BILL MOYERS: That's it for the Journal, except for this postscript to last week's conversation with the historian and military analyst Andrew Bacevich, who had this to say about Afghanistan:
ANDREW BACEVICH: It is the longest war in American history, and it is a war for which there is no end in sight. And to my mind, it is a war that is utterly devoid of strategic purpose, and the fact that that gets so little attention, I think, is simply appalling especially when you consider the amount of money we're spending over there, and the lives that are being lost, whether American or Afghan.
BILL MOYERS: Hardly had we finished talking about the rising anger over Afghan civilians killed by American and allied troops, then news came of more death. American troops opened fire on a passenger bus near Kandahar. They thought the bus threatened a military convoy. At least five Afghan civilians were killed and 18 wounded. Soon a loud and angry crowd was demonstrating against the United States, followed by a suicide bombing at the Kandahar office of Afghan intelligence that killed four officials and another five civilians.
All of this as General David Petraeus, commander of our forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, told a Washington audience that the continued loss of innocent civilian lives undermines everything America is trying to do in Afghanistan. And all of this as Congress prepares to vote on spending another 33 billion dollars on that faraway war.
Mayor Matt Ryan of Binghamton, New York, can't take it anymore. He calculates that by September 30th of this year the citizens of Binghamton will have paid 138 million dollars in taxes toward the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and more, if Congress passes the Obama request for supplemental funds.
Binghamton is a small city of 47,000 people with an annual budget of 81 million dollars. Facing a budget deficit, the mayor has to raise taxes or cut jobs. He says he is sick and tired of watching people in town "squabble over crumbs" while sending all that money to foreign wars. So next week, he will become the first mayor in the country to install on City Hall a large digital clock adding up minute-by-minute how much the people of Binghamton are paying for those two wars. You can find out more about the story and voice your opinion at our website on pbs.org.
On that point: as you know, the Journal will be coming to an end on April 30th, but not our website. We will stay in touch even after we're off the air. And you can check in with us at pbs.org/moyers and through our podcasts, Facebook, YouTube and, yes, Twitter. In turn, we can check in with you. Just remember, as the late novelist Saul Bellow once told me, no one will be heard in the future who does not speak in short bursts of truth. We're trying, Saul; we're trying.
I'm Bill Moyers, and I'll see you next time.
