One of the principled conservative military historians and scholars and former Army officer to offer opposition to Bush's war was Andrew Bacevich. In 2006 his Op-Ed "What's an Iraq Life Worth" in the Washington Post was a refreshing change in that it acknowledged that as we kill Iraqis we make their families and friends the new insurgents and Bush's policies explicitly don't value Iraqi civilian lives. He also wrote about Americans being seduced by war and military solutions in his book: The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War.
What is Andrew Bacevich's Son's Life Worth? Coming from a long line of soldier's his son became an officer and was recently killed in Iraq. I almost wrote Vietnam in a flashback. That was his father's hopeless war.
Like in Vietnam, we are achieving nothing in Iraq for the blood of our young and talented to be sacrificed for.
James Fellows:
That a man who himself served in an ill-advised war should now lose a son to a war the father tried to prevent is almost too painful to contemplate. All the deaths in Iraq are wrenching for the families involved. Perhaps this one might bring an extra moment’s reflection, or shame, to the people now persisting in a doomed policy. Perhaps.
Let us honor the memory of Lt. Andrew Bacevich and extend sincere condolences to Col. Bacevich (Ret.) and his family. Let us urge our leaders, as the elder Andrew Bacevich has done, to reconsider their course of folly.
No comments:
Post a Comment