Chemical Arms in the Middle East

Your informative and humane editorial on chemical weapons (“To the Brink: What an Ugly War,” Aug. 9) contained a serious omission. During our mistaken involvement in Vietnam, we used huge amounts of napalm and Agent Orange, both of which figure clearly as chemical weapons. Remembering this distressing page from our recent past puts a peculiarly ironic and significant twist on your entirely appropriate conclusion that “History’s pigeons have a way of coming home to roost.”

We are known to have been manufacturing chemical and biological weapons since our withdrawal from Southeast Asia. Clean hands are a condition of our credibility if, as most Americans hope, we provide leadership in the world for outlawing the use of these cruel and savage instruments of destruction.

EDWARD JOSEPH SHOBEN, JR.

Beverly Hills