exclusion of the Israelis from this Palestinian homeland...
...The story did not tout the Stinger/Avenger vehicle as the answer to DIVAD...
...or speeding past selected ramifications, which results in stories close followers of the subject find incomplete...
...Sitting in DIVAD it's hard to see the outside world, let alone scan the skies...
...The Vulcan gun, presently the U.S...
...Why is the Vulcan outdated...
...The accords set up an organizational framework for both internal and external security...
...I hope he will reconsider his promise not to write on the military again...
...It appears to me, after reading your article, that even the old German 88 is not outdated...
...A recent poll taken at a San Francisco Giants-Los Angeles Dodgers game demonstrates strong fan support...
...There are, however, a few points in which he erred: 1) If the DIVAD Doppler radar cannot track a helicopter, then how could it lock onto a latrine fan...
...They are dedicated and effective and they're continually getting better...
...The article by Gregg Easterbrook was amazingly informative...
...Since the HAWK is-no longer considered a front-line weapon, I suppose someone finally realized that it was not all that mobile after all...
...We discussed the parallel between a baseball exchange and the "pingpong diplomacy" that led to improved relations with the People's Republic of China...
...These negotiations were to commence "not later than the third year after the beginning of the transitional period...
...We were supposed to fight as infantry when needed and several of the noncommissioned officers had fought as infantry in World War II and Korea...
...PETER R. NEAL Hillsborough, N.C...
...Neal worked with in the early 1960s has been superseded by a more complicated version called I-Hawk...
...LETTERS A word from the general As one of the generals in the War Against Poverty, I am overjoyed that Jonathan Rowe was a "spear carrier" ['.'I Was A Spear Carrier in the War on Poverty," November...
...I am surprised at the depth of his knowledge in the area and frankly amazed that he was able to obtain it...
...Setbacker is correct to note that computers can make a reasonable guess where a plane is going by analyzing flight paths, and DIVAD has such computers...
...Appointed rounds Oh, come on Washington Monthly...
Vol. 16 • January 1985 • No. 12
