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A stunning op-ed in today’s Washington Post, in it’s entirety. Emphasis mine:

I Lost My Son to a War I Oppose. We Were Both Doing Our Duty.

By Andrew J. Bacevich
Sunday, May 27, 2007; B01

Parents who lose children, whether through accident or illness, inevitably wonder what they could have done to prevent their loss. When my son was killed in Iraq earlier this month at age 27, I found myself pondering my responsibility for his death.

Among the hundreds of messages that my wife and I have received, two bore directly on this question. Both held me personally culpable, insisting that my public opposition to the war had provided aid and comfort to the enemy. Each said that my son’s death came as a direct result of my antiwar writings.

This may seem a vile accusation to lay against a grieving father. But in fact, it has become a staple of American political discourse, repeated endlessly by those keen to allow President Bush a free hand in waging his war. By encouraging “the terrorists,” opponents of the Iraq conflict increase the risk to U.S. troops. Although the First Amendment protects antiwar critics from being tried for treason, it provides no protection for the hardly less serious charge of failing to support the troops — today’s civic equivalent of dereliction of duty.

What exactly is a father’s duty when his son is sent into harm’s way?

Among the many ways to answer that question, mine was this one: As my son was doing his utmost to be a good soldier, I strove to be a good citizen.

As a citizen, I have tried since Sept. 11, 2001, to promote a critical understanding of U.S. foreign policy. I know that even now, people of good will find much to admire in Bush’s response to that awful day. They applaud his doctrine of preventive war. They endorse his crusade to spread democracy across the Muslim world and to eliminate tyranny from the face of the Earth. They insist not only that his decision to invade Iraq in 2003 was correct but that the war there can still be won. Some — the members of the “the-surge-is-already-working” school of thought — even profess to see victory just over the horizon.

I believe that such notions are dead wrong and doomed to fail. In books, articles and op-ed pieces, in talks to audiences large and small, I have said as much. “The long war is an unwinnable one,” I wrote in this section of The Washington Post in August 2005. “The United States needs to liquidate its presence in Iraq, placing the onus on Iraqis to decide their fate and creating the space for other regional powers to assist in brokering a political settlement. We’ve done all that we can do.”

Not for a second did I expect my own efforts to make a difference. But I did nurse the hope that my voice might combine with those of others — teachers, writers, activists and ordinary folks — to educate the public about the folly of the course on which the nation has embarked. I hoped that those efforts might produce a political climate conducive to change. I genuinely believed that if the people spoke, our leaders in Washington would listen and respond.

This, I can now see, was an illusion.

The people have spoken, and nothing of substance has changed. The November 2006 midterm elections signified an unambiguous repudiation of the policies that landed us in our present predicament. But half a year later, the war continues, with no end in sight. Indeed, by sending more troops to Iraq (and by extending the tours of those, like my son, who were already there), Bush has signaled his complete disregard for what was once quaintly referred to as “the will of the people.”

To be fair, responsibility for the war’s continuation now rests no less with the Democrats who control Congress than with the president and his party. After my son’s death, my state’s senators, Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry, telephoned to express their condolences. Stephen F. Lynch, our congressman, attended my son’s wake. Kerry was present for the funeral Mass. My family and I greatly appreciated such gestures. But when I suggested to each of them the necessity of ending the war, I got the brushoff. More accurately, after ever so briefly pretending to listen, each treated me to a convoluted explanation that said in essence: Don’t blame me.

To whom do Kennedy, Kerry and Lynch listen? We know the answer: to the same people who have the ear of George W. Bush and Karl Rove — namely, wealthy individuals and institutions.

Money buys access and influence. Money greases the process that will yield us a new president in 2008. When it comes to Iraq, money ensures that the concerns of big business, big oil, bellicose evangelicals and Middle East allies gain a hearing. By comparison, the lives of U.S. soldiers figure as an afterthought.

Memorial Day orators will say that a G.I.’s life is priceless. Don’t believe it. I know what value the U.S. government assigns to a soldier’s life: I’ve been handed the check. It’s roughly what the Yankees will pay Roger Clemens per inning once he starts pitching next month.

Money maintains the Republican/Democratic duopoly of trivialized politics. It confines the debate over U.S. policy to well-hewn channels. It preserves intact the cliches of 1933-45 about isolationism, appeasement and the nation’s call to “global leadership.” It inhibits any serious accounting of exactly how much our misadventure in Iraq is costing. It ignores completely the question of who actually pays. It negates democracy, rendering free speech little more than a means of recording dissent.

This is not some great conspiracy. It’s the way our system works.

In joining the Army, my son was following in his father’s footsteps: Before he was born, I had served in Vietnam. As military officers, we shared an ironic kinship of sorts, each of us demonstrating a peculiar knack for picking the wrong war at the wrong time. Yet he was the better soldier — brave and steadfast and irrepressible.

I know that my son did his best to serve our country. Through my own opposition to a profoundly misguided war, I thought I was doing the same. In fact, while he was giving his all, I was doing nothing. In this way, I failed him.

Andrew J. Bacevich teaches history and international relations at Boston University. His son died May 13 after a suicide bomb explosion in Salah al-Din province.

What are they?

Who decides?

I’m increasingly dumbfounded every time I hear a politician or corporate thief or charlatan pundit exclaim “we must protect American Interests abroad” or some variation thereof.

How far do we extend our ‘empire’ to protect these ‘interests’?

Who benefits?

Are you aware of ongoing attempts to privatize Iraq’s oil for the benefit of American corporations and other multi-nationals?

A 29-year retired Colonel has some interesting info for you here:

No other nation in the Middle East has privatized its oil. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iran give only limited usage contracts to international oil companies for one or two years. The $12 billion dollar “Support the Troops” legislation passed by Congress requires Iraq, in order to get reconstruction funds from the United States, to privatize its oil resources and put them up for long term (20- to 30-year) contracts.

What does this “Support the Troops” legislation mean for the United States military? Supporting our troops has nothing to do with this bill, other than keeping them there for another 30 years to protect US oil interests. It means that every military service member will need Arabic language training. It means that every soldier and Marine would spend most of his or her career in Iraq. It means that the fourteen permanent bases will get new Taco Bells and Burger Kings! Why? Because the US military will be protecting the US corporate oilfields leased to US companies by the compliant Iraqi government. Our troops will be the guardians of US corporate interests in Iraq for the life of the contracts – for the next thirty years.

I suppose if not our troops, then an equivalent amount of ‘private security forces’ ala Blackwater USA and the like. Accountable to who?

She continues:

With the Bush administration’s “Support the Troops” bill and its benchmarks, primarily Benchmark No. 1, we finally have the reason for the US invasion of Iraq: to get easily accessible, cheap, high-grade Iraq oil for US corporations.

Now the choice is for US military personnel and their families to decide whether they want their loved ones to be physically and emotionally injured to protect not our national security, but the financial security of the biggest corporate barons left in our country – the oil companies.

It’s a choice for only our military families, because most non-military Americans do not really care whether our volunteer military spends its time protecting corporate oil to fuel our one-person cars. Of course, when a tornado, hurricane, flood or other natural disaster hits in our hometown, we want our National Guard unit back. But on a normal day, who remembers the 180,000 US military or the 150,000 US private contractors in Iraq?

Since the “Surge” began in January, over 500 Americans and 15,000 Iraqis have been killed. By the time September 2007 rolls around for the administration’s review of the “surge” plan, another 400 Americans will be dead, as well as another 12,000 Iraqis.

How much more can our military and their families take?

Indeed.

I recommend an interesting interview Amy Goodman did with Maj. Gen. John Batiste. Listen here.

And check out John Edwards’ suggestions here.

Are you aware of the recent story of the teenage girl stoned to death in Iraq?

I’d prefer to write about one of my favorite songs of all time but this is much more important and a clear picture of how far we have to go in confronting and resolving the brutality inside all of us.

Read Digby’s entire post.  Excerpt:

.. This is the fault of primitive religious fundamentalism, which is across the board, in every culture, contemptuous of women.

This is why I have contempt for tribalism, fundamentalism and authoritarianism. When it gets right down to it, it’s always, in the end, about mob rule. A gang of violent bullies, often at the behest of some authority figure, “sends a message” by publicly humiliating, maiming or killing one of their own who had the temerity to fail to properly conform. Whether for God or country or tribe, it’s always some poor victim, lying on the ground, covering his or her head, surrounded by people who have turned into animals.

There are a lot of manifestations of this particular human organizational style, some much more sophisticated and stylized. The violence becomes more ritualized and the humiliation takes other forms but underneath it all, the same impulse to dominate drives a fair number of people of all cultures. It’s just a matter of degree.

This is the reason why it’s so important to preserve our secular, reason-based constitution and fight against this horror of government endorsed torture and indefinite imprisonment. It is a very, very thin line between civilization and barbarism and every step we take away from the rule of law is a step toward becoming that primitive mob of killers. After all, I’m sure they felt justified too.

To. My. Soul.

My bandmate Mike recently gave me these pics from our SXSW trip a few months back. Our gracious host took us on a sunset run to feed the seven longhorn cattle she keeps on her land. Being a city boy, I’d never spent much time around these creatures so it took some goading to get me to open the door and act like I was a serious adult at the petting zoo. Brave Sir Mika had my back so I gave it a try.

It’s one thing to toss a few food pellets so that they keep their distance, happily munching, but if you don’t throw enough food quickly, they start getting a little closer. And a bit closer. And, “Oh! Look how cute Mark appears, hand-feeding the cattle!”

Yay, fun. Especially since they don’t realize that a nonchalant turn of the head to maneuver closer is about to lead to my innards getting disemboweled.

I survived. Resisted the urge to jump back in the vehicle.

Until the food ran out.

I think I’ll stick to feeding the neighborhood squirrels.

10pm.  Schubas.  Tommi Zender opens.  Dolly Varden headlines.

Mark Morford, as always, shoots from the hip:

Or perhaps you replied, well, it’s easy to ignore Iraq because, unless you’re in the family of a soldier, this might be the most painless, distant, unfelt war in our short history, so removed and so disconnected from our everyday lives that it’s almost as if it’s not happening at all, just some minor political irritant as opposed to a horrid, gory embarrassment that’s costing us $100,000 per minute, or $275 million per day — enough money, by the end of it all, to rebuild every school and every park and every free clinic in America and then go on to house every homeless person and solve the oil crisis and cure a few diseases and perform a thousand other social improvements you can’t even imagine right now lest you feel disgusted and sour and sad for the rest of the month.

Juan Cole observes:

The deployment of 4,000 US troops to search for 3 captured GIs, however honorable and necessary, underscores the increasing futility of the US military presence in Iraq. If they were truly doing essential counter-insurgency, then there shouldn’t be a spare 4,000 troops for a search mission. The guerrillas are not resting on their mortar shells, after all. And, that the main mission of the 4,000 should be to find their captured colleagues is tragic. The guerrillas can tie down an entire brigade or two any time they like by grabbing some exposed GIs? What kind of a military mission does that imply? As for the idea apparently prevalent among some US military personnel that the good people of the Triangle of Death will like the Americans more if only they see them searching through their underthings in their dresser drawers looking for bomb parts, surely you jest.

A couple years ago I spun this

and wrote:

So you’re doing the dishes and making some coffee and it’s kind of late but you need to get some things done or the week is just going to bite you in the ass and you throw some Best Of CD on and you hear an old chestnut and it just stops you in your tracks and brings you to your knees. That keening voice and that amazing lazy groove and those lyrics and that f*ck$ng slide guitar played by a polyester genius and it all just makes you stop and shed a tear and say a little prayer and look forward to tomorrow morning and …

It’s hard to listen to this one. I almost always start losing it.

Makes me feel like I haven’t talked much in years.

I start thinking of days and months and years when I’ve only survived, not thrived. Turned inward to protect myself and shut out the people that I need. Thinking I need to pull back when it’s the instinct to reach out that heals us and propels us forward.

Years that followed the hijacking of this country’s hope and idealism and the bile of fear we’ve been drowning in. Sold to us by immoral crooks attempting to turn us into bedwetters and ignorant fools. Amoral criminals who sanction torture and profit from war and strip us all of our dignity and decency. Authoritarians who never served their country and have scarred another generation of soldiers.

People better recognize the utter failure of conservative ideology and Republican rule and bury all of its putrid radioactive anti-matter for decades. For forever.

Government is not the problem. Government can be the solution. Sunlight and truth and facts and honesty are the solution. We need each other. Our neighbors need us. Our veterans need us. New Orleans needed needs us. Kansas needs us.

Why should folks in Kansas hurt and writhe when the very National Guard that should be right there to help them is not only thousands of miles away mired in deadly chaos but broken and hurting as well?

Why do conservatives hide behind Christianity and not fight tooth and nail for universal health care? Are some more equal than others?

Every time I hear Bruce say, “Remember, in the end, nobody wins unless everybody wins”, I still get chills.

“Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.”

Indeed.

We’re all in this together, my friends.

Glenn Greenwald and his astute commentators connect a few dots in and around the authoritarian crooks Republican debate and media coverage of it this past week and again point out the dangers of media consolidation and concentrated ownership.

Start busting those trusts.