John Kerry, testimony before congress, April 23, 1971:

We are asking Americans to think about that because how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?

Bruce Springsteen, 2007, from his album Magic. This one, of course, pointing to our present day ill-conceived war in Iraq.

Last To Die

We took the highway till the road went black
We’d marked Truth Or Consequences on our map
A voice drifted up from the radio
And I thought of a voice from long ago

Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake

The kids asleep in the backseat
We’re just counting the miles, you and me
We don’t measure the blood we’ve drawn anymore
We just stack the bodies outside the door

Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake

The wise men were all fools, what to do

The sun sets in flames as the city burns
Another day gone down as the night turns
And I hold you here in my heart
As things fall apart

A downtown window flushed with light
“Faces of the dead at five” (faces of the dead at five)
Our martyr’s silent eyes
Petition the drivers as we pass by

Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who’ll be the last to die

Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Darlin’ your tyrants and kings fall to the same fate
Strung up at your city gates
And you’re the last to die for a mistake

Each time I stop and consider the damage done to American and Iraqi lives over the last 4+ years, I can only think of this quote attributed to Mohandas Gandhi.

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.

All for a mistake?