your village voice

US-Iraq War Debate Rages

Pro-war demonstrators rallied in Serra Mesa Wednesday to counter Cindy Sheehan's Camp Casey anti-war protest in Crawford. They are expected to wind their way down to Texas and confront the thousands-strong Sheehan anti-war movement. Already, the sparks are flying.

Cindy Sheehan, returning from her California hiatus back to Camp Casey, had this to say about the enormous growth of the movement since leaving:

And one good thing about Camp Casey and what we started here is that when I left: it didn’t end. When I left it thrived and it grew, and it’s because I am not alone. I am not the only one that wants the answers to these questions.

There is the people standing behind me here, but there’s thousands of military families, hundreds of Gold Star families who want the same answers to the questions. You know, and I never, ever got up here and said I speak for every single Gold Star family, I speak for every single military family; I’ve never said that. But I know I speak for thousands of them, I know we speak for thousands of them, and we want to know what is the noble cause our children died for, what is the noble cause they’re still fighting for and dying for every day.

In stark contrast, Gary Qualls has swallowed whole the Bush Administration's bait, and faithfully attacks Cindy's character:

This is not an immoral war. This is for what the Americans stand up for. And for what Cindy Sheehan believes in, she’s already said in public statements to the world, that this country’s not worth fighting and dying for. And yet she can’t be more totally wrong. She has totally disrespected all fallen heroes and all the soldiers that are fighting for a good cause. And yeah, she has not been able to decipher the difference between her wants and needs. We know what she wants, but does she truly know what this country needs?

Unbelievably, ABC News presented these statements as valid opposing views on a contentious issue. It is the clear there is no argument in Quall's diatribe. He doesn't justify the "immoral war" or clearly addresses how Sheehan's actions have "disprespected all fallen heroes and all the soldiers," but instead claims that by not supporting the war, one becomes unpatriotic.

His last vain attempt at rhetoric falls flat on its face: "does she truly know what this country needs?"

Does anyone? Certainly not Bush and Company.

posted by the prisoner @ 10:14:00 AM