Much More that a Minute

Bill Moyers gave a speech at West Point to those heading off to Iraq:

How often we hear the most vigorous argument for war from those who count on others of valor to fight it. As General William Tecumseh Sherman said after the Civil War: “It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation.”

Rupert Murdoch comes to mind—only because he was in the news last week talking about Iraq. In the months leading up to the invasion Murdoch turned the dogs of war loose in the corridors of his media empire, and they howled for blood, although not their own. Murdoch himself said, just weeks before the invasion, that: “The greatest thing to come of this to the world economy, if you could put it that way [as you can, if you are a media mogul], would be $20 a barrel for oil.” Once the war is behind us, Rupert Murdoch said: “The whole world will benefit from cheaper oil which will be a bigger stimulus than anything else.”

Today Murdoch says he has no regrets, that he still believes it was right “to go in there,” and that “from a historical perspective” the U.S. death toll in Iraq was “minute.”

“Minute.”

The word richoted in my head when I heard it.

* * * *

“Minute?” I don’t think so. Historical perspective or no . . . I thought that to describe their loss as “minute”—even from a historical perspective—is to underscore the great divide that has opened in America between those who advocate war while avoiding it and those who have the courage to fight it without ever knowing what it’s all about.

From Message To West Point.

A friend that I reunited with at my high school reunion was just informed that her son was wounded in Iraq. He is one of the lucky ones, he's recovering from surgery and will be home for Christmas. Iraq is not a "minute" for him -- it is a life.

Tags: Commentary, Bill Moyer, Iraq