Posted on 09/29/2005 7:11:01 AM PDT by areafiftyone
Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in action in Iraq on April 4, 2004, has become the face of the anti-war movement in the United States. While her grief is understandable, her rhetoric is outrageous.
As the mother of a son killed in battle in Iraq, she originally struck a sympathetic chord, whether you supported the war in Iraq or opposed it. One cannot help but empathize with the agony of a bereaved mother. But that has changed over the months, and I believe that many Americans who viewed her with sympathy no longer do so.
Many Americans, myself included, now see her as a person who has come to enjoy the celebratory status accorded to her by the radicals on the extreme left who see America as the outlaw of the world. These radicals are not content to be constructive critics. They are bent on destroying this country.
Some of them want to turn America into a radical socialist state. Others hope to create a utopia. But regardless of their agendas, how can Cindy Sheehan's supporters defend her shameful statement, "This country is not worth dying for."
While we recognize the U.S. is far from perfect, we are still head and shoulders above most other countries in the world in every respect. We remain the place where almost all others, given the chance, want to come to live. We continue to be the land of opportunity. We are the world's leading economy.
Yes, there is far too great a difference between the incomes of the rich and the poor. Yes, we haven't provided universal medical care as a matter of right for all of our citizens. Yes, minorities still suffer from discrimination socially, in housing, jobs and education.
But we have a political system that for more than 200 years has allowed the electorate to work its will through regularly held elections. The government follows the will of the people, or it will no longer stay in power.
Those who rail against the United States have simply failed to sell their message to the public at large. They keep losing elections, local as well as national. Rather than broadening their appeal, they have narrowed it.
I supported and still support the war in Iraq, because our Congress and president had every right to rely on the advice of the CIA that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. On Sunday, September 25, 2005, Tim Russert of "Meet The Press" summed up the situation prevailing before the war, saying: "... post-September 11th, there was a fear of terrorism, an inability to know whether there were weapons of mass destruction by the public or by the media. George W. Bush said there were. Bill and Hillary Clinton said there were. The Russians, French and Germans, who opposed the war, said there were. Hans Blix of the U.N. said there were."
Iraq had fought an eight-year war against Iran resulting in a million casualties, using poison gas against the Kurds, who were citizens of Iraq, and against the Iranian army. Yes, since the 2003 invasion, we have not found any present supplies of WMD. Nevertheless, based on advice from CIA counterparts advising every member nation of the United Nations Security Council, the Security Council, including Syria, adopted Resolution 1441 unanimously, finding Iraq had weapons of mass destruction for which it had not accounted and advising Iraq that failure to account was cause for war.
Iraq refused to account for them to the U.N. We and our allies were right to invade, notwithstanding that other countries, terrified by the prospect of terrorism against them and tempted by corruption at the U.N. masterminded by Saddam Hussein through the Oil-for-Food program and lucrative vendor contracts with Hussein's regime, did not join us.
As I have often stated, we have accomplished our original goal to prevent Iraq from threatening us or its regional neighbors. We should declare victory and get out. Yes, there probably will be a civil war among the Kurds, Sunni and Shia. If the U.N. – which is still under a cloud because of the Oil-for-Food scandal – decides to take a military role in Iraq to stop the civil war, we can join them at that time.
Having accomplished our original mission, we should no longer be fulfilling the obligations of other countries, such as Germany and France, which have had a free ride to date. Even in Afghanistan the latter NATO allies do not participate in combat duty, leaving that and the ensuing casualties for the U.S. to bear.
President George W. Bush summed up his views on Iraq when he stated, "When the Iraqi army stands up, the American Army will stand down." I have low expectations of that happening in the immediate future. The estimates provided by the Bush administration on our getting out range from two to ten years. I do not believe we should wait that long, because of the casualties that would be involved. We should get out now, leaving the U.N. in charge. Although I believe that we should leave Iraq, I do not accept Sheehan's outrageous statements.
Sheehan has joined those who rail against Israel, labeling Israel as the culprit with her comment, "You get America out of Iraq, you get Israel out of Palestine and the terrorism will stop." Is that why Sunni and other terrorists have intentionally killed thousands of Shia civilians, labeling them, according to al-Zarkawi, infidels? Is that why Arab fundamentalists have declared war against all Christians and Jews?
According to Wikipedia, on August 15, 2005, on the Chris Matthews Show, Sheehan said "she would not have responded differently to her son's death had he died in Afghanistan rather than in Iraq. Sheehan argued that the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan was ‘almost the same thing as the Iraq war.'" Remember, the U.N. Security Council authorized the invasion of Afghanistan and the war against the Taliban government.
Sheehan's personal attacks on President Bush include comments in a speech on April 27, 2005, when she said: "We are not waging a war on terror in this country. We're waging a war of terror. The biggest terrorist in the world is George W. Bush." Shameful.
According to Wikipedia, Sheehan wrote, "Casey was killed in the Global War of Terrorism waged on the world and its own citizens by the biggest terrorist outfit in the world: George and his destructive neo-con cabal."
In an interview on CBS, Sheehan referred to the foreign insurgents coming into Iraq, who are condemned as terrorists even by other Arab countries, as well as the U.S. and Great Britain, as "freedom fighters." On September 16, 2005, she said, "Pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq." On the one hand, she and her supporters urge that the National Guard be brought back from Iraq to be used in New Orleans, and on the other hand she condemns their use there now.
In addressing a veterans group on August 5, 2005, she demeaned herself with the use of truly outrageous remarks hurled at the president, describing him as "a lying bastard," "that jerk," "that filth spewer and war monger" and "that evil maniac."
Sheehan appeared this past weekend in Washington, D.C., leading the parade in a picture captured by the media that included Jesse Jackson, Julian Bond and Al Sharpton.
On Monday of this week, while Sheehan and her supporters were in Washington protesting at the White House against the presence of U.S. military forces in Iraq – those forces there at the request of the democratically elected Iraqi government – according to The New York Times, "Armed men dressed as police officers burst into a primary school in a town south of Baghdad on Monday, rounded up five Shiite teachers and their driver, marched them to an empty classroom and killed them, a police official said." Sheehan believes them to be "freedom fighters."
Of course, Sheehan has the right to state her opinion in a country she believes shouldn't be defended. We who disagree with her statements, we who believe this country deserves our thanks, love and willingness to defend it, also have the right to express our views. Speak up, America.
Edward I. Koch, author, lawyer and talk radio host, was a member of the U.S. Congress and, for 12 years, the 105th mayor of New York City.
Good point. The only vestiges of discrimination left in this country are personal prejudices and preferences, the kind that can't possibly be eliminated without turning the whole country into a concentration camp for brainwashing and re-education. (Well, that and the discrimination against white and Asian people that goes on in every college admissions office.)
-ccm
You hear Sen McCain on Sean Hannity's show yesterday talking about his meeting with Sheehan? First her organization lied by saying there were Arizonans who wanted to meet with him and there were none. Then he told Sheehan he respectfully disagreed with her. When she went out in front of the camera, "she called me a warmonger," McCain said with a laugh.
Cindy and her flunkies are nothing but human debris.
Wow!
LOL He's a Democrat don't forget - But he's a good guy!
Re "Grandpa"
Yes, I've noted the resemblance too. In fact Al "Grandpa" Lewis, who at last report was still alive, or at least "undead", is a politician of sorts himself -- a lifelong socialist, who ran for Governer of New York a few years ago and has long been involved in left-wing NY politics.
Oh she has grief alright, she herself stated that Casey's $$$$$ was about to run out.
Or maybe those $$$$$ are tied up by the ex-husband in the divorce settlement? He's asked for it.
Mayor Koch knows the true anti-American agenda of Cindy & company.
Joe Lieberman ? Why him
LOL, i know what you mean.
As in Larry, Moe and Curly, of course Shemp, and Little Joe can't be forgotten. In retrospect they were quite intelligent, and accomplished actors.
So, I humbly offer my apologies to the familys for bismirching their good name with the likes of Jihad Cindy reference.
She's making a lot more money with her "Anti-America Tour."
Yep i read she was now "on the circuit". What tripe.
Perhaps she's now with "Prince Valium".
Is it me or does that picture of her and Jesse "The womanizer" Jackson look like she's a body double for Jim Carreys "The Grinch". I wish I had Photo shop to put them side by side, i bet you couldn't tell the difference.
Most likely because her heads buried so deep up the Dems arse she can't see.
I don't agree with everything Koch says, but he does stand up to the Demoncrats and for the President. This cannot be easy. And New Yorkers replaced him with Dinkins, who would not let the police stop a pogrom in Crown Heights. What a travesty.
The assumption that Koch is rational precludes that he would represent the othe side.
I have heard enough of the loss of her son. She has replaced his honorable service with anti-everything American slogans.
I think it is more than despicable that she is spending the money from Casey's insurance policy to fund her rants around the U.S. This is a sick, sick woman.
"Why doesn't she have a show on Air America by now?"
Have you heard her speak? Even Err America has standards...oh wait, they don't. Yeah, why doesn't she have a show?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.