"America Is Not Worth Dying For!"

CONSERVATIVE TRUTH 08/22/05

"America Is Not Worth Dying For!"

By Tom Barrett
Publisher@ConservativeTruth.org

"America is not worth dying for!" So said Cindy Sheehan in April of this year at a rally in support of Attorney Lynne Stewart, who was convicted of aiding and abetting terrorism. Some commentators have speculated that Sheehan is a political innocent being controlled by radical leftists such as Michael Moore. I say her words prove that she has become a radical leftist in her own right.

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, who died fighting for freedom in Iraq last year. Recently she has been camped out near President Bush's ranch in Texas demanding to speak with him. This morning a Fox News commentator stated that she deserves our respect because her son died in combat. Really? Her son certainly deserves our respect. I respect Mrs. Sheehan's grief, but it does not give her the right to do what she is doing. Sheehan dishonors her son and his sacrifice when she states that the country he loved and died for is not WORTH dying for.

Sheehan sounds like every other socialist and America hater: "When I was growing up, it was 'Communists'. Now it's 'Terrorists'. So you always have to have somebody to fight and be afraid of, so the war machine can build more bombs, guns, and bullets and everything." "War machine"? Sounds just like what the American Communists used to say when they were trying to demoralize the United States.

Sheehan claims she wants to meet with the President to have a "dialogue" with him. Diatribe is more like it. She told the Veteran's Against War that if she got to talk to Bush, this is what she would say: "'You tell me what the noble cause is that my son died for.' And if he even starts to say 'Freedom and democracy', I'm gonna say 'Bullsh*t! You tell me the truth. You tell me that my son died for oil. You tell me that my son died to spread the cancer of imperialism in the Middle East.'" I don't blame the President for not meeting with her. Why waste the time? She's already told him (and the world) exactly what she will say to him, including the curses she plans to use.

She also told the "Veterans for Peace" Convention on August 5, 2005, speaking of her upcoming trip to Bush's ranch, what she was going to say to the Secret Service Agents: "And I'm gonna tell them, 'You get that evil maniac out here, cuz a Gold Star Mother, somebody who's blood is on his hands, has some questions for him.'" Does that sound like an invitation to any kind of reasonable dialogue? (She made many other outrageous and sometimes incoherent comments to this group, too numerous to quote here. They are listed below the Internet Research following this column.) But still, some pundits and commentators are saying, "Why doesn't Bush just meet with her? That will make all this go away." As usual, the mainstream press speaks out of its ignorance. Bush DID meet with Cindy Sheehan, back in June of 2004 (see LINK below, "Bush and Sheehans Share Moments").

Following that meeting, Sheehan said of Bush:

"I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis. I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith...That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together."

No one seems to know what caused such a huge change, but since that meeting Cindy Sheehan has become more and more possessed by a spirit of hatred and bitterness. Nothing the President could say or do, short of killing himself, would satisfy this woman.

Interestingly, Sheehan, who describes herself as a very religious former Catholic youth leader, has become very liberal with her filthy talk. She uses the "F" word frequently in her "speeches" (actually, vitriolic rants), and often calls the President a "bastard" and other vile names which I will not repeat here.

She is also strongly anti-Israel. In many of the dozens of her speeches I read while researching this column, she made anti-Jewish and anti-Israel remarks. She seems to believe that Israel has teamed up with the US, the "War Machine" and oil interests for some undefined purpose. "My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel. Am I stupid? No, I know full-well that my son, my family, this nation, and this world were betrayed by a George Bush who was influenced by the neo-con PNAC agenda after 9/11..."

David Duke, the Klansman and outspoken anti-Semite, praised Sheehan for her remarks.

She has made ridiculous claims that Israel instigated the war in Iraq, and has made demands that Israel pull out of the so-called occupied territories.

What any of this has to do with her son's death is anyone's guess. Mine is that, like most of her other remarks, it has little to do with her son and much to do with her own political views. Cindy Sheehan is using her son's coffin as a soapbox from which to push her anti-America, anti-Israel and anti-Bush agenda.

In a recent press conference, Sheehan revealed that, "My husband and I are separated, because he doesn't support my activities." That's an interesting comment, particularly since she stated at the beginning of her vigil at the Crawford Ranch, just a few days earlier, that her husband completely supported her.

Her husband Patrick certainly has not joined her publicity stunt in Texas. There has been much speculation in the news since he filed to divorce her on August 12, about whether the reason for the divorce was her use of her son's death to put herself in the national spotlight. In light of the fact that most of Casey Sheehan's relatives have signed a letter stating that they do not agree with Cindy, and begging her to stop her media crusade, it is likely that the speculation about why her husband Patrick has filed for divorce is correct.

Cindy Sheehan has claimed that her son was "tricked into enlisting in the Army, that he didn't know he might be sent into combat. I don't often quote Democrats in my columns, but a Democrat columnist named Scott Randolph made a lot of sense in a recent article named "Cindy Sealed the Deal" (see LINK below). He starts by describing how Cindy Sheehan's ridiculous antics almost caused him to become a Republican. Listen to what he said about soldiers and their sacrifice:

"Soldiers know, when they enlist, that it is entirely possible they will be shipped out and never come home. It's part of the job. The fact that people still walk in to recruiters' offices and sign that piece of paper make them heroes. To imply that they are simple kids who didn't know what they were getting into, or even worse, that they died for no reason, or an immoral reason, does a horrible thing. It strips their sacrifice of the honor that it deserves."

In her address to college students mentioned at the beginning of this column, Cindy Sheehan showed her ignorance of world affairs and her unsuitability to be a spokesperson for any movement, even the fringe anti-war leftists:

"They're not waging a War on Terror but a War of Terror," she said. "The biggest terrorist is George W. Bush." She claimed "it costs $66,000 to recruit one soldier and $49,000 a year to house a prisoner, yet only $6,000 per year is spent to educate a child in California. (EDITOR: Recruiting costs are actually $15,000 per soldier, the cost of housing a prisoner in California for one year is $26,000.)

Sheehan continued declared the U.S. government a "morally repugnant system." Then she raged:

"We have no Constitution. We're the only country with no checks and balances. We want our country back if we have to impeach George Bush down to the person who picks up the dog sh*t in Washington! Let George Bush send his two little party animals to die in Iraq. It's OK for Israel to have nuclear weapons but we are waging nuclear war in Iraq, we have contaminated the entire country. It's not OK for Syria to be in Lebanon. Hypocrites! But Israel can occupy Palestine? Stop the laughter!" (EDITOR: Presumably "his two little party animals" refers to Bush's two daughters, although why a supposedly grieving mother would wish for two more children to die escapes me.)

Any eight-grade student knows that these statements are ridiculous. Hundreds of countries have no checks and balances, but we are a nation built on that concept. We have "contaminated the entire country" by waging "nuclear war" in Iraq. What kind of drugs is this woman on? And note again her hatred for Israel, expressed again and again.

Chris Matthews, who hosts "Hardball" on MSNBC, interviewed Sheehan on August 15, 2005 interview (see LINK below for the full interview). He brought up the fact that most of her son's relatives had signed a letter denouncing her tactics. He quoted the letter:

"The Sheehan Family lost our beloved Casey in the Iraq War and we have been silently, respectfully grieving. We do not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the expense of her son's good name and reputation. The rest of the Sheehan Family supports our troops, our country, and our president, silently, with prayer and respect. Sincerely, Casey Sheehan's grandparents, aunts, uncles and numerous cousins."

Sheehan laughed it off. "Those are on my husband's side of the family. And we've always been politically on different sides of the fence. I have always been a Democrat and they have always been Republicans."

In the article mentioned earlier, "The War That's All About Her (see LINK below), Sheehan makes the following statement in the interview:

"Well, first of all, I think the best way to honor my son's death would be to bring the troops home, and that's what we in Gold Star Families want our children to be remembered for: peace and not war and hatred. For him to use my son's blood to continue the killing, to me, is despicable. I don't want one more drop of blood spilled in my son's name or in my name. We never should have been there in the first place. It was a mistake. It was a mistake when we invaded. It's a mistake now, and I want my son's sacrifice and the sacrifices of the other brave Americans to stand for peace and to bring peace to the world and not to spread more hate. You know, he said that my son died to spread freedom and democracy in that region. We're spreading imperialism and death and destruction everywhere we go. And, no, not one more drop of blood in my son's name or the names of any other of our brave young people who have made the ultimate sacrifice for basically nothing."

The author, Amy Goodman, makes a valid point when she says that this has become more about Cindy Sheehan than about her son Casey. In the statements above, she refers to Casey six times. She refers to herself thirteen times.

She has been bragging on Internet websites about all the intervews she has done on TV, all the magazines she has been in, and that she expects to be on the cover of People magazine. This may be a clue as to why the grieving mother has turned into the crusading America-hater. She loves the spotlight too much.

Finally, let's talk about Casey Sheehan. Casey VOLUNTEERED for the Army in May of 2000, knowing that it was likely he would serve in combat (that's what the Army does, Cindy). He didn't tell his mother, probably because he knew exactly what she would say, what she is saying today. (See LINK below to article, "Who Cares What Her Son Believed?")

Sheehan's claim that the Army recruiter "tricked" her son into enlisting is plain silly. I wouldn't say it is impossible to trick a 21-year-old into enlisting, but it's unlikely. Perhaps the recruiter said, "We're going to train you shoot weapons, but it's all just for show. We'll send the other guys into battle, but you'll stay in an air-conditioned office because you're special." But let's say she was right and he was tricked.

She must have REALLY been ticked off when he REENLISTED. She claims the reason he did so was that he was "brainwashed", but Casey had a sense of honor and duty (which he must have gotten from his father). Here is Cindy's reaction to his reenlistment, in her own words. It is quoted in an interview with Amy Goodman entitled "The War That's All about Her" (see LINK below):

"Our family was against it from the beginning. Casey was against it, but he felt it was his duty to go because he was in the Army. And he felt that he had to go to protect his buddies, to be there for his buddies, to be support, and they are brainwashed into thinking that even if they don't agree with the mission, they're brainwashed into just blindly following it. I begged Casey not to go. I told him I would take him to Canada. I told him I would run over him with a car, anything to get him not to go to that immoral war."

Now there's a loving mother. To fulfill her own political agenda, she was willing to drive her son to Canada (making HIM a federal fugitive, with no risk to herself). She was even willing to lovingly "run over him with a car" because SHE believed the war in Iraq was "immoral." How many of you mothers would be willing to show that kind of love to your children?

Finally, after volunteering for the Army in the first place, then voluntarily reenlisting, Casey Sheehan volunteered one last time. Although he was a mechanic serving in a non-combat position, he volunteered for what he knew was a dangerous assignment. He went on a mission into hostile territory to rescue a group of soldiers trapped by terrorists. (His mother calls them "Iraqi freedom fighters"; isn't that ironic?) He bravely chose to put himself in harm's way out of a sense of duty. His mother chooses to proclaim that his death was pointless.

INTERNET RESEARCH:

Bush and Sheehans Share Moments

Cindy Sheehan: Psychosis of Ignorance

San Francisco State University Hosts a Terrorist

Who Cares What Her Son Believed? Cindy Sheehan has an Agenda.

The War That's All About Her

Cindy Sealed the Deal

Cindy Sheehan: Changing Stories About Family Solidarity

Sheehan Plays "Hardball" With Christ Matthews

EXCERPTS FROM CINDY SHEEHAN'S ADDRESS TO THE "VETERANS FOR PEACE" CONVENTION, AUGUST 8, 2005:

"So anyway that filth-spewer and warmonger, George Bush was speaking after the tragedy of the marines in Ohio, he said a couple things that outraged me. And I know I don't look like I'm outraged, I'm always so calm and everything, that's because if I started hitting something, I wouldn't stop 'til it was dead."

"You're taking away our freedoms. The Iraqi people aren't freer, they're much worse off than before you meddled in their country."

"Somebody's gotta stop those lying bastards."

"Then we have this lying bastard, George Bush, taking a 5-week vacation in a time of war."

"But I'm either gonna be in jail or in a tent in Crawford, waiting until that jerk comes out and tells me why my son died."

"To make my son's death count for peace and love, and not war and hatred like he [Bush] stands for."

"You get America out of Iraq, you get Israel out of Palestine."

"What can we do to get him out of power? And I'm gonna say the "I" word. Impeach. And we have to have everybody impeached that lied to the American public, and that's the executive branch, and any people in congress, and we gotta go all the way down and we might have to go all the way down to the person who picks up the dogsh*t in Washington."

"And I want them to come after me, because unlike what you've been doing with the war resistance, I want to put this f*ing war on trial. And I want to say, 'You give me my son, and I'll pay your taxes.'"

"It's up to us, the people, to break immoral laws, and resist. As soon as the leaders of a country lie to you, they have no authority over you. These maniacs have no authority over us. And they might be able to put our bodies in prison, but they can't put our spirits in prison."

This is a letter posted at http://redleg07.blogspot.com/ by the father of a marine preparing to go to Iraq. This is an excellent read and really does say it all. His email addy is on this site but I choose not to post it here.

An open letter to Cindy Sheehan

This is from a guy that gets it. I mean, he really gets it.

An Open Letter to Cindy Sheehan From the Proud Father of a U.S. Marine

By Brantley Smith
Posted On August 17, 2005

Ms. Sheehan,

By your actions over the past two weeks it is clear that you missed an important aspect of Civics 101: With rights come responsibilities. You certainly have the right to voice your opinion against the war in Iraq and the President's policies. You even have the right to camp outside the President's home in Crawford and demand he meet with you. Your status as a mother who has lost a child in the war also gives your words and actions a credibility and a larger audience than otherwise would be the case. Now that your supporters have given you a broad forum from which to be heard, making you a national figure, its time you considered your responsibilities to all of us. I have a daughter set to deploy to Fallujah in two weeks and I have a serious concern with how your irresponsible and short sighted actions might impact on her.

She is, after all, a volunteer, like your son, and she is going in harm's way because she believes it is her responsibility to protect your rights and freedoms. Well meaning people like you always seem to forget the law of unintended consequences and in your vanity and arrogant self-righteousness never bother to think through what it is you are trying to do versus what you may actually accomplish. I am here to inform you, Ma'am, that you will not change the policy of our government by sitting outside Crawford making a spectacle of yourself in the name of your rights to free speech; what you will do is provide more propaganda for our enemies and cost the lives of even more brave and selfless American warriors. How long do you think it will be before you become a star on Al Jazeera? For all I know, it may have already happened. One thing is certain, though, and that is that your actions and words will further embolden a ruthless and evil enemy and more American blood will be shed and some of it will be on your hands. I pray that my daughter will not be one of them. If she is, then I will hold you and those like you partly responsible. Yes, my daughter's fate will depend mostly on her own courageous decision to serve, but only the most naive among us can deny the impact our own words and actions here in America have in a world grown smaller by the revolution in communications technology.

I am sure you believe that you are serving some great cause by putting our servicemen and women in more danger and that you can, by your irresponsible exercise of free speech, help end a policy you disagree with. Your emotion may be compelling but the reality is that you will not set in motion any process that will change or undo what has been done. The war will go on because to end it now would dishonor the sacrifice of all of our fellow countrymen who have died in the cause of fighting terrorism. Rational Americans will not allow that. Too much is at stake. Unfortunately, shallow and irrational ones, such as yourself, will continue to put the lives of our sons and daughters in danger by aiding and abetting an enemy who sees propagandizing in the mass media as its main weapon in a war it could otherwise not win standing on its own wretched and evil justification of radical Islam, or by force of arms. You, Ma'am, have joined forces with an evil you neither understand nor apparently have tried to comprehend. You direct your anger toward our country while the enemy plots to kill and maim the innocent. You make a mockery of responsible free speech while thousands of young men and women fight desperately to preserve your safety. Instead of honoring your son's sacrifice you are inspired to comfort an evil enemy.

You clearly do not understand the challenge we face as a nation and have not tried to put it in historical perspective. It is a sad fact that it is those of your thinking that have led us to where we are today. Decades of appeasement to these haters of everything we hold dear has cost thousands of American lives from Beirut to New York and in dozens of other forgotten places. Remember Lockerbie? The Achille Lauro? The USS Cole? We as a people were dragged into this war, much like December 7th, 1941, and we must fight and win it wherever the enemy hides and against whomever would support him. Make no mistake about Iraq. It is both a legitimate and crucial campaign in this much larger, global war of radical Islam's making. These people hate us for who we are, not what we have done. We did not bring this on ourselves, as many would have us believe, by our policies and actions abroad. We brought this on ourselves in 1775 when the Founding Fathers embarked on a course of freedom, tolerance, and liberal democratic and social ideals. These haters of all we hold dear strive to destroy forever a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" that Abraham Lincoln hoped would never "Perish from the earth". They would replace it with an oppressive world theocracy unlike anything modern history has ever seen for its ruthless disregard for personal freedom and liberty. If more appeasement is your answer for an alternative policy, spare us. We have suffered enough from cowardice and inaction.

An historical analogy screams to be let out here. It is one of two men, both named Chamberlain. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a school teacher turned soldier in the American Civil War, found himself in the crosshairs of history on a warm July day in 1863 on a small hill in Pennsylvania. Commanding the 20th Maine Regiment on the extreme Union left at Gettysburg he was in a most perilous position. Should he fail to hold against a strong Confederate attack, the Union could be lost. You see, he was serving in an increasingly unpopular war at home against a resurgent enemy, and for a President fighting for his political life. Colonel Chamberlain, stoic but determined, refused to yield. His small regiment held against an onslaught of Confederate attacks, an action many historians believe turned the tide of the war. He was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. The other half of this analogy focuses on Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of Great Britain in the years preceding World War II. His story is widely known. Through his policy of appeasement and a lack of moral courage, he handed Adolf Hitler much of Europe. Which side of history have you chosen, Ma'am?

Your son died in the service of freedom and my daughter will go in harm's way to protect and preserve it. Honor their sacrifice, Ma'am, by exercising it responsibly.

I will pray with you and I will grieve with you but I will not stand by silent while you needlessly and arrogantly endanger the life of my daughter and her comrades in arms. Please bless us with your silence and go home.

Brantley Smith
Proud father of a United States Marine
Tullahoma, TN

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