Honoring James Webb, father and son

Via Senator Jim Webb of Virginia, word that his son Jimmy, a Marine lance corporal, has safely returned with his unit from Iraq. This comes one week after the tragic news that Andrew Bacevich, an Army first lieutenant and son of retired Army colonel Andrew Bacevich, had died there. The senior Webb and Bacevich have of course been realistic, serious-minded opponents of the unrealistic, reckless insistence on invading Iraq.

Reaction to the Webb family news: relief, best wishes, and congratulations, on service and safety.

Reaction to the paired Webb and Bacevich events: wonderment at how rarely we hear of prominent supporters of the war with children or relatives in harm’s way.