Bush defending his Iraq war policy
Yahoo News

"President Bush, defending his Iraq war policy in the face of anti-war opposition and slumping approval ratings, says pulling out before the mission is complete would dishonor the memory of all the Americans who fought and died in pursuit of freedom. .... Bush noted the U.S. military death toll — more than 2,000 killed in the Afghanistanand Iraq wars.
"Each of these men and women left grieving families and loved ones back home. Each of these heroes left a legacy that will allow generations of their fellow Americans to enjoy the blessings of liberty. And each of these Americans have brought the hope of freedom to millions who have not known it," Bush said, as if speaking to Cindy Sheehan, the California anti-war activist whose son Casey was killed in Iraq. .... After Monday's speech, Bush and his wife, Laura, flew to Donnelly, Idaho, where he was to spend Tuesday out of public view at the Tamarack Resort in the mountains 100 miles north of Boise. Several demonstrations against U.S. involvement in Iraq were planned to coincide with Bush's visit. They included a lunchtime rally Tuesday at a park across from the Idaho Statehouse, where members of the Idaho Peace Coalition were to dedicate 1,866 white-cross memorials — one for every U.S. soldier who has died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003." (08/23/05)


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050823/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

-----

To what is Cindy a threat?
LewRockwell.Com
by Butler Shaffer

"At the same time the war-lovers were excoriating Cindy [Sheehan] for
the offense of having been born, the children and spouses of persons
murdered by Dennis Rader -- Kansas' BTK killer -- were testifying at
his sentencing hearing. I heard no words of rabid vilification -- from
people who had the most personal reasons for being angry at this
mass-murderer -- that came close to those being directed at Cindy
Sheehan. What explains these ferocious and slanderous attacks? Cindy
is but one lone woman. Unlike President Bush, she does not claim to
speak or act on behalf of 275,000,000 people, but only for herself.
Relatives of other dead soldiers have criticized this woman, saying
'she doesn't speak for us.' But I am unaware of any statement made by
Cindy purporting to speak for anyone but herself. She only seeks an
answer to her personal question: 'why did my son die?' Cindy Sheehan
does constitute a threat, not to America, but to the totalitarian
forces that insist on crushing the spirit of peace and liberty in
order that they might dominate the American people." (08/23/05)

http://www.lewrockwell.com/shaffer/shaffer117.html

-----

End it already
In These Times
by Joel Bleifuss

"Here is the question to the parents of American service men and women
that the Bush administration never thought to pose, much less answer:
Is the war in Iraq worth the life of your son or daughter? 'No,' was
the answer Cindy Sheehan gave on August 6 as she walked down the road
in Crawford, Texas, to Bush's country estate. ... By taking a public
stand, Sheehan is playing the historic role of women in time of war.
She has become an emblem of the sacrifice made by the mothers, wives
and daughters who lose family members in battle. But unlike the
Spartan mother, she did not tell her son: 'Return from Iraq victorious
or dead.' Instead, she used her loss to make Americans pause to
consider whether the deaths of Casey and his fellow soldiers ... has
been worth it. In essence, she broke through the media's monotonous
recitation of daily deaths to put a human face on the tragedy."
(08/22/05)

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2287/