Posted on 08/16/2005 5:56:50 PM PDT by kaehurowing
The Tipping Point in Iraq
Fawaz Turki, disinherited@yahoo.com
The tipping point in the American public’s support for the Iraq war may already be here, its arrival accelerated by an unlikely figure: A middle-aged, middle-class, middle-brow American woman whose story made headlines and vaulted her into national consciousness this month. Cindy Sheehan, the grieving mother of a soldier, Casey Sheehan, 24, who fell in battle last year, began her protest by crisscrossing the country demanding answers for why the US continues to wage what she has called an unjust and unnecessary war.
She established an anti-war organization, Gold Star Families for Peace, that labored largely in obscurity, until last week, when she set up camp in Crawford, Texas, along the road leading to President Bush’s ranch, where he is vacationing.
What began as a solitary campaign by a grieving mother has taken on the trappings of a political movement, complete with a political consultant, a team of public relations professionals and sundry activists who have mobilized around her cause — a cause that seems to hit a chord with a public that polls show is growing increasingly dissatisfied with the war in Iraq.
Beyond her ever-swelling vigil in Crawford, Sheehan has also launched a TV ad campaign (which aired with a modest $15,000 buy of airtime in Waco, the nearest broadcast market to Bush’s 1,600 acre spread) in which she tells the president about the suffering she has endured at her son’s death. “Mr. President, I want to tell you face to face how much this hurts,” she intones. “How many of our loved ones need to die in this senseless war?”
Bush has been publicly respectful of Sheehan — not wanting to refute the mother of a fallen soldier — and last Thursday responded to reporters that he “thought long and hard about her position,” even though he disagreed with her.
To be sure, President Bush had met with Sheehan as part of a larger group of grieving mothers just two months after her son’s death in April 2004, but what she got out of the encounter was sympathy, not answers.
And that’s what a lot of Americans want these days — answers.
As the administration remains locked on the same disastrous course in Iraq, a nightmare for Americans and Iraqis alike, voices are being raised by a gamut of commentators who had hitherto displayed only muted concern over the mess in that country, whose invasion, they are now convinced, was not just inadvisable and costly, but morally wrong as well.
Those of us who had applauded the downfall of Saddam’s totalitarian regime, and awaited the emergence of an egalitarian and democratic society in the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates, were wrenchingly disillusioned to see the country enmeshed in a blood-soaked emergency, tribal feuding and rampant corruption. We took Washington’s assurances that it intended to liberate Iraqis from totalitarianism in good faith. The assurances were not worthless. It is the war that is now worthless.
When Americans went to Vietnam they justified their venture on morality and geopolitics — the loss of that country to communist domination, the domino theory had it, would have resulted in the fall of Australia, Malaysia, India, and even Hawaii — and had that been true, the venture would have been worth it. But it was not. And 58,000 American soldiers died. An equally firm moral case could be made for invading Iraq — the liberation of its people from tyranny — were that true. But it is not.
It now boils down to American will, the will to demonstrate American resolve and reliability. Those ordinary folk, like Cindy Sheehan, who oppose the war do not do so because they were against the overthrow of Saddam’s brutal dictatorship or against the emergence of a democratic Iraq. If the war was fought with that aim in mind, it clearly would have been a moral, even quixotic, war.
But this says no more than that the invasion was triggered by good intentions, and if good intentions were the aim, what were neoconservatives like Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney doing mapping out its grand design, and deceiving us about weapons of mass destruction and Saddam’s complicity with terrorists?
Until documentary evidence emerges, I will not embrace the American left’s notion that the US wanted to “establish a solidly pro-American regime in Iraq that would provide basing rights for the US military for decades to come,” as Helena Cobban suggested in The Nation last week, a position that would “enable Washington to threaten military action against both Iran and Syria.”
But what I will embrace as true is the notion that the invasion of Iraq has alienated Muslims against the US, not just in the Arab world but throughout the Muslim world. (According to the Pew Research Center, the number of Indonesians, for example, who viewed the US favorably fell from 61 percent to 15 percent, and from the summer of 2002 to the summer of 2004, those who viewed the US favorably in Egypt plummeted from 15 percent to 2 percent.)
As for Iraq, the elusive endeavor of introducing its society, along with other societies in the region, to democracy is now a pipe dream. Saddam’s dictatorship has been replaced by an abusive regime hell-bent on settling scores with its rivals.
The US has failed in its aims in the country it invaded two and a half years ago — and whether you see those aims as benign or egregious will depend on your ideological orientation — but it is not above playing the blame card, in this case blaming both Syria and Iran for that failure, alleging that they are “interfering” in the internal affairs of their neighbor by aiding the insurgency.
If you don’t want to call that brazen, well then, call it ironic. For the US, which has no business being in Iraq in the first place, is blaming that country’s neighbors for “interference.”
Moreover, the United States’ Greater Middle East initiative, whose goals of encouraging democratic norms and promoting freedom in the region, are commendable, is now dismissed because of the credibility problems that Washington has created for itself in that part of the world. That is why reformers in the Middle East are reluctant to be tarred with an American brush. Who wants to trust a big power that continues to support Israel blindly and that has brought chaos and misery to Iraq?
Meanwhile, back in Crawford, Cindy Sheehan, along with her supporters, continues her vigil, demanding from the president answers to her pressing and compelling questions.
She is not the only American asking them. As the New York Times columnist, Bob Herbert, wrote last Thursday: “Ask a thousand different suits why we’re in Iraq and you’ll get a thousand different answers. Ask how we plan to win the war, and you’ll get a blank stare.”
Thanks for posting, but I couldn't disagree with this guy more. There are numerous articles showing links between Al Queda and Saddam, mass graves and WMDs showing up just last week. Cindy Sheehan was an anti-war liberal all along, the unfortunate death of her son appears to have pushed her over the edge and into the arms of the American jihadists. I feel sorry for her and her loss, but I do not agree that this war was in vain.
Those ordinary folk, like Cindy Sheehan
Cindy is about as ordinary as a copperhead.
"FAWAZ TURKI"-- are you sure this ain't one of them Free Republic hoaxes?
WOW!!! Mother Sheehan must be so proud to gain the endorsement of both David Duke and the Arab News in one news cycle. I know I'm not proud nor pleased for her.
These people have zero sense of scope or history. When has liberty not been paid for in blood? But this guy thought the rainbows were going to shine in Iraq with no work or sacrifice. Go ahead and throw in the towel puke. You make me sick.
It does not matter if we agree with this guy or if he is totally wrong or if we know for a fact that America will not leave until a free Iraq is able to defend itself.
What matters is that dead-enders in Iraq will read this and say to themselves, "See! Our situation is not hopeless. If we hang on just a few more months, if we can manage to kill just a few more Americans, people like Cindy Sheehan will force America to run away and victory can still be ours!"
Cindy Sheehan and the liberal news media that created the Cindy media circus are a force multiplier for the Iraqi terrorists.
Cindy Sheehan and the liberal news media that created the Cindy media circus are the Iraqi terrorist's "Great White Hope".
Cindy Sheehan and the liberal news media that created the Cindy media circus will prolong the war and cost more Americans their lives.
She is digging deeper every day.........with lots of help from her "friends".
Can't possibly be true. Juan Williams insisted to Charles Krauthammer tonight that she was absolutely NOT giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
I mean, who are we going to believe, Juan Williams or our own lying eyes reading it in the Arab press and seeing it on Al Jazeera?
"What matters is that dead-enders in Iraq will read this and say to themselves, "See! Our situation is not hopeless. If we hang on just a few more months, if we can manage to kill just a few more Americans, people like Cindy Sheehan will force America to run away and victory can still be ours!"
Cindy Sheehan and the liberal news media that created the Cindy media circus are a force multiplier for the Iraqi terrorists.
Cindy Sheehan and the liberal news media that created the Cindy media circus are the Iraqi terrorist's "Great White Hope".
Cindy Sheehan and the liberal news media that created the Cindy media circus will prolong the war and cost more Americans their lives."
My point exactly.
Exactly!
And let's not forget
the screaming headlines,damning international criticism, anda republic for 200+ years.nearly unbearable uncertaintyin a country which had beenof the 2000 Election-- right here at home --
Tell Tofu-Turki Jive-Turki to politely get lost! We Americans are the greatest, the best, the noblest, the most went-out-of-our-way to help others there ever was, I am as serious as I can be!
If we go down, we go down swinging like the good guys!
To All the FReepers who wish they could have been in Crawford
to support President Bush and the Troops.
You do not have to be in Texas to show support for the Troops.
Visit your local military base today and at least once a week.
Or a military or veteran hospital.
If you can't do that the send an e-mail or packeage
to our troops for morale support.
Proud Patriots -
Sending care packages,
e-mails, and snail mail
to US Military worldwide.
http://www.proudpatriots.org
We need coast to coast support for the troops, now, more than ever.
I'll bet Hanoi Kerry and Hanoi Jane are supplying funds and
morale support for the left.
We need to make an example of these 2 traitors from the 60's.
Anyone who thinks Hanoi Kerry isn't behind the anti war crowd needs to get a clue.
Spineless US Senate would rather protect Hanoi Kerry
than deal with the anti war crowd.
It's time to support our troops and ignore the jelly fish in the US Senate!
There is no need to impeach Hanoi Kerry from the US Senate
He is there illegally!
WAKEUP AMERICA!
For those who "forgot" what Hanoi Kerry
did in the past read on and learn the truth.
Hanoi Kerry was still a USNR officer while he:
gave false hearsay testimony to Congress
negotiated with the enemy
helped the US lose a war
abetted in the deaths of millions
created a hostile environment for all servicemen
Why is Kerry still in the US Senate?
This is in violation of
U.S. Constitution Amendment 14 Sec 3
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.amendmentxiv.html
And the FBI has proof of his treason.
Hanoi Kerry Timeline of a traitor
includes FBI files
May 1970
Kerry and Julia traveled to Paris, France and met with Madame Nguyen Thi Binh, the Foreign Minister of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of Vietnam (PRG), the political wing of the Vietcong, and other Viet Cong and Communist Vietnamese representatives to the Paris peace talks, a trip he now calls a "fact-finding" mission.
(U.S. code 18 U.S.C. 953, declares it illegal for a U.S. citizen to go abroad and negotiate with a foreign power.)
http://www.archive-news.net/Kerry/JK_timeline.html
a) A person charged with absence without leave or missing movement in time of war,
or with any offense punishable by death,
may be tried at any time without limitation.
http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ucmj.htm#*%20843.%20ART.%2043.%20STATUTE%20OF%20LIMITATIONS
Distribute these url's!
Links to Anti Kerry sites
212 LINKS
News reports,
Viper's Vietnam Veterans Page
http://members.aol.com/ga1449ga/links/links.html
EXPOSE HANOI KERRY!
MUST SEE WEBSITE!!!!
http://www.kerrystreason.com/index.html
Full details on these url's!
http://stophanoikerry.150m.com
There is a backup site
if the 1st url is unavailable.
http://tonkin.spymac.net/hanoikerry1.html
Did you see this...?
(The 'Kerry's Promise Counter')
http://polipundit.com/index.php?p=6628
Polipundit even tells you how to install it on your own page!
Gee, I hope I type this before the ZOT.
Well, first of all, the First Amendment protects you from the Government throwing you in jail for expressing your opinion.
Free Republic, on the other hand, is a private site and its owner can throw your butt or my butt off this site whenever he wants to for whatever reason he chooses.
Those are his First Amendment rights.
In regards to the dead-enders in Iraq, the point is not why they fought originally but how long they will fight being given false hope that America will turn tail and run if they just kill a few more Americans and the Cindy Sheehans "tip" America into declaring defeat.
"Don't give up, Mohamed. All is not lost. I heard that America is going to bug out any day now. All the American TV talks about is a woman saying that her son died for Israeli interests. Hang on. There is hope."
"In regards to the dead-enders in Iraq, the point is not why they fought originally but how long they will fight being given false hope that America will turn tail and run if they just kill a few more Americans and the Cindy Sheehans "tip" America into declaring defeat."
The real problem is that from the terrorists' perspective, it isn't false hope. Bin Laden has always told them the U.S. is corrupt and weak, and eventually will lose the will to oppose the terrorists. And the terrorists already have the example of John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and others who actively sabotaged our efforts in Vietnam. These same people along with their allies in the mainstream media are still running around supporting people like Sheehan.
I'm sure OBL has a big smile on his face about all this.
You forgot the barf alert.
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