In today’s Washington Post, Andrew J. Bacevich reflects upon the death of his son in Iraq.  The elder Bacevich is himself a military man, having served in the US Army in Vietnam.  His son followed in his footsteps and joined up for the US Army in Iraq, where he was recently killed.

    The father has long been a strong opponent of the war and his grief has brought him to question the efficacy of his political efforts:

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.

     He is frustrated because the war drags on, well beyond the time when it has already been lost, claiming more and more lives of fine people like his son.  But he cannot blame himself.

      His responsibility was to make sure his son was well educated – and for a Confucian that would mean a moral education.  Then, he was responsible for offering his son the best advice that he could.  Should he have counseled him against joining the Army?  We don’t know if he did or not.  But, whatever conversation that might have taken place, the son was ultimately responsible for his own decisions; he was his own man.   The father, perhaps, may have wanted to ensure that the son was taking action for the right reasons; he could not, however, control the son’s action.

     And, obviously, Bacevich is not responsible for the war’s continuation.  He has put forth strong arguments against it.  But Bush has not listened to these voices. 

      Bush is responsible for the war, its start, its unfolding, its terrible, terrible prolongation.  Bacevich did not fail his son; Bush failed him.

     Bush has failed thousands and thousands of young men and women and their families.  They have gone off to war to die or be gravely wounded, and they did so because they trusted that the President would not abuse their offer of service.  And that is precisely what Bush has done: he has demanded their sacrifice in a conflict that was not necessary and has no good end.  They have served dutifully and with distinction but Bush has failed them fundamentally, in the worst possible way for any President.

      As we mourn the fallen tomorrow, we must also remember the responsibility our leaders have for the needless deaths of so many loyal and patriotic people.