Cindy Sheehan (A much needed discussion)

The story of Cindy Sheehan has been widely reported. Cindy, the mother of Casey Sheehan who was killed on duty in Iraq, has been staging a peace vigil outside the President’s Texas ranch. I applaud her efforts and her determination as I am sure many people do. She is requesting to meet with the president. She feels that he was insensitive and unresponsive when they met shortly after her son’s death. Her mission is to bring an important discussion to the table. It is a discussion GLNAWI has been working for and developing since its creation. Cindy, along with a growing number of American citizens is asking for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

One thing that Cindy has going for her is widespread media coverage of her efforts. Throughout Bush’s presidency mainstream media has shied away from coverage of the peace movement. The Bush Administration has made media favoritism common place. If the administration does not approve of the way a news agency is reporting its facts they simply won’t get as many facts (or interviews or question opportunities etc.) from the administration. The effect of which has been an overall strangling of the media when it comes to reporting the peace movement.

Cindy and her vigil outside the President’s ranch is breaking that trend and receiving wide coverage from all media outlets. President Bush held a press conference at his ranch to respond to the growing media coverage of Cindy’s vigil. The President said that he thinks the withdrawal of troops would be “a terrible signal to the enemy” that the United States is weak and easily intimidated. One should question then if we are occupying Iraq in part to merely look tough to the enemy.

But who is the enemy? Some may scoff at the question simply stating… “the terrorists” and thus applying the same black and white rhetoric as is used by the Bush Administration. Others may apply the new terminology recently coined by the administration, calling the enemy “violent extremists.” For me the saying “One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist” comes to mind. As a peace activist and a non-violent advocate, I can hardly sympathize with the tactics used by terrorists. I also cannot sympathize with the tactics used by the US government. After all violence begets violence begets violence. It is important to understand what brings people to the point of terrorism. The cookie cutter response is that they are evil people, driven by hatred, once again invoking the black and white view of this gray world.

For a majority of Iraqi citizens and for 100% of the terrorists, the United States is an unwanted occupying force. They have watched as the US toppled Saddam in a matter of weeks and then failed and continue to fail with the reconstruction. They saw the United States stand by as looters dismantled and destroyed public buildings, universities and museums. Many people are still waiting for basic services such as clean water and electricity to be restored to their pre-invasion levels. Iraqis sit by and watch the US build permanent bases, becoming more and more embedded in their country.

One thing everyone can agree on is that Iraq needs security in order to achieve economic, political and civil stability. The methods by which to achieve this security are another issue all together. It is however increasingly obvious that the Bush Administration’s approach to “hunt and kill the terrorists where ever they are” is not working and will not be successful in the long run. Alternative methods must be discussed and it is this discussion Cindy Sheehan is bringing to the public. It is a discussion which everyone and most importantly the Iraqi people need to be included in.

Posted at Tuesday, August 16, 2005
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