From a press conference on Nov. 21, 2001 and recounted in a letter in this month's National Review magazine.

Perhaps because of all the attention given the nomination of John Bolton, and of would-be federal judges, we have not heard much about Gen. Peter Pace, President Bush's choice to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff. To illustrate what a good choice this is, I offer the following exchange, from a press conference on November 21, 2001:

Q: On tunnels and caves, does the United States have the kind of embedded capability that it developed during World War II, during Vietnam, to specialize in going into tunnels, caves, analyzing it, fighting in it? Do we have that special(inaudible)anymore in the ranks?

A: Our specialized approach to caves and tunnels is to put 500-pound bombs in the entrance.

How about that?

Steven I. Wallach
New York, N.Y.

I love it!