Putting the "humane" into doctor of humane letters, Seymour Hersh speaks truth to youth (from a piece in yesterday's Newsday). I'm curious—how may of the 6,000 people listening were booing, roughly speaking, and how many were cheering? Making actions the subject of a sentence has a way of smoothing over these little distinctions. Hersh's final remarks remind me of those made by my own college commencement speaker—this was then-president Ellen Futter, who was about to leave Morningside Heights for her fancy new job as president of the Natural History Museum. Anyway, as we shivered in the cold May rain and our grandparents got dripped on, Futter spoke to us of a world full of unfairness and atrocities, a grim economy and an uncertain future, a shredded environment and general bad times all around. I prefer the specificity of Hersh's comments, which give you something to work with other than a state of mind like the one that promped Woody Allen to say, "I have an intense desire to return to the womb. Anybody's."

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Journalist Seymour Hersh described U.S. soldiers in Iraq as "victims," eliciting jeers and cheers from an audience of about 6,000 people at a college commencement on Monday.

Hersh, speaking to graduates of Fairleigh Dickinson University and their families, said American soldiers are "doing an admirable job under terrible conditions" but don't know much about the war they are fighting.

"They are as much victims as the people they are sometimes forced to kill," Hersh said.

The comment was greeted by a loud expletive from one member of the audience. Booing and more swearing followed, but other audience members stood and cheered.

Hersh, who was among the first to report on the abuse of Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib prison, was awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.

He spoke for about five minutes, introducing himself as "a huge critic of my government," but praising the United States for allowing dissent.

He concluded his five-minute speech by saying, "And I'm sorry for the disquieting comments, but that's what it's all about, folks. Happy graduation."

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Hersh is a regulator [sic, but what a sic! who's watching the watchers' watchers?] contributor to The New Yorker magazine and the author of eight books.