Friday, August 12, 2005

Cindy Sheehan and the War in Iraq

With all the coverage of Cindy Sheehan in Crawford, Texas, I decided to do a bit of a news search on her and what exactly is going on. The blogs I read on the right are saying that at the least, Sheehan is a grieving mother searching for an audience with the President and at the worst, Sheehan is desperately searching for publicity and coverage, and will soon be the new nationally-known anti-war spokesman, complete with book deals and the like. The blogs I read on the left characterize Cindy as a grieving mother that is being relentlessly attacked by those on the right. Of all that I have read, I have derived these few facts:

-Cindy Sheehan's son Casey Sheehan was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004 and from that day on Cindy has been a full-time anti-war activist.
-Cindy Sheehan supports the view that all US forces should leave Iraq immediately.
-Cindy Sheehan is requesting an audience with President Bush to inform him of her views.
-Cindy Sheehan has previously met with the President to inform him of her views.
-The President has made clear he understands her position but that US forces will not leave Iraq.

So therefore, I conclude that all that can be covered has already been covered. I also appreciate Mrs. Sheehan's stance and her desire to be heard.

The point that I have made in the past and I will make again is that I don't know how Cindy's son died. I don't know what out current military activities are right now in Iraq. I have to watch the History Channel to find out anything about current US military operations in Iraq.

To further evaluate the President's stance and our current situation in Iraq, I need more information from the media than the daily body count, which is all their are currently willing to provide.

UPDATE:

I found a few new quotes from a speech Cindy Sheehan gave in Texas that I'm afraid shed a slightly negative light on Cindy's position.

"That lying bastard, George Bush, is taking a five-week vacation in time of war"

"You get that maniac out here to talk with me in person."

"And the other thing I want him to tell me is 'just what was the noble cause Casey died for?' Was it freedom and democracy? Bullshit! He died for oil. He died to make your friends richer. He died to expand American imperialism in the Middle East. We're not freer here, thanks to your PATRIOT Act. Iraq is not free. You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine and you'll stop the terrorism," she exclaimed. "There, I used the 'I' word - imperialism," the 48 year-old mother quipped. "And now I'm going to use another 'I' word - impeachment - because we cannot have these people pardoned. They need to be tried on war crimes and go to jail."

"My son was killed in 2004. I am not paying my taxes for 2004. You killed my son, George Bush, and I don't owe you a penny...you give my son back and I'll pay my taxes. Come after me (for back taxes) and we'll put this war on trial."

Not only are you unable to find any of these quotes in any mainstream media source, these quotes shed a new light on what I would consider Cindy's true aspirations: un unabashed sense to call the President a "maniac" and a "bastard," a hate of Israel, a silly idea of a "war for oil," and a few other ridiculous anti-war and anti-Bush statements that the Left absolutely loves. However, print these quotes in a serious newspaper or news service and Cindy's claims to only be a "grieving mother" will be crushed.

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