SNIPAt a news conference at their home on Tuesday, Palmer and her husband applauded Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier who has posted herself outside Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, for bringing the war to the public's attention.
"We consider her the Rosa Parks of the new movement opposing the Iraq war," Palmer said.
Paul Schroeder said his son and other Marines were being misused as a stabilizing force in Iraq.
"Our comments are not just those of grieving parents," Schroeder said. "They are based on anger, Mr. President, not grief. Anger is an honest emotion when someone's family has been violated."
Palmer accused the president of digging himself into a foxhole in a war gone bad and refusing to make changes.
"Whether he leads them out by putting more troops on the ground or pulling them out -- he can't just let it continue," she said.
White House spokesman Allen Abney declined comment other than to refer to Bush's remarks at a news conference Thursday in which Bush said, "Pulling troops out prematurely will betray the Iraqis. Our mission in Iraq, as I said earlier, is to fight the terrorists, is to train the Iraqis."
The Ohio couple have long opposed the war and tried to dissuade their son from joining the Marines, but have made their views public only since his death.
On Tuesday they urged Americans to voice their opposition to the war.SNIP
Ping
I just hope that these folks aren't made into media darlings like Cindy Sheehan.
They're entitled to their opinions, and I'm sorry for their loss, but their son IS a hero, and it's too bad they can't see it.
...and an idiot, apparently.
He is unprepared or unwilling to face the fact that an America that exhibits any lack of resolve will result in the deaths of many, many more Americans.
In addtion to all the other arguments.... does it never occur to these people that far more lives would be lost with a premature retreat that would totally embolden Al Quaida and plunge Iraq into civil war?
It really pisses me off sometimes.
I understand the pain of the parents.
What concerns me is that they are being presented as jumbo patriots because they oppose the war and the president.
Tragic that they lost a son, but disgusting that they decided not to speak out when he was actively fighting, only to then decide they could spit on all the other soldiers once their son could no longer be hurt - only his memory. God bless the son and comfort the family that dishonors him by proxy.
Their son obviously disagreed with them. It's reprehensible that they use his sacrifice to push their agenda.
The President declared war on terror "...wherever it is".
All military soldiers are heroes IMO, whether they are in a hostile environment or not.
As long as the American voter continues to vote republican, his death will never be in vain.
This parent is wrong.
Those lives were not wasted. Since the cause is JUST, and since the war is certainly NECESSARY, there is no way that these deaths were not ultimately meaningful.
It is only if we bug out, pull out, bad mouth out, coward out, that these lives will be wasted.
How we wish the lives could have come to some other end, but there are only two true hopes about death: (1) That it's not the end of eternal life, and (2) that the life leading to the death was meaningful.
If he had died in a car wreck, she would be blaming the car manufacturer. If he died of a drug overdose, she would blame the police for not arresting all the dealers. If he died in a hurricane, she would blame the National Weather Service for not warnig him properly.
At no point would her little boy ever be mature enough to make a decision on his own. Sad.
I am so sorry that Lance Cpl Schroeder won't be around to tell his folks how wrong they are. Give them credit for raising a son whose contributions to humanity surpassed their own.
We lost two fine young men in the Civil War....ages 19 and 20.
My cousin's son, a Navy Seal, died in a training accident on Nov. 9, 2004.
My daughter was on the 96th floor of WTC #2 in Feb.. 1993.
Today she is a mother of a 3 year old.
My next door neighbor vanished on Sept. 11, 2001.
He was an early-to-work guy at Cantor Fitzgerald.
I get it.
Every soldier has volunteered to serve.
Life is risky.
Why can't folks understand, this is what servicemen do? Most of them understand it; it's a dangerous job, they understand the risks.
Pulling the troops out is analogous to not using coal anymore because those miners are trapped. They know the risks their jobs entail too.
418,500 American Heroes died in WWII, certainly not wasted at all:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties
PAUL SCHROEDER: I agree with whatever what everyone said, but I take a different point. The president said honor these fallen heroes by finishing the job. Well, he has yet to define what "finishing the job" means. That means that my son's buddies -- a good Marine is taught you don't fight for your country, you fight your buddies -- my son's buddy on his right and his left are now in jeopardy, and my son can no longer help them, protect them.
So to honor my son, my wife and I have chosen to speak out about this quite vociferously. I think it's time that we send more troops in to do this job correctly. Had we done that in the beginning, we would have been out probably within a year. And if there is not enough political will or political support to do that, then we should pull them out.
Washington Post and New York Times
Separated at birth.
I understand the pain of the parents.
What concerns me is that they are being presented as jumbo patriots because they oppose the war and the president.
Their Hero is rolling over in his grave now praying that his parents will accept that their son was brave and was a "Hero".
We need to find and promote the "Brave Parents" that are out there in the majority. The MSM will NOT find them or promote them.
So I suppose they would feel the same about the hundreds of thouands of young men and women who lost their lives in WWII ..?? Sad .. FREEDOM IS NOT FREE - IT HAS A PRICE - their son's life was not wasted.
We have an all-volunteer force.....this guy's argument is (or should have been) with his son.