In the old gospel song, BDown by the Riverside,C a repeated refrain hints that the singer Bain/t gonna study war no more.C We/d prefer to make that promise ourselves, but circumstances prevent it.

The outrages of the war in Iraq just keep piling up. The overall cost of this conflict recently passed a half-trillion dollars, with the monthly tally exceeding ,12 billion. Of greater concern is the body count 7 more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers killed and tens of thousands wounded, in a war that has been going on longer than World War II, with no end in sight.

The latest affront is news that U.S. forces are being gouged for fuel costs 7 fighting a war of liberation for a country with massive oil reserves, producing a surplus of revenues that the Iraqi government can/t decide how best to use.

How about defraying the ,150 million-plus U.S. taxpayers are shelling out for fuel to run the machines of war? Military units in the field are paying an average of ,3.23 a gallon for gasoline, which is more than some Americans in the nation/s heartland are paying.

And how about other oil-rich nations nearby, the ones presumably being protected by the U.S. efforts in Iraq, pitching in to supply fuel, thus reducing the price? Only the Kuwaitis are helping with fuel subsidies.

Studying war can be informative, but it/s still very frustrating.

April 4, 2008