Cindy Sheehan, who on the spur of the moment decided to go to the President’s ranch, has been joined by hundreds of parents, current and former military, supporters and the national press corps. A one day story that could have been President meets with grieving anti-war Mother has become The stand off at the Crawford Corral and is sticking in the throats of the American public. Yesterday, there were more than 1,800 stories filed on the peaceful Crawford encampment and today already 1,400. Cindy and Camp Casey have been on all major network news for three days straight. How did the President respond?
He Drove By. That’s right. On his way to a $2million fundraiser, he Drove By. At the same time, Rove’s minions (those not already being questioned by a grand jury) are out trying to portray Cindy as a crazed, bereaved mother who is dishonoring America. That’s right. Attacking the mother of a slain soldier. Brilliant!
Their hubris and pride knows no boundary. Again, early on, Bush could have met with her for 30 minutes, honored her son’s sacrifice, shared her pain, agreed to disagree on the war and as far as the media was concerned, if she stuck around it was her business and she would have looked, well, like she had heat stroke. Instead, Bush thought he could ignore her, who is going to notice or care? But in the heat and dust of Texas, which resembles the heat and dust of Iraq Bush has found the limit to his pride. That limit is the will of millions. Yes, thousands and soon millions of people are getting very motivated to end this war, end the carnage, end the daily toll of dead and wounded and bug out.
The only reason to stay in Iraq is the ‘We broke it, we have to fix it argument’. Bush tries to spin this as ‘We can’t let the terrorists win’. So, How do we win? We win by establishing a constitution and a legitimate government, elected and supported by the people. We help them found a democracy. So let’s take a look at how that is going. Iraq is not a country. Iraq is a number of regions that historically, to put it kindly, do not get along. They are currently arguing over whether women get to vote and who controls the oil. Iraq is not safe, the infrastructure is still in shambles and you cannot go from Baghdad to the airport with any degree of security. The factions are in virtual civil war and many of the so called ministers of the government we have set up are crooks or worse. Remember Ahmed Chalabi, the guy the neo cons loved and who was flown in with a private army to be the next leader? Then he was discredited as a crook and possible spy? He’s one of the ministers of this fine government.
The bottom line? Not only did we break it but we can’t fix it. That’s a painful and hard lesson for the American psyche. We really believe we can fix anything. It’s a particularly male affliction, the idea we can fix things. But we can’t. In fact, as long as we are the ones fixing things with our troops, it will remain broken. There is little trust in the occupier.
So, what happens if we leave? It would be a mess but not much more than it is now, it can’t get much worse. What if Iran takes over? Through the majority Shiites, it already has a degree of influence and a Muslim government is a likely outcome in any case. However, the likliehood is the rest of the world would be forced to bail us out and no less an entity than the UN will have to rescue us from the Biggest Mistake Ever. The USA will have to beg the organization it reviles. John Bolton will have to resign or fall to his knees and beg for help. Can you see it? The Walrus acknowledging an error and begging? Countries like France, Russia, and Germany will put together a coalition and broker a peace with most of the insurgents. Iraq will likely be balkanized but the world will go on.
Except Bush and Company will not fall on their sword. They haven’t got the guts, the brains, or the integrity and that is becoming more clear every day Cindy Sheehan is in Crawford. If he won’t even talk to her and can barely stammer through a prepared speech that includes the immortal words, ” I hear her” and then Drive Past Her, than we are indeed dumber than we think. Go to Crawford if you can, Go to the White House when he returns and in close to the words of John Hiatt…. “Bring lawyers, food, and money.” We will not walk away. We will save our troops from a war that was launched wrong, will end wrong no matter what and should not cost one more life. No parent should have to go thru what Cindy and thousands of others are going through. Bless the peacemakers. Bless them all.
