It slanders hell to compare it to war, because the hell of mythology and religion, although superheated and stocked with torments, are in their way, discreet and proper. Only the wicked are punished. The guiltless receive better accommodations. But in war, innocence is never spared: babies, nursing mothers, old men, cub scouts, nannies, washerwomen, scholars and gentlemen, the lame, the halt, the blind, all are expendable. When countries come to blows, the protocols of legitimized murder don’t bother with distinction. A missile does not stop to ask a bistro which way to the barracks. Blasted homes, fused glass from broken bottles, scalded milk, cremated populations.

“Memos to a New Millennium” broadcast December 31, 1999 on NPR