BOSTON (AP) - Boston University professor Andrew Bacevich has repeatedly railed against the Iraq war in op-ed columns and interviews.

But now he's mourning the loss of his son, who he learned this week had been killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq.

Friends say Bacevich rarely mentioned his son was serving in the war, which the professor has described as a "catastrophic failure," in part to avoid any question that he was proud of his
son's service.

Bacevich's critiques of the war have been measured, with the professor emphasizing that the war's architects are not evil but disastrously mistaken.

But colleagues say Bacevich, a West Point graduate, retired lieutenant colonel and Vietnam veteran, would never have tried to discourage his son from joining the Army.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-05-16-07 1721EDT