The claim that minorities are used as "human shields" in military operations is unfounded ("Minority soldiers killed in combat at high rate," April 14 letter). The author used "statistics" from unnamed sources and then tried to draw conclusions from them.

According to the Department of Defense, minorities make up 37.5 percent of the military, not 18 percent as the author claims. And how about the "statistic" that 40 percent of the current casualties are minorities? With the small number of casualties in the current Iraq conflict, statistical analysis on the racial composition of casualties are not likely to be accurate.

Even if the 40 percent figure is accurate, it still cannot support the author's conclusions. A 2.5 percent difference between minority casualties and minority composition of the military could barely support a claim of racial bias, let alone a claim that minorities are simply sent out to the front lines to be gunned down.

If the author's intent was to expose racial bias in the military, he could have presented data from respected sources and addressed such issues as promotions, awards and military court decisions. By making an unsupported accusation against the military, he will incite anger rather than promote intelligent discussion.