Capt. Ashby

Capt. Richard Ashby’s six-month sentence and expulsion from the Marine Corps (for obstruction of justice) amounts to a slap on the wrist and revocation of his library card (May 11), compared to the book he should have had thrown at him for that cable car “accident.”

It may very well be true, as was testified, that the videotape was stopped before the gondola incident. However, the audio track would have shed light on the timbre of the mood in the cockpit prior to the tragedy. The very fact of the purposeful destruction of the tape speaks volumes about its incriminating content. The world knows darn well he was hotdogging that plane, and the unfortunate part is that he isn’t as good a pilot as he thought.

The way our military has handled this is a national disgrace. There isn’t enough whitewash in the world to cover that much red!

THOMAS SHUDIC

Burbank

*

Ashby gets kicked out of the Marines and jailed for torching a videotape that might have contained incriminating evidence. On the other hand, during the Reagan administration, Ollie North sold 4,000 TOW missiles to a terrorist nation, lied repeatedly to Congress, accepted gratuities from international arms dealers, ran dope from Central America and, when caught, shredded incriminating documents--lots of them.

Ashby gets the boot and jail time and North gets an honorable discharge from the Marines, a pension, a TV and radio show and paid speaking engagements.

Something’s definitely wrong here!

BOB EMBICK

Laguna Niguel

*

We send 20 Italian skiers to their deaths and blame it on “faulty maps.” We bomb a Chinese embassy and blame it on “outdated maps.” Does our self-proclaimed “world’s greatest military” notice any pattern forming here ?

JOHN R. HARRIS

Huntington Beach