This Steams me II
Dear Cindy Sheehan,
I am very sorry that your son Casey was killed in Iraq. Now. . please go home and leave President Bush alone. You think that you have a right to camp out, become a media darling, and demand to see the president. This is America, so I guess that is true. But apparently some of your own family members are offended by this charade. When I was two I threatened to hold my breath until I got what I wanted. Guess what? I eventually had to take a breath and the reason of authority won out. You say that you want to talk to the president and have him tell you why we are in the war. You had one audience with him already, and some reports suggest that you were singing a different tune about it last year. I also hear that the president recently sent two top level advisers to meet with you, but that isn't enough for you.
You don't want to hear an explanation from him as to why he started the war, your comments show that you have an agenda. You want him to say that it was for oil and to enrich his buddies. You know that isn't going to happen, so you continue your charade, advancing your agenda, and playing pawn for the peace pimps.
You stain the honor or the rest of the war dead and their families who handle the inevitable deaths with dignity and grace. You say you want to know why your son died. Hell, I can answer that for you. This isn't Vietnam. There is no draft. You son VOLUNTEERED for the service and reinlisted. That's part one. Part two? He died because some scum insurgent killed him. So please. We are all sorry for your loss. It is a hole that can't be fully filled in, but please invest your grief somewhere else, somewhere where it might do some good.
I am very sorry that your son Casey was killed in Iraq. Now. . please go home and leave President Bush alone. You think that you have a right to camp out, become a media darling, and demand to see the president. This is America, so I guess that is true. But apparently some of your own family members are offended by this charade. When I was two I threatened to hold my breath until I got what I wanted. Guess what? I eventually had to take a breath and the reason of authority won out. You say that you want to talk to the president and have him tell you why we are in the war. You had one audience with him already, and some reports suggest that you were singing a different tune about it last year. I also hear that the president recently sent two top level advisers to meet with you, but that isn't enough for you.
You don't want to hear an explanation from him as to why he started the war, your comments show that you have an agenda. You want him to say that it was for oil and to enrich his buddies. You know that isn't going to happen, so you continue your charade, advancing your agenda, and playing pawn for the peace pimps.
You stain the honor or the rest of the war dead and their families who handle the inevitable deaths with dignity and grace. You say you want to know why your son died. Hell, I can answer that for you. This isn't Vietnam. There is no draft. You son VOLUNTEERED for the service and reinlisted. That's part one. Part two? He died because some scum insurgent killed him. So please. We are all sorry for your loss. It is a hole that can't be fully filled in, but please invest your grief somewhere else, somewhere where it might do some good.
posted by stewdog | 12:49 PM | Permalink
|
12 comments
12 Comments:
I can't say what this type of loss and grief would do to me so I won't judge her. She may have no idea what she's doing and I pray for her and all the families going through such pain. In the big scheme of things, this camp-out/sit-in/media-fest will have no impact whatsoever on the momentum of current events. I just wish some of the most vocal, camera-seeking sign-wavers could understand - peace is not the absence of war.
- Dirtbiker for W
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
How dare you! Who are you to judge this woman's actions? The War is immoral. Just because Americans have died there does not mean that we shouldn't be criticizing the War effort. How many have to die before you will start to question the merits of the war? 5000? 10,000? What's the number? There is a limit right? The only difference between you and me is that you actually think we can transform opinions in MidEast by this War. Don't you see it hardens their resolve? Our presence makes them fight us harder. We will keep dying in greater numbers until people like you finally realize that fighting them with tanks and guns will do no good. They have nothing to lose, so they would rather die than become Westernized.
The death toll from Iraq and Afghanistan is about 700 deaths away from equaling the amount of Americans who died on 9/11. We are no safer, nor are we closer to catching bin Laden. Open your eyes! The emperor has no clothes--or brain for that matter.
I've removed the comment spam.
Dirtbiker,
I feel for her, too, and I certainly honor her son's sacrifice. However, to the extent that -- in her grief -- she has allowed herself and her son to be cynically exploited by some people who have nothing but disdain for the American military, she has done her son and the other families who have experienced such grief a disservice.
Also I must say that she has used her son's death both to gain publicity for her cause (such as it is) *and* to shield herself from legitimate questions and criticism (which she calls "attacks"). The former tactic is legitimate, but the latter is not.
"How dare you! Who are you to judge this woman's actions? The War is immoral. Just because Americans have died there does not mean that we shouldn't be criticizing the War effort."
-- That's classic. Within a few lines you have suggested that Stewdog has no right to criticize this woman's actions and then you go on to defend criticism of the war effort. Let's get something straight, bub. You and Ms. Sheehan can criticize the war effort 'til the cows come home, but don't play the "how dare you" game when someone then has the temerity to criticize you and her.
"How many have to die before you will start to question the merits of the war? 5000? 10,000? What's the number? There is a limit right?"
-- That's an interesting moral calculus. A certain "limit" of casualties erodes the "merits" of the war, is that what you're suggesting? How does that work? What was the limit in WW2? Or in the Civil War? If we had reached a certain level of casualties in the Civil War, would you have then concluded that war had no merit? By your logic, I think we can safely conclude that WW2 had no merit, since the amount of people who died in that war was greater than the amount of people who had been (or would likely have been) slaughtered by the Nazis and Imperial Japan.
"We will keep dying in greater numbers until people like you finally realize that fighting them with tanks and guns will do no good. They have nothing to lose, so they would rather die than become Westernized."
-- That's what a small faction of murderous thugs would like us to believe, obviously. But who is this monolithic "they" you are talking about? The millions of people who suffered under the Taliban and Saddam Hussein? I think most of them wouldn't mind a bit more Westernization (if by Westernization you mean some form of representative government, press freedom, minority rights, and the absence of a police state). Forgive me, but your insistence that "they" will fight Westernization even if it means subjugating themselves to Al Qaeda smacks of condescension. Democracy is obviously not for those poor backward slobs, right?
"The death toll from Iraq and Afghanistan is about 700 deaths away from equaling the amount of Americans who died on 9/11."
-- Why are you only counting Americans? Your elision of the deaths of Iraqis and Afghanis seems telling to me. In any event, what on earth does this statistic mean? Should we have given up in WW2 once we reached the magic number that matched the number killed in Pearl Harbor?
If you want to trot out the tired cliche that Bush has no brain, you might want to make sure you've provided evidence that you yourself have one.
I can't help but think that all of this media coverage is actually harming Mrs. Sheehan's cause. One grieving mother quietly and patiently camping out to talk to the president is poignant, even heartbreaking. The arrival of professional activists, the MoveOn.org crowd, and Democratic media consultants reduce it to a circus freak-show. People who are just now tuning into this story have missed it at its most raw and effective; the public is now much more likely to see Mrs. Sheehan on the news, roll their eyes and mutter something about the usual hippie crazies, and change the channel.
If I were a gambler, I'd bet that MoveOn.org makes this whole spectacle increasingly garish and scripted--and, amazingly, increasingly unsympathetic--before it's all over.
Hey, Jeff, HOW DARE YOU have an opinion you slack jawed, knuckle dragging, Neandrathal, pajama wearing blogger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dirtbiker,
I felt compelled to "judge her". The reason is that the usual suspects have glommed on to her like crazy glue and put her on a pedestal and dared "people like me" to criticize her.
I can't resist the bait. I'm all in.
You're right on about the circus freak-show atmosphere, Jeff. Take a look at the Huffington Post today, if you have the stomach for it. It starts with a post by Cindy Sheehan herself, and then all the usual suspects join in . . . including Tom Hayden, Arianna, Christine Lahti, and on and on.
Oh, God. I just checked into Huffington Post again, and she's got a new post up. She specifically mentioned that she received a visit from Viggo Mortensen -- maybe she thinks that if the King of Gondor supports her cause it has to be righteous.
Post a Comment
<< Home