Hurricane Katrina has taken a face off of television that many of us were coming to know quite well, that of Cindy Sheehan. I’m sure all too soon we will once again be inundated with her demand to see President Bush. Before I go any further, I want to remind you that Mrs. Sheehan has already met with President Bush in a face-to-face meeting. She has commented about that meeting both warmly and coldly. Furthermore, I want to say my grandfathers, father, brother and son have all served this country in the military. I have worked on three army bases as support personnel, and I am not a war-monger. That said, let me say this — Cindy, go home. There are better ways to memorialize your son, better ways to stop the war, better ways to support our troops, if that is what you are doing. Did Bush lie to us about those infamous weapons of mass destruction? Maybe. Is there some sense that he sent troops in to right the wrong done to his father’s administration? Maybe. Should we not have gotten into another situation where we act as “big brother” to the world? Again, maybe. But I remember another war we maybe shouldn’t have been in. A war where a small group of people like you roused an ugly larger group of people in this nation. I remember troops coming home to people spitting on them, calling them names like “baby-killers.” I remember the sentiment in this country being very divided. It was a very ugly time. It was a very unpopular war. Our troops dealt with unthinkable atrocities on foreign soil, and were met with unthinkable attitudes when they returned home. Many are still wounded and sick emotionally. One of your supporters, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, wrote, “The moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute.” Just for the record, I don’t think anyone’s moral authority on Earth is absolute, bereaved parent or otherwise. Everyone has a hidden agenda, it’s just human. Certainly our “moral attitude” is not in great shape when we lose something as precious as our own child. Cindy Sheehan has accused Bush of following the PNAC, neo-conservative agenda. For those who may not be up on the latest (started in 1997) political groups, the Project for the New American Century is a non-profit group that, simply stated, believes America is the watchdog of freedom for the world. Quite an ambitious and impossible goal. It also doesn’t seem very Christian to me. It seems to fail to accept insignificant differences in culture and ideology too. But being a recently settled and developed country with a few significant wins in our fighting record, we are still anxious to spread to others what we believe is the best system in the world. (I’m not saying it isn’t, I’m just saying in comparison to other countries, we’re still young pups, and the “old dogs” are not so impressed. They are also jealous – a power never to be underestimated.) I’m just worried that the “Cindys” of our country will stir up trouble and make our troops into something they are not – villains. To escape being bad guys, and possible death, some of our young men left this country to avoid serving in the last unpopular war. Presidents make errors in judgment, get us into things maybe we shouldn’t be in, and promise we’ll lend money and support we don’t have. They can’t fix all of our problems at home even, but that doesn’t mean we don’t support those sent by them to foreign soil. We decided to end the atrocities in Iraq, to purportedly revenge ourselves on a nation that spawned terrorists that killed thousands on our own soil, and to liberate those being persecuted. Was it a bad decision? I’m not wise enough to know. Do we need to stand by it or pull out? That is a personal opinion all of us have the right to have. Should we continue to support our troops visibly and unequivocally? Absolutely. They are ordered to go, they are doing a job. As they say, “Theirs is not to reason why, theirs is but to do and die.” With all that in mind, remember that Casey Sheehan, my brother and hundreds of thousands of others since our war of independence have fought and died here and abroad to give Cindy and me the right to voice what we think without repercussions. They laid down limbs, lives and even emotional stability, so that others could have a chance to develop their own sense and attitudes of freedom; so there wouldn’t be people of one color or religion over another, mass graves or gas chambers anywhere in this world. They did it because of the outcry of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man. They did it because they had the power to do it. They did it by calling on God’s help. They did it because this country was built and firmly established on biblical principles and the favor of God was with them. But power is a terribly corruptible and heady influence. Some day we may be humbled by believing might is right. I hope not to see it.
