BOSTON, May 16, 2007
War Critic's Son Dies In Iraq
27-Year-Old Son Of Boston University Professor Dies In Iraq Suicide Bombing
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Iraq: 4 Years Later
The conflict wears on as the nation struggles to rebuild.
Friends say he did so to protect Andy Bacevich Jr. and to avoid any question that he was proud of his son's service.
Bacevich, himself a veteran of Vietnam and the Gulf wars, learned this week that his 27-year-old son had been killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq.
Bacevich's critiques of the war have been measured, with the professor emphasizing that the war's architects are not evil but disastrously mistaken. Now that he has suffered a personal loss, that approach could change, a colleague said.
"If this happened to me, I could not predict, you know, the effect it would have on me. It would be so devastating," said professor William Keylor, who teaches with Bacevich in BU's international relations department. "So I honestly think that's an open question that he's going to be wrestling with."
The younger Bacevich, who died in Balad, Iraq, was a charismatic man so determined to follow his father into the military that he enlisted even after being forced to leave the university's ROTC unit for medical reasons.
After joining the Army in 2005, he headed for the conflict that the elder Bacevich had warned in 2003 could test the nation in ways that would "make the Vietnam War look like a mere blip in American history."
But Bacevich, a West Point graduate and retired lieutenant colonel, would never have tried to discourage his son from joining the Army, said Erik Goldstein, chairman of the international relations department.
"He had the highest regard for people who wore the uniform," Goldstein said. "The appreciation for what the military does is differentiated from his opposition to the conduct of this particular war."
The younger Bacevich, born in West Point, N.Y., majored in public relations with a concentration in international relations.
The university's ROTC office manager, Beri Gilfix, remembered a man with a strong resemblance to his father and a determination to carry on the family's military tradition.
"I think he really admired his father a great deal and wanted to be just like him," Gilfix said.
But Bacevich was not allowed to continue in ROTC because of childhood asthma, a restriction he made look absurd when he began running marathons in college.
After graduating from BU in 2003, Bacevich worked in politics, first as an intern for the late Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, and later as a legislative aide to then-Gov. Mitt Romney. When the asthma restriction was relaxed, Bacevich attended officer training in 2005.
The elder Bacevich, a conservative, viewed the war as a delusional overreach by political and military leaders who overestimated the power of the American military to transform the Middle East.
"There are no easy answers, but one at least ought to acknowledge that in launching a war advertised as a high-minded expression of U.S. idealism, we have waded into a swamp of moral ambiguity," he wrote in the Washington Post in July 2006.
Bacevich advocated withdrawal from Iraq, writing in The Boston Globe in March that the war had made the world more dangerous for the United States.
"Our folly has alienated friends and emboldened enemies" he wrote.
Bacevich asked interviewers not to mention his son's service in Iraq, telling the Globe recently that he wanted to limit attention on his son and separate his opinion from his deep personal connection to the war.
The younger Bacevich communicated with his father from Iraq by e-mail. Keylor said he would occasionally check in with Bacevich to see how his son was doing, and the report was always that things seemed OK, until Keylor received a call from Bacevich on Sunday.
Bacevich was not available for an interview, and the family has referred all requests for information to a National Guard spokesman. In his only public comment since his son's death, Bacevich told the Boston Herald: "He joined the Army to serve his country in a time of need. We love him and mourn his loss."
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 104 CommentsIt is really unacceptable for someone to say this kind of thing about the President of the United States, particularly in a time of war.
CBS rules of engagement clearly state that there is to be no insulting of groups or individuals and no threats. Your post violates both.
It is really unacceptable for someone to say this kind of thing about the President of the United States, particularly in a time of war. "
What war? The one on terrorism? We lost that one when this coward pulled 150,000 troops out of the war on terorism (you know, Bin Laden, the guy who actually attacked us) to go after "the guy who tried to kill my daddy." We cannot carry WATER on planes. No nail clippers. No hair gel. No TOOTHPaste, for god's sake. They search grandmothers and babies to board planes. Gas is going to hit $5.00/gal., and the leader screams "Be afraid" every chance he gets. We hold people without a trial, simply because bush says they are terrorists. No trial, no court, no charges. This is being done to American citizens. It looks to me that Bin Laden got what he wanted.
He is a thug, and should be charged with treason and forbidden to step on American soil ever again.
Much like Chamberlain a half century ago, you don't see what is right in front of you. Fortunately for all of us, you are not President.
More to the point, there is no time or reason to justify calling the President of the United States deragotary names or threatening him. It is not acceptable and the latter is actually a federal crime.
ourtomorrows, You have got to be kinding me.....
Naturally, with the arrogance of our current President, who can never admit to error, and has so poorly handled every aspect of the war from the moment he mentioned Iraq, you can't really blame a majority of Americans for being... what, bitter?
The professor wanted people to understand what Bush was doing, rather than allowing ourselves to be the "blind being led by the blind", and now his son is dead. This is something the President will never be able to ACTUALLY understand. George simply needs to point-n-click the war, and find ways to keep his daughters out of deep trouble.
What do you call it when your fearless Churchill, Bush, does exactly what our enemies want? Invading Iraq was like a huge wet kiss from Bush to Bin Laden, as demonstrated by intercepted Al Qaeda messages and our own government's intelligence analysis (buried in the fine print, of course). Bacevich, being a good and true conservative unlike the jokers that have adopted that label, understood this.
Anyhow, I got off the topic a bit there - but wanted to add that I have the highest of respect for the Bacevich family and mourn this sad loss.
never in the history of this country has there been an administration so corrupt, so incompetent, so un-American.
when one hears Gonzalez say: "the Constitution gives right of habeas corpus - but - it does not say it gives it to everyone" in front of a Senate oversight panel, then, we know what we're dealing with.
these people believe that our American rights, principles, ethics, are all "conditional" on their narrow interpretation.
another son of the Nation is lost forever, and with him, another ray of light for the future.
THIS MADNESS MUST STOP NOW !
"Our folly has alienated friends and emboldened enemies" he wrote.
He could not have said this more perfectly, this is exactly right!
It is really unacceptable for someone to say this kind of thing about the President of the United States, particularly in a time of war.
LOL LOL LOL sorry but that is really funny. See he's not the president well I mean he thinks he our Dictator, well I mean he's trying very hard to be. Thank God there are those of us that won't let him. Oh yeah and good chance he will rot in hell for what he has done.
"Do as I say, not as I do"
- the new NEOCLOWN theme song.
Indeed. From BBC this morning:
Iraq faces the distinct possibility of collapse and fragmentation, UK foreign policy think tank Chatham House says.
Its report says the Iraqi government is now largely powerless and irrelevant in many parts of the country.
It warns there is not one war but many local civil wars, and urges a major change in US and British strategy, such as consulting Iraq's neighbours more.
The Chatham House report, written by Gareth Stansfield, a Middle East expert, is unremittingly bleak, says BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins.
Mr Stansfield argues that the break-up of Iraq is becoming increasingly likely.
We needed to engage in a War the punished another non-white, non-European country for a despicable act that they had nothing to do with. And our bloodlust was so fierce that the truth and the facts did not matter. We needed to extract our pound of flesh from the most vulnerable despot we could find - AND get away with it!
This man's son did his duty. My condolences to his family.
They have thrown away the moral authority to complain should it occurr, haven't they?.
It is high time for the U.S. to learn from Scandinavia about gender equality, where parliament is equally divided between men and women.
One of the ways this happens is first by educating in high school about our great female leaders like Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, the President of Iceland and so on.
Next, groups like NOW, must begin to think about politicizing themselves into a womans party instead of a splinter group. They might consider changing their name to the National Women's Party.
One woman like Mrs. Clinton can not win the Presidency and overcome the sexism and chauvinism built into the society of the Right Wing Conservatives or the Hicks or the Suits from the City.
Yet, women by banding together is how Scandinavian women achieved gender equality in political life. Whether this is achievable in the two Party system is debatable as opposed to a Parliamentary system which most of the world embraces - exactly to stop the dictatorial rule of tyrants like Bush -- remains to be seen. So there's a lot to be done.
Yet today, it is amazing that women do not see that they can band together to stamp out the number one problem in America of male chauvinism and sexism so that equality in gender is achievable and that government is run by the most qualified and not by macho men.
The Bush War has gone so far as to put into question the US Constitution, the foundation of the Nation.
Members of the Bush administration have actually violated it, and thereby violated their Oath of Office, as evidenced by the Gonzalez Senate testimony regarding habeas corpus.
Iraq has been gutted. 2 million of its professional classes have left for fear - doctors, lawyers, teachers, all have fled.
There is nothing leaf in Iraq to build upon and the continued presence of US military can only hasten its decent into anarchy which may have been, after all, the objective of this contemptable pre-emptive Bush War.
Posted by bbbbbfan at 07:54 AM : May 17, 2007
While definitely a problem, it might be that women haven't become an army on the issue because they don't view it as the country's #1 problem as you do.....
Posted by ourtomorrows
a) This is not a declared war.
b)DefndLiberty is being kind to this admins cadre of draft dodging, cowardly, SOB's.
c)As a vet, my heart goes out to all victims of this admins. ill-advised, manufactured, stupid little war!
d) What are you, a lawyer?
Posted by Hiclay2000
BS. We need to reserve the harshest criticism for the arrogant, lying, thieving SOB's You are correct tho, this is a new type of warfare. Then why did this admin ignore all of the mid-east experts who warned that what is happening would happen? We listened to people like Wolfowitz who had an agenda. Read Hubris, Fiasco, and Life in the Emerald City for details. All written by respected journalists who have researched the run up to this fiasco.
The lives we have lost have already been wasted. Any "success" we might acheive in Iraq is pure fiction. This was an orchestrated war for profit, and was already being planned months before 9/11. Sure, Bush didn't do it all himself, but he's at the head of the cabal of criminals who did.
The only thing this war is acheiving is increasing the profits of Bush Oil, Haliburton, et al. Americans are being murdered for money by their own government.
Oh, and by the way - it's making the terror problem worse, not better, as Iraq is a recruiting drive for Al Qaeda.
OK - when you find someone in the Bush administration who loves God and Country more than he loves his own wallet, I won't judge them.
Until then, I say they are traitors and murderers.
who was the president at the time the war began? who pushed the whole concept of iraq being involved in 911? who decided that iraq was to be the front for the so called 'war on terror'?
who else but those in the highest seats of power in the us government had any authority or control of what they chose to do?
read bob woodwards's 'state of denial' and you'll find your answers ... and they won't involve 'power or cunning' ... just a whole lot of incompetance and arrogance.
You make an excellent point how some people want it both ways.
On the one hand, they want to paint Bush as this unintelligent buffoon who couldn't think his way out of a paper bag.
Then in the next breath, they accuse him of carrying out this master-minded conspiracy with multiple layers that fooled all of us, the congress, and the intelligence agencies of multiple foreign countries (including France and Russia who BOTH believed Saddam had WMDs according to their own statements).
It's the neo-American passtimes: Bash-ketball and Blame-ball. It's hard to find a journalist who isn't doing one of the two. Even harder to find a blogger.
CBS rules of engagement clearly state that there is to be no insulting of groups or individuals and no threats. Your post violates both.]
[Posted by ourtomorrows at 09:15 PM : May 16, 2007]
it's also unacceptable for the president of the united states ... and all his currently employed aids and associates ... to be incesently lying to everyone and doing all they can to subvert the rule and law and democratic process.
in addition ... it's unacceptable for the president of the united states ... and all his tireless supporters ... to trash anyone who disagrees with them.
he can expect respect and decorum when they start practicing it.
[Posted by blazercoach1 at 09:40 AM : May 17, 2007]
so which one is it ... he's an idiot ... or a mastermind? either way he's a failure ... of historic proportions!
Posted by blazercoach1 at 09:40 AM : May 17, 2007
So true! Bloggers don't really count for much.....especially the bedwetting liberal ones. They are the "fringe" left and a small segment of the DNC.
You should familiarize yourself with all of the terrorist attacks that have not happened do to Bush's efforts, and weigh the potential threat of civilian lives from those attacks that have been stopped against the lives of the 3000 soldiers.
maybe you missed it ... over 24,000 soldiers injured w/ head injuries, amputated limbs, disfiguring burns, etc ... and over 60,000 (conservatively) iraqis killed ... and what's currenlty shaping up to be an un-estimatable long term cost of care for the phyically and emotionally damaged us soldier (some think it's in the 100's of billions).
i won't even mention the long term impact to the volunteer military at large.
so ... what has bush prevented? i'd like to be familiar w/ that. don't forget ... he's a liar.
Bring the troops home.
This 'war' is nothing more than a reason to enrich those in the defense and oil industries, the biggest Bu$h supporters.
The majority of Americans who do not support murder for profit stand helpless while the minority 'Stay the Course'...
What ever happened to our country?
1) why did WTC7 fall ? have you watched the footage ? does it look like a controlled demolition ? does to me - plus WTC lease holder Larry Silverstein admitted to having the building "pulled" (slang for demolished) - only problem is that it takes over a week at best to prepare a building for demolition .. why did the 9/11 commission fail to even mention the collapse of WTC7 - there's a reason why the don't show it on TV - it's an obvious demolition ...
2) how could the twin towers fall at free fall speeds if we are to believe the "pancake" theory ? .. the buildings fell in 9 seconds ! if floors were collapsing into the ones below them there would be slight delay before the lower floor gives ... if it were a half a second at each floor that would still be nearly 50 seconds ...
3) why was the steel wisked off to Asia (after %u201Cfailing%u201D in convenient 30 foot lengths) to be melted down - BEFORE IT COULD BE ANALYSED ! - why was there no attempt at even a partial reconstruction/analysis of the structure to determine structural failure ? - seems absurd ? in a plane crash, the wreckage is painstakingly reconstructed to determine the cause of the crash - why not in this case ?
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