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August 13, 2005

Cindy Sheehan is asking Bush to tell the truth about a single Iraq war death

Cindy Sheehan, whose son died In Iraq, has put George W. Bush on the hot seat for his war in Iraq in a way that hasn't happened before. The president has been taken to task for the war in many ways that relate to the specific policy. But Sheehan - through her highly public vigil outside Bush's ranch in Crawford - has asked Bush to explain to her one simple thing: the real reason for the death of her son. (By Rick Howell)

Why, after all, did Casey Sheehan have to die? Because Iraq was a threat to us? No, we know better than that now. Because we're fighting terrorism in Iraq and, as so many Americans seem to believe, "it's better to fight them over there than over here?" No, we're fighting a native-born insurgency that doesn't want its country occupied. There were no Iraqis on the planes Sept. 11, and Saddam had nothing to do with it.

Was it because of a deep commitment to Iraqi freedom? Well, if so, we're still stuck with the question of why Iraqi freedom is so much more important than Korean freedom, Cuban freedom, Chinese freedom, Zimbabewean freedom, etc. Plenty of countries aren't free, but we're not fighting in those places.

The war in Iraq was wrong from the start, and it's wrong now. Cindy Sheehan has brought this simple truth home with a request from the president to tell her personally why her son had to die. The president, of course, will not do this. He knows he wanted this war long before Sept. 11, 2001. He knows this war had nothing, and has nothing, to do with "fighting terrorism."

It appears that a majority of the American public is finally turning against this war. Cindy Sheehan's quest in Crawford, Texas, is representative of that fact. The attacks upon her by the president's knee-jerk, pro-war supporters are only beginning. Let's do all we can to support her when she, and we, need it the most.

(Rick Howell is chairman of the Amherst County Democratic Committee. He publishes a Web blog at http://RickHowellSpeaks.blogspot.com, and can be reached at NewCenHowell@aol.com)

Posted by rickhowell at August 13, 2005 03:44 PM

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