VIOLENT RAIDS

Re "Elian Isn't the Only Child Traumatized," Commentary, May 5: In her
excellent piece on police brutality and the feigned outrage by Washington's
establishment, Arianna Huffington forgot to mention the Branch Davidians
and Randy Weaver, episodes in which children were not simply
traumatized--they were killed. Randy Weaver's son was shot in cold blood.
His wife was also murdered in front of their remaining children. The Branch
Davidian children were burned alive with their parents. Elian Gonzalez
should consider himself lucky.

The root problem is the war on drugs. It has changed the landscape of our
criminal justice system. It's time to start rethinking what we have become
under the aegis of that misbegotten war. It hasn't worked in 20 years. Why
are we so married to this failed policy?

Joan E. Meijer, Los Angeles