Hail to the Chief

A reader in Iraq writes:

I've actually been thinking a lot about art in general and performance art in particular. I want to get 3,300 pairs of combat boots, clean and new, and set them up in one long row along a sidewalk near the whitehouse. The pairs of boots will be spaced 21" apart, to show respect and keep the veterans from becoming (too) affronted. Joe and Jill Washingtonian will walk with their child along these rows of unused boots and think, "ah, so tragic, so many dead." Then they'll run into one pair of boots that sticks out. This pair will be dirty and brown with dried human blood. Near it will be a plaque describing the horrific details of the actual death of an actual person - burned alive in his tank when an IED caused the hatch to fuse shut, captured and tortured by having his eyeballs drilled out with a powerdrill before he was shot, etc. And perhaps a framed photo of the corpse. Only one pair like this - the rest of the boots will be smooth, clean, and plain.