Today, Stanford’s Alumni Association magazine arrived at our home (not for me). The cover highlighted a “Special Report” titled “Can Professors Stop Wars.” The blurb under the title reads:

Faculty have lessons to share with Washington that might make the world safer. Is anyone listening?

Um, here’s the thing, Stanford: We appreciate that there are a number of your faculty members who are coming to D.C. to help end the war. But, you can’t talk about stopping the war without referencing how the war started. Because, Stanford gave us Condi Rice. She became a professor at Stanford in 1981 and was the provost (“the university’s chief academic and budget officer”) from 1993 til 1999. Now, she’s back at your Hoover Institution. In between, she was Bush’s National Security Adviser when we started that war in Iraq. Then, she was Bush’s Secretary of State. Yes, Stanford’s Condi was right there with Bush and Cheney every step of the way — from the lies about WMD to the failed strategy to the torture. But, Condi’s name is never mentioned in the article about wars. Funny thing.

So, Stanford, don’t be talking about your professors stopping wars unless you want to take credit for your Professor/Provost starting the war.