The Real Meaning of the Cindy Sheehan Vigils

Yes, the protesters oppose the war in Iraq. But they opposed war in Afghanistan, too.

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA — Jim Douglass is against war, period. As a young Catholic activist in the 1960s and 1970s he protested the war in Vietnam, once organizing a "resistance Mass" at the University of Notre Dame in which, according to an account in The National Catholic Reporter, he and a few other men "ripped up draft cards and placed them in the chalice as part of the presentation of the gifts."

In the 1980s, Douglass moved to the Seattle area, leading protests at the U.S. Navy's Trident submarine base. When he and his wife Shelley found a house close to the railroad tracks that led into the base, they chose to live there, amid the rumbling and the noise, so they could protest as so-called "white trains" brought nuclear warheads to the subs.

Douglass founded an organization called the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, and for years he was a leader in anti-Trident demonstrations. But then, in 1989, after a Trident base opened in Kings Bay, Georgia, Douglass left the Pacific Northwest. He found another house hard by the railroad tracks — this one in Birmingham, Alabama, along a route that weapons traveled on the way to Kings Bay. There, in Birmingham, he became involved in a variety of causes but continued to protest the Trident program, which he once wrote "seemed to epitomize all the violence of our society."

In 1991, Douglass headed to Iraq, just after the end of the Gulf War. As part of the Catholic peace organization Pax Christi, he went three more times in the 1990s, opposing the sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United Nations. In 2001, he protested against the war in Afghanistan. And in 2003, he fasted in St. Peter's Square before heading back to Iraq with a "Christian peacemakers team" to be in Baghdad during the "shock and awe" attack. After each protest, he returned to Birmingham.

And it was there, on the city's south side, by a fountain in the Five Points neighborhood, that Douglass stood Wednesday night, a candle in his hand, in yet another antiwar vigil, this one in support of Cindy Sheehan, the woman who is protesting outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. For Douglass, it was routine; he has organized hundreds of vigils in Birmingham. He used to hold them once a month, but ever since the September 11 terrorist attacks, he has been holding them twice each week — Wednesdays at noon and Saturdays at 5 P.M. "We felt the urgency of peace and justice work because of the attacks on 9/11," he explained Wednesday night. "I personally oppose all war."

The Sheehan vigil, officially sponsored by MoveOn.org, along with the liberal groups TrueMajority and Democracy for America, was part of a nationwide series of protests Wednesday night. According to MoveOn, there were 1,627 such meetings, with a total attendance of at least 50,000 people. The Birmingham crowd — in the heart of one of the nation's reddest states, where George W. Bush defeated John Kerry 63 percent to 37 percent last year — was significantly larger than the attendance at Douglass' usual vigils. Although 50 people had signed up to come, it appeared that the crowd actually numbered between 60 and 75.

On its website, MoveOn offered protesters what amounted to a pre-fab vigil kit, including talking points, a "sample media advisory," and pre-designed signs — placards that read MOMS FOR PEACE and MEET WITH CINDY and, apparently for pet lovers, DOGS FOR CINDY. But the Birmingham protest appeared a bit more homegrown. People carried signs that said WE ARE ALL SISTERS AND BROTHERS: LOVE YOUR ENEMIES. And as they stood around — there were no speeches — they expressed opposition not just to the controversial war in Iraq, but also to the war in Afghanistan, which polls indicate was overwhelmingly supported by the American people.

Several felt that in the days after September 11, the United States went too far by attacking Afghanistan. "It was the Taliban and Osama bin Laden," said one woman. "So why didn't we just go after him? Why did we attack the whole country?"

"I didn't like us doing that," said another woman. "I'm opposed to war generally," added a third woman. "I believe that both of those wars [Afghanistan and Iraq], but Iraq especially, are wrong."

Their statements echoed the words of Cindy Sheehan herself, who on Monday was asked by MSNBC's Chris Matthews, "If your son had been killed in Afghanistan, would you have a different feeling?" Sheehan answered, "I don't think so, Chris, because I believe that Afghanistan is almost the same thing."

"But Afghanistan was harboring the Taliban, was harboring al Qaeda, which is the group that attacked us on 9/11," Matthews said.

"Well, then we should have gone after al Qaeda and maybe not the country of Afghanistan," Sheehan said.

Sheehan's words, in turn, echoed statements made by the leaders of MoveOn opposing the war in Afghanistan. What that suggests is that the vigils across the country last night were only partly about the war in Iraq. Yes, that is the focus of the protesters' passions today. And yes, they support Cindy Sheehan. But the antiwar movement is also about opposition to the very foundation of the war on terror — the war in Afghanistan and the U.S. response to the 9/11 attacks. Last night, the signs and the slogans were about Cindy Sheehan. But the protest was about much more than that.

— Byron York, NR's White House correspondent, is the author of the book The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy: The Untold Story of How Democratic Operatives, Eccentric Billionaires, Liberal Activists, and Assorted Celebrities Tried to Bring Down a President — and Why They'll Try Even Harder Next Time.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007122

She Does Not Speak for Me
My son died in Iraq--and it was not in vain.

BY RONALD R. GRIFFIN
Thursday, August 18, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

I lost a son in Iraq and Cindy Sheehan does not speak for me.

I grieve with Mrs. Sheehan, for all too well I know the full measure of the agony she is forever going to endure. I honor her son for his service and sacrifice. However, I abhor all that she represents and those who would cast her as the symbol for parents of our fallen soldiers.

The fallen heroes, until now, have enjoyed virtually no individuality. They have been treated as a monolith, a mere number. Now Mrs. Sheehan, with adept public relations tactics, has succeeded in elevating herself above the rest of us. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida declared that Mrs. Sheehan is now the symbol for all parents who have lost children in Iraq. Sorry, senator. Not for me.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times portrays Mrs. Sheehan as a distraught mom standing heroically outside the guarded gates of the most powerful and inhumane man on earth, President Bush. Ms. Dowd is so moved by Mrs. Sheehan's plight that she bestowed upon her and all grieving parents the title of "absolute moral authority." That characterization epitomizes the arrogance and condescension of anyone who would presume to understand and speak for all of us. How can we all possess "absolute moral authority" when we hold so many different perspectives?

I don't want that title. I haven't earned that title.

Although we all walk the same sad road of sorrow and agony, we walk it as individuals with all the refreshing uniqueness of our own thoughts shaped in large measure by the life and death of our own fallen hero. Over the past few days I have reached out to other parents and loved ones of fallen heroes in an attempt to find out their reactions to all the attention Mrs. Sheehan has attracted. What emerges from those conversations is an empathy for Mrs. Sheehan's suffering but a fundamental disagreement with her politics.
Ann and Dale Hampton lost their only child, Capt. Kimberly Hampton, on Jan. 2, 2004, while she was flying her Kiowa helicopter. She was a member of the 82nd Airborne and the company commander. She had already served in Afghanistan before being deployed to Iraq. Ann Hampton wrote, "My grief sometimes seems unbearable, but I cannot add the additional baggage of anger. Mrs. Sheehan has every right to protest . . . but I cannot do that. I would be protesting the very thing that Kimberly believed in and died for."

Marine Capt. Benjamin Sammis was Stacey Sammis's husband. Ben died on April 4, 2003, while flying his Super Cobra helicopter. Listen to Stacey and she will tell you that she is just beginning to understand the enormousness of the character of soldiers who knowingly put their lives at risk to defend our country. She will tell you that one of her deepest regrets is that the world did not have the honor of experiencing for a much longer time this outstanding Marine she so deeply loved.

Speak to Joan Curtin, whose son, Cpl. Michael Curtin, was an infantryman with the 2-7th 3rd ID, and her words are passionately ambivalent. She says she has no room for bitterness. She has a life to lead and a family to nurture. She spoke of that part of her that never heals, for that is where Michael resides. She can go on, always knowing there will be that pain.

Karen Long is the mother of Spc. Zachariah Long, who died with my son Kyle on May 30, 2003. Zack and Kyle were inseparable friends as only soldiers can be, and Karen and I have become inseparable friends since their deaths. Karen's view is that what Mrs. Sheehan is doing she has every right to do, but she is dishonoring all soldiers, including Karen's son, Zack. Karen cannot comprehend why Mrs. Sheehan cannot seem to come to grips with the idea that her own son, Casey, was a soldier like Zack who had a mission to complete. Karen will tell you over and over again that Zack is not here and no one, but no one will dishonor her son.

My wife, Robin, has a different take on Mrs. Sheehan. She told me, "I don't care what she says or does. She is no more important than any other mother."

By all accounts Spc. Casey Sheehan, Mrs. Sheehan's son, was a soldier by choice and by the strength of his character. I did not have the honor of knowing him, but I have read that he attended community college for three years and then chose to join the Army. In August 2003, five months into Operation Iraqi Freedom and after three years of service, Casey Sheehan re-enlisted in the Army with the full knowledge there was a war going on, and with the high probability he would be assigned to a combat area. Mrs. Sheehan frequently speaks of her son in religious terms, even saying that she thought that some day Casey would be a priest. Like so many of the individuals who have given their lives in service to our country, Casey was a very special young man. How do you decry that which someone has chosen to do with his life? How does a mother dishonor the sacrifice of her own son?
Mrs. Sheehan has become the poster child for all the negativity surrounding the war in Iraq. In a way it heartens me to have all this attention paid to her, because that means others in her position now have the chance to be heard. Give equal time to other loved ones of fallen heroes. Feel the intensity of their love, their pride and the sorrow.

To many loved ones, there are few if any "what ifs." They, like their fallen heroes before them, live in the world as it is and not what it was or could have been. Think of the sacrifices that have brought us to this day. We as a country made a collective decision. We must now live up to our decision and not deviate until the mission is complete.

Thirty-five years ago, a president faced a similar dilemma in Vietnam. He gave in and we got "peace with honor." To this day, I am still searching for that honor. Today, those who defend our freedom every day do so as volunteers with a clear and certain purpose. Today, they have in their commander in chief someone who will not allow us to sink into self-pity. I will not allow him to. The amazing part about talking to the people left behind is that I did not want them to stop. After speaking to so many I have come away with the certainty of their conviction that in a large measure it's because of the deeds and sacrifices of their fallen heroes that this is a better and safer world we now live in.

Those who lost their lives believed in the mission. To honor their memory, and because it's right, we must believe in the mission, too.

We refuse to allow Cindy Sheehan to speak for all of us. Instead, we ask you to learn the individual stories. They are glorious. Honor their memories.

Honor their service. Never dishonor them by giving in. They never did.

Mr. Griffin is the father of Spc. Kyle Andrew Griffin, a recipient of the Army Commendation Medal, Army Meritorious Service Medal and the Bronze Star, who was killed in a truck accident on a road between Mosul and Tikrit on May 30, 2003.

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Cindy Sheehan and cronies: "We DO support the troops."

The Troops: It’s hard enough on those of us who are deployed without the likes of the fringe anti-war movement making the job that much harder.