New York Times Reporter and Antiwar Advocate Chris Hedges Ponders Chaos At Commencement

Hedges was the keynote speaker for Saturday’s graduation of more than 400 students, but he found an unreceptive audience to a speech peppered with harsh criticism of the United States’ policy in Iraq.

Hedges’ microphone was twice unplugged. Some guests shouted for him to leave, and others chanted patriotic slogans. A few tried to rush the podium, and at least one graduate tossed his cap and gown to the stage before leaving.

“I didn’t expect that. How can you expect to have anyone climb on stage and turn your mike off,” Hedges said Tuesday during a telephone interview. “Watching it in my own country is heartbreaking.”

Hedges opened with: “I’m here to talk about war and empire.”

He said the United States was an occupying force, rather than a liberating force. He predicted Iraq would become a cesspool for the United States as it was for the British in 1917.

His book, called “War is a Force that Gives us Meaning,” explores the fervor that takes over individual thought in times of war. People no longer feel alienated, but instead, feel they belong to something larger than themselves, Hedges said in his speech.

He viewed what happened Saturday as a manifestation of the phenomenon.

“I find it always frightening when that happens in war time,” Hedges said.