They were all about health issues and free advertizing for cigarettes. All.
It had nothing to do with the war, and everything to do with the cigarettes, and with the use of a brand name to identify American soldiers, most of whom don't smoke and some of whom are not men, either.
When I went to the linked Letters columns, I found only one letter that mentioned the war in a negative way (as opposed to mentioning the loss of life vs. the glib headline in the Post). There were a lot of negatives, but they were about the smoking angle. The positive letters were almost all positive in favor of the soldiers, with no mention made of cigarettes at all.
There was also this one, in favor of smoking, which implies that the Marines can't find enough recruits who don't smoke:
Thank God New York isn't occupied by terrorists.
Mayor Bloomberg wouldn't allow a Marine who smokes to enter the city.
He would probably rather be a prisoner than see someone smoke.
Hank Sbordone
Middletown N.J.
Probably someone who has to wear a couple of nicotine patches.
Spin it any way you want. Their words are their words are their words.
Let me repeat my favorite, so that perhaps you can see this:
How much did Phillip Morris pay for the front cover advertisement?
Thank you for continuing to encourage the development of cancer.
Mark Leininger
Manhattan