They gave it all

1st Lt. Andrew J. Bacevich of Walpole, Mass., on assignment in Iraq. Bacevich was killed Sunday, May 13, 2007

Son of anti-war professor killed in Iraq

Boston University professor Andrew J. Bacevich has been a persistent, vocal critic of the Iraq war, calling the conflict a catastrophic failure. This week, the retired Army lieutenant colonel received the grim news that his son had been killed on patrol there.

First Lieutenant Andrew J. Bacevich , 27, of Walpole, died Sunday in Balad of wounds he suffered after a bomb explosion, the military said yesterday. The soldier, who graduated from BU in 2003 with a degree in communications, is the 56th service member from Massachusetts to be killed in Iraq.

His father, a veteran of the Vietnam and Gulf wars, has criticized the war in his writings and described President Bush's endorsement of such "preventive wars" as "immoral, illicit, and imprudent."

Both son and father paid the ultimate sacrifice to our country. Losing your son is worse than losing your own life.

I'm sure wingnuts have called and will probably continue to call Professor Bacevich - a vocal opponent of George Bush's war in Iraq, a graduate of West Point, a retired Colonel, Vietnam and Gulf War veteran - a misguided pre-9/11 thinking, communist-loving liberal professor and a 'traitor' because of his opposition to this war.

Let them. And let them give what he has given.

Boston Globe