[Vision2020] shock and awe

[roger hayes]

Dear Vision readers.

  While this brief note isn't really a "local" topic, I would like 
mention the Bush Administration's words at the beginning of the actions 
in Iraq.  The words "shock and awe" were bandied about like a mantra.  
Indeed, we have now lived up to those threats and promises.  
Unfortunately, it isn't just the people of Iraq who are experiencing 
shock and awe.  The world is taken aback with the images from the 
prisons in Iraq and the carnage in the streets.

Guilt for these atrocities should lay not with the soldiers, who of 
course should know better, but by the instigators of the war who 
ordered the actions and framed the mentality under which they were 
carried out.  While American soldiers are dying and suffering, Iraqi 
civilians perishing, a few guilty soldiers will be put on trail.  I do 
believe a good number of high ranking Administration officials, and not 
just a few members of Congress should join them on the witness stand 
instead of looking forward to a lifetime retirement of riches and 
pleasure gleaned from our tax dollars.

Sincerely,

Roger Hayes
Moscow