Cindy Sheehan

I have a great deal of sympathy for Cindy Sheehan as a mother. The pain of losing a child must be one of the most intense emotions that there is. My parents lost a baby daughter at just nine days of age, and it made an impact on their lives that never fully receded. The loss of either of my kids would be second only to the loss of my wife on the scale of traumatic life events that I could experience. Her loss is deep, and I'm sure her heart remains broken. However...

I have no sympathy at all for Ciindy Sheehan as an anti-war protestor. She is dishonest, deceitful and duplicitous. She is using her loss cynically in a calculated effort to embarass President Bush. He did meet with her. And her description of that meeting, as reported in her hometown newspaper, is very different from the story she tells now. Her own family has disavowed her effort as bringing dishonor to the sacrifice of her son.

Plain and simple, George Bush didn't kill Casey Sheehan. An evil terrorist did. George Bush didn't start the war for oil. (If the Bush family only cared about oil, we'd have kept Kuwait in 91.) George Bush has laid out a clear case for why we must fight the terrorists around the world. (Disagreeing with his argument is very different from saying he hasn't made one.) In short, Cindy Sheehan is lying. I feel sorry for her...but she doesn't deserve a free pass. What she is doing is within her rights as an American citizen. And I'm within my rights to regard her posturing with contempt.

UPDATE: Came across this from Varifrank after I made the original post. The whole thing is amazing, but this part has the REAL story about Casey Sheehan.

"Cindy Sheehan has also said her son did not want to go to Iraq. She is wrong, and she knows it. Here is a bit of information you wont here on CNN about Casey Sheehan ( from Lee Kaplan – FrontPage Magazine):
“While one might dismiss some of Sheehan’s hyperbole due to grief over her son’s death, a little research about Casey Sheehan revealed that contrary to being tricked by military recruiters, Casey Sheehan had re-enlisted in the U.S. Army voluntarily when he was 24-years-old, after serving his first hitch successfully. Casey Sheehan was in fact a hero who received a Bronze Star. He was attached as a mechanic to the artillery division of the 1st U.S. Cavalry in Iraq. When a convoy of soldiers from Casey’s unit was attacked in Sadr City by insurgents, Casey volunteered to join a rapid rescue force to get them out. His commanding sergeant told him he did not have to go into combat, because he was a mechanic and not an infantryman. Casey was quoted telling his officer, “I go where my chief goes.” He was tragically killed during the rescue attempt. The source for this story?
Cindy Sheehan herself."

Puts a whole different light on things when you know what really happened.