BLOODSHED
08-16-2005, 02:06 AM
A mother's wrath proves a bigger threat to US hawks
By Linda S. Heard, Special to Gulf News
When all around you are losing their heads and blaming your administration then what better antidote than to mosey on down to the ranch and head for the chainsaw, or so the US President George W. Bush appears to believe.
After all, out of felled oaks, little policy acorns grow in the Bush upside-down neo-universe.
Meantime, back on terra firma, the great one's loyal entourage is doing the rounds of the cable talk-shows, explaining why the leader of the free world is studiously avoiding bumping into a grieving mother who has been camped out in a ditch near his fence post or as near to one as burly security guards allow her to get.
Cindy Sheehan wants nothing more than a few moments of her president's time to ask him how the loss of her 24-year-old son, Casey, and so many other sons in Iraq has helped to keep the nation safe.
She may have started her journey to Crawford as an ordinary Mom with a broken heart but along the way, she's morphed into a weapon against Bush's foreign policies more lethal than most.
Despite all odds, Sheehan has done what the anti-war movement, including politicians, human rights organisations, scores of protest marches and insurgents' bombs have failed to achieve.
She has tapped into the soul of a growingly disenchanted nation and in doing so is fast becoming a symbol of sincerity amid a swamp of spin for the 52 per cent of Americans who now oppose the war.
Touched the heart
Columnist Arianna Huffington said that while talking to Sheehan on her cell phone, this mother's "authenticity and passion reached through the receiver and both touched my heart and punched me in the gut" … and it surely are those very qualities that deter George W. from agreeing to a brief face-to-face encounter.
For unlike his card-holding minions who provide the perfect clap-on-cue, rah-rah backdrop to most of his public speeches, this woman in mourning is not going to fall for the usual old canards.
She isn't about to buy into WMD myths or the links to Al Qaida. She isn't about to deliver the memory of her child to the lie of bringing freedom and democracy to a troubled region and especially when she knows the chaos that is Iraq today.
With sympathetic army families heading in Sheehan's direction and networks devoting entire segments to debates over whether the president should or shouldn't, by the time this column is published the Bush PR machine may have persuaded its boss to invite the lady in for a latte.
Then again, he has never been one to care much for public opinion judging by his persistent rooting for chief neocon Paul Wolfowitz to head the Word Bank and his sneaking the abrasive John Bolton into a UN post while the senate had shut up shop.
If sweet Cindy is truly after a tête-à-tête with the tough-talking ersatz Texan, she may be ultimately on a fool's errand but at least she's been noticed.
Said Bush when asked why he couldn't fit her in between ball games and burgers: "… listen. I sympathise with Mrs Sheehan … I have heard her position from others, which is, get out of Iraq now. And it would be a it would be a mistake for the security of this country and the ability to lay the foundations for peace in the long-run if we were to do so."
This was just hours before his foundations for peace were made crystal clear: It's Iran next if it doesn't behave.
Right-wing knives
Coming to the president's defence are the right-wing knives led by the likes of Fox's Bill O'Reilly who has described Sheehan's "behaviour" as "bordering on treasonous" and on-line conservative commentator Matt Drudge, whose keys spew venom for the mother who dares to take on the establishment.
And an unpretentious type who goes by the name J. Grant Swank Jr a Michnews.com columnist actually has the effrontery to label Sheehan as "a brazen egocentric who delights in getting attention because of her son's death", adding compassionately "War is not a Sunday school picnic. People die."
But Sheehan soldiers on regardless. Her message is clear and simple. "… four different reports have come proving that this war was based on deceptions and lies and it is for greed. And not one person should be dead. My son shouldn't be dead and the killing shouldn't continue. Every day people are dying and we need to get our troops out of there right now … this war was a mistake."
Dear Cindy, if only you knew. You are echoing the sentiments of tens of thousands of Iraqi mothers whose husbands, brothers and children have been lost to missiles, cluster bombs, depleted tank shells and bullets.
They, like all Iraqis who long to regain their country and bring stability to their lives, must surely pray that your voice will make a difference. I, for one, believe it already has. You go girl!
Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She can be contacted at lheard@gulfnews.com
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http://gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=177484
By Linda S. Heard, Special to Gulf News
When all around you are losing their heads and blaming your administration then what better antidote than to mosey on down to the ranch and head for the chainsaw, or so the US President George W. Bush appears to believe.
After all, out of felled oaks, little policy acorns grow in the Bush upside-down neo-universe.
Meantime, back on terra firma, the great one's loyal entourage is doing the rounds of the cable talk-shows, explaining why the leader of the free world is studiously avoiding bumping into a grieving mother who has been camped out in a ditch near his fence post or as near to one as burly security guards allow her to get.
Cindy Sheehan wants nothing more than a few moments of her president's time to ask him how the loss of her 24-year-old son, Casey, and so many other sons in Iraq has helped to keep the nation safe.
She may have started her journey to Crawford as an ordinary Mom with a broken heart but along the way, she's morphed into a weapon against Bush's foreign policies more lethal than most.
Despite all odds, Sheehan has done what the anti-war movement, including politicians, human rights organisations, scores of protest marches and insurgents' bombs have failed to achieve.
She has tapped into the soul of a growingly disenchanted nation and in doing so is fast becoming a symbol of sincerity amid a swamp of spin for the 52 per cent of Americans who now oppose the war.
Touched the heart
Columnist Arianna Huffington said that while talking to Sheehan on her cell phone, this mother's "authenticity and passion reached through the receiver and both touched my heart and punched me in the gut" … and it surely are those very qualities that deter George W. from agreeing to a brief face-to-face encounter.
For unlike his card-holding minions who provide the perfect clap-on-cue, rah-rah backdrop to most of his public speeches, this woman in mourning is not going to fall for the usual old canards.
She isn't about to buy into WMD myths or the links to Al Qaida. She isn't about to deliver the memory of her child to the lie of bringing freedom and democracy to a troubled region and especially when she knows the chaos that is Iraq today.
With sympathetic army families heading in Sheehan's direction and networks devoting entire segments to debates over whether the president should or shouldn't, by the time this column is published the Bush PR machine may have persuaded its boss to invite the lady in for a latte.
Then again, he has never been one to care much for public opinion judging by his persistent rooting for chief neocon Paul Wolfowitz to head the Word Bank and his sneaking the abrasive John Bolton into a UN post while the senate had shut up shop.
If sweet Cindy is truly after a tête-à-tête with the tough-talking ersatz Texan, she may be ultimately on a fool's errand but at least she's been noticed.
Said Bush when asked why he couldn't fit her in between ball games and burgers: "… listen. I sympathise with Mrs Sheehan … I have heard her position from others, which is, get out of Iraq now. And it would be a it would be a mistake for the security of this country and the ability to lay the foundations for peace in the long-run if we were to do so."
This was just hours before his foundations for peace were made crystal clear: It's Iran next if it doesn't behave.
Right-wing knives
Coming to the president's defence are the right-wing knives led by the likes of Fox's Bill O'Reilly who has described Sheehan's "behaviour" as "bordering on treasonous" and on-line conservative commentator Matt Drudge, whose keys spew venom for the mother who dares to take on the establishment.
And an unpretentious type who goes by the name J. Grant Swank Jr a Michnews.com columnist actually has the effrontery to label Sheehan as "a brazen egocentric who delights in getting attention because of her son's death", adding compassionately "War is not a Sunday school picnic. People die."
But Sheehan soldiers on regardless. Her message is clear and simple. "… four different reports have come proving that this war was based on deceptions and lies and it is for greed. And not one person should be dead. My son shouldn't be dead and the killing shouldn't continue. Every day people are dying and we need to get our troops out of there right now … this war was a mistake."
Dear Cindy, if only you knew. You are echoing the sentiments of tens of thousands of Iraqi mothers whose husbands, brothers and children have been lost to missiles, cluster bombs, depleted tank shells and bullets.
They, like all Iraqis who long to regain their country and bring stability to their lives, must surely pray that your voice will make a difference. I, for one, believe it already has. You go girl!
Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She can be contacted at lheard@gulfnews.com
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http://gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=177484