Shock and Cindy Sheehan
By Isaiah Z. Sterrett (08/17/05)
INSTEAD OF REPORTING on the recent coup in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, where the pro-Israel, pro-U.S. leader was ousted by a 17-soldier brigade, the U.S. media has been giving undue voice to Angry Mother Cindy Sheehan.
While I’m waiting for answers from an irresponsible press corps that ignored an important event in Africa, Ms. Sheehan’s waiting for answers from the leader of the free world in Texas. As of this writing, she’s seen greater success.
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and a White House deputy chief of staff met with Sheehan for between 20 and 45 minutes recently, which is 20-45 minutes longer than most of us will ever get. She called the meeting “pointless,” which is also how she characterizes the war and her son’s death. She says she won’t leave until she talks to W., who would no doubt say exactly what she’s already been told.
In addition to demanding time with the President of the United States, arguably a person with a longer To Do list than a mom from Vacaville, California, Sheehan thinks Bush should be impeached and jailed for war crimes. She also thinks that Israel should get “out of Palestine.” She has vowed not to pay taxes, pointing out that she doesn’t “owe [George Bush] a penny.” (How much money does she owe Barbara Boxer? Dennis Kucinich? The single mom who works as a janitor at Housing and Urban Development?)
Cindy Sheehan is more concerned with beating her foes in America than beating America’s foes in the Middle-East.
It would be one thing if Sheehan was merely a woman plagued by unbearable loss. No one opposes bereavement. But people in mourning don’t generally make statements about taxes, Israel, and international justice. In feigning outrage in Crawford, Sheehan forces the rest of us into authentic outrage.
It is true that Sheehan is doing nothing in the way of honoring her deceased son—a patriot, by the way—but the media’s helping quite a bit, too. One national news service argued that Sheehan’s son, Casey, “joined the Army in 2000, never imagining he would see combat.” This is literally impossible. No one joins any branch of the military, save for maybe—maybe—the Coast Guard without “imagining” combat. This is like taking a desk job at a zoo and expecting that, as a receptionist or secretary or manager, you’ll never see animals. It can be said with scientific certainty that Casey Sheehan knew what he was doing.
Columnist Trudy Rubin writes that “Cindy Sheehan is right to be furious,” and that Bush “can’t” talk to her. (He can use the greatest military in the world to invade a country for the explicit purpose of importing democracy, but “can’t” talk to Cindy Sheehan.) Further, she details for the president exactly what he ought to say when, if ever, he meets Sheehan: “The real truth is we were wrong to think we could build a new Iraqi army like kids build with Legos. Building an army takes more than sending equipment and trainers. We forgot that we were dealing with human beings in a country very different from ours.”
When that election happened—in which nearly 60% of eligible Iraqis turned out to vote—were we forgetting about “human beings”?
When Iraqis cheered as allied forces tore down the now infamous statue of Saddam, were we forgetting about “human beings”?
When Americans travel to Iraq to help build schools and hospitals, are they forgetting about “human beings”?
When Saddam was murdering innocents en masse, was he remembering “human beings”?
Someone should remind Cindy Sheehan of these things. Instead, we’ve got Maureen Dowd arguing that Bush should offer her “tea and sympathy.” “There's an angry mother of a dead soldier camping outside his Crawford ranch, demanding to see a president who prefers his sympathy to be carefully choreographed.”
But that’s not true. What this president prefers is respect for fallen soldiers. He’s paid his respects to Mrs. Sheehan and she hasn’t reciprocated. He’s trying to manage a war, and she’s trying to start one.
© Copyright 2005 by Isaiah Z. Sterrett
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