(Ed.'s note: The following letter was sent to columnist Don DeWitt and is printed here at the writer's request.)

Admittedly, I disagree with much of what you include in your column. But, your recent listing of US soldiers killed in various American wars was both bizarre and insulting. Who was your unnamed source for this strange mixture of accurate and inaccurate statistics? Don't you ever check anything? And what in the world led you to conclude "there is no reason to dispute" these numbers? In fact, there is one very large reason to dispute them - half are completely false.

Therefore, I would hope this might provide an opportunity for you to do your readers a service and run an accurate list. Try the Time 2001 Almanac (pages 371-72) for the correct figures.

Using a legitimate source would have shown that there were 2,446 killed in the Spanish-American War (as opposed to the 11,000 on your list); 36,914 in Korea (not 55,000); 58,167 instead 109,000 in Vietnam and it was only 148 Americans who perished in the Gulf conflict. How could you possibly believe 9,000 American service people were killed in that brief mismatch?

I'll be very interested in seeing if you have the integrity to correct these awful inaccuracies on the record. Somehow, I doubt you will.

Arthur C. Kaminsky