Last link re Mrs. Sheehan

From James Taranto’s Best of the Web. Who offers the acknowledgement of Mrs. Sheehan’s terrible grief and recounts the fact that yes, President Bush has already met with her once and yes, she did offer one portrait of that meeting and then, lately, a very different one…once he brings the readers up to date, Taranto writes:

What are we to make of Mrs. Sheehan’s demand for a second meeting with President Bush? She claims she wants an explanation of why her son died, but she acknowledges that her mind is already made up. This is an excerpt of a speech she gave Monday, as transcribed on the Web site of an outfit called Veterans for Peace, describing how she conceived of her protest (quoting verbatim):

I’m gonna tell them, “You get that evil maniac [the president] out here, cuz a Gold Star Mother, somebody who’s blood is on his hands, has some questions for him.”

And I’m gonna say, “OK, listen here, George. #1, you quit, and I demand, every time you get out there and say you’re going to continue the killing in Iraq to honor the fallen heroes by continuing the mission; you say, except Casey Sheehan.’ ”

“And you say except for all the members of Goldstar Families for Peace’ cuz we think not one drop of blood should be spilled in our families’ names. You quit doing that. You don’t have my permission.”

And I’m gonna say, “And you tell me, what the noble cause is that my son died for.” And if he even starts to say freedom and democracy’ I’m gonna say, bullshit.

You tell me the truth. You tell me that my son died for oil. You tell me that my son died to make your friends rich. You tell me my son died to spread the cancer of Pax Americana, imperialism in the Middle East. You tell me that, you don’t tell me my son died for freedom and democracy.

Cuz, we’re not freer. You’re taking away our freedoms. The Iraqi people aren’t freer, they’re much worse off than before you meddled in their country.

You get America out of Iraq, you get Israel out of Palestine!

(massive round of applause)

And if you think I won’t say bullshit to the President, I say move on, cuz I’ll say what’s on my mind.

Grieving mothers are entitled to their rage, of course. But she is essentially telling the President to SURRENDER and then – out of the blue – oh yeah, get Israel out of Palestine.

Did I mention to you the other day that the folks she is staying with in Crawford, at the “Peace House” have a map of the Middle East on which all of Israel is marked PALESTINE? I think I did.

So, Mrs. Sheehan seems to be – now – using her son’s death, and her grief, to spout anti-Israel propaganda. Bad move. That’s how you lose sympathy and credibility, ma’am. Reading that only re-inforces my sense that this this poor woman is being truly manipulated and exploited.

Taranto goes on: Yet thousands of American parents have lost children in Iraq, and thousands more in…among other places…Although these thousands of parents doubtless have a wide range of opinions on the Iraq war and other subjects, we’d venture to say that not many–especially among those whose children were in the military–agree with Cindy Sheehan.

ndeed, we are now starting to see stories like this one, from the Gloucester County (N.J.) Times:

Marine Cpl. Marc T. Ryan, of Gloucester City, was killed in an explosion in Ramadi, Iraq in November.

“I would tell Cindy Sheehan that, as one mother to another, I do realize your loss is your loss and there’s nothing you can do to heal from it,” said the corporal’s mother, Linda Ryan.

“George Bush didn’t kill her son, it’s the evildoers who have no value of life who killed her son. Her son made a decision to join the Armed Forces and defend our country, knowing that, at any time, war could come about,” Ryan said. . . .

“George Bush was my son’s commander-in-chief. My son, Marc, totally believed in what he was doing,” she said.

Sheehan, she believes, is doing what she’s doing because of the agony over losing her son.

“She’s going about this not realizing how many people she’s hurting. When she refers to anyone killed in Iraq, she’s referring to my son. She doesn’t have anything to say about what happened to my son,” said Ryan.

Losing a child is probably the saddest thing that can happen to anyone. Unlike the death of a parent or a spouse, it is not part of the ordinary course of life. Yet somehow the vast majority of parents who suffer such a loss are able to maintain some perspective while coping with the experience.

That Cindy Sheehan has been unable to do so makes her story all the sadder. But it does not validate the hateful views she is espousing, nor does it make her pain more important than that of Linda Ryan or the thousands of others who have lost a child but maintained their dignity.

Attack Machine brings us a letter from a mother of TWO soldiers, one of whom she has now, tragically, lost. This lady does not feel the same as Mrs. Sheehan. Betsy Newmark observes: I just think that the media is only interested in the mothers who are going to criticize Bush. Mothers who support the President just aren’t newsworthy.

I suspect Betsy is right.

I pray every day for Mrs. Sheehan, that she may know consolation and peace. I do not believe she will find it in hate. I don’t believe anyone can.

Finally, not to be argumentative, but you all know how I feel about double standards. We’re seeing endless press on Mrs. Sheehan, but the press seemed remarkably less interested when the father of a soldier slain in Mogadishu refused to shake hands with President Clinton. For the record – I still think the American President deserves the handshake if for no other reason than respect for the office, and no matter what letter follows his name. But that’s just me. more.