To the editor:

I became physically ill after viewing pictures of American soldiers, with smiles on their faces, abusing Iraqi prisoners. While I do believe the behavior depicted in the images is the exception rather than the rule, what else can the acts of those American soldiers be called except terrorism?

I feel sorry for the victims, their families and the families of the soldiers involved. But I also feel for my country, the United States of America, whose name throughout the world has been so seriously blemished. We should be above such barbaric behavior.

I suppose I should apologize for my emotional response, but such acts of torture, in the name of our ill-placed “war on terror,” should inflame everyone’s ire. But it should inflame more than just our passions; it should inflame a rousing response. Please register to vote, and invest the power of your voice loudly and strongly. And when that is accomplished, invest your voice in our country’s future to ensure that our civil liberties, and the liberties of those we hold in our power, are never violated again.

Christina Bolas,

Lawrence