If you’ve ever driven past the federal courthouse in downtown Reno on a Monday evening, you’ve likely noticed a “small” group of people gathered there.
This local collection of peaceniks is the Reno Anti-War Coalition and the Sierra Interfaith Action for Peace. You can find out more at their Web sites at www.sierrainterfaith.org and www.renopeace.org.
I emphasize the word “small” for a reason.
That would be the same emphasis I place on the group who have been squatting in a ditch outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Camp Casey, for the uninitiated, is filled with these peaceniks who oppose the war in Iraq. While they are small in size, they were getting amazing airplay in the media.
Led by Cindy Sheehan—the mother of deceased soldier, Casey—they hope to persuade the president to abandon Iraq, or at the very least, Ms. Sheehan demands another meeting with the president.
The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd wrote that Bush was “inhumane” for not “[understanding] that the moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute.”
I’m not exactly sure what Dowd meant by “moral authority” but if true, perhaps Dowd and the media could expend one-tenth of the time they’ve dedicated toward Cindy Sheehan and report on the viewpoints of the 1,800-plus other parents of soldiers that were killed in Iraq.
A recent editorial (“Meet the face of war,” www.newsreview.com/issues/reno/2005-08-18/editnote.asp) in this publication suggested the president should meet with Sheehan. Of course, the president has already met with Sheehan once, and I’m quite sure he’s aware of her viewpoints on the matter. (Since that first meeting with President Bush, she’s referred to him as a “filth-spewer,” a “warmonger” and a “lying bastard,” among other tokens of affection.)
I can just imagine how a second meeting with the President would go.
Bush: “Can I offer you a refreshment?”
Sheehan: “Why, yes, thank you, warmonger.”
So, let’s recall that the United States is not a democracy, it’s a constitutional republic. The United States Constitution vests authority over the military with the President of the United States as the commander-in-chief. The Constitution does not vest that power in anti-war pacifists who somehow figure that by staging enough protests they can dictate foreign policy.
Call me a cynic, but after your 105th commercial on CNN, you’re no longer a grief-stricken mother. You’re a media darling, probably with an agent, dissecting book deals and made-for-TV-movies.
If that isn’t the case, can someone explain Sheehan’s new career on the lecture circuit (www.globalexchange.org/getInvolved/speakers/119.html)?
Along other lines, the anti-war crowd claims that “[we] support the troops but not the mission.”
During the Vietnam era, the flower-power peaceniks supported the troops so much that they spit on soldiers in airports.
Now they are staging protests at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where injured soldiers are recuperating. They chant slogans such as “George Bush kills American soldiers” and hold signs reading “Enlist Here and Die for Halliburton.”
So let’s see: You can support the troops by holding prayer vigils; bashing the president and his foreign policy; and/or tormenting injured and maimed soldiers.
Or perhaps these would be better examples:
Girl Scout Service Unit 80, in Woodbridge, Va., donated cookies to American service members stationed overseas.
The Cimarron Montessori School in Enid, Okla., set up a lemonade stand to raise money for the Enid, America Supports You campaign. Kids ranging from 5 to 10 years of age raised more than $600.
At least the kids get it.