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Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for Troops

By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Mon Aug 15, 2005 at 12:17:52 PM EST
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Adopting a less confrontational strategy, Cindy Sheehan has invited President Bush to a prayer vigil for the troops on Friday. His schedule reportedly is clear. Crooks and Liars has the video.

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    Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for Troops | 49 comments (49 topical)
    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    It will be interesting to see how Bush gets out of this one -- provided that he even acknowledges Cindy’s newest invitation -- especially because Bush claims to be a Christian (I know little about his religious beliefs, but know he belongs to some sort of fundie-wacko Christian group). This latest move by Cindy Sheehan, if we can use a chess game analogy as some of the C&L bloggers have, is definitely a “check.” Your move, Mr. President.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    Oh, please, like that's real. I invited Elvis to my birthday once, promised him that the press would never find out.... Poor woman. -C

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    What seems "unreal" to you about her offer? I mean, I know you right wingers hate this grieving mother, but why should you think she is not sincere in her religious beliefs enough to make her offer legit?

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#4)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    -cliff- Bad analogy. If Elvis were in Bush's place right now, and you were Cindy, he would be guaranteed to attend your b'day party. He may have been drugged out but he was not stupid.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#5)
    by Wile ECoyote on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    Like I said before, her name will be forgotten in six months by the very groups that are using her now. Already her name is more remembered than that of her son's. It appears to have taken other tolls also. The Smoking Gun has a picture of the divorce papers her husband has filed.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    Like I said before, her name will be forgotten in six months by the very groups that are using her now.
    Cindy Sheehan will be remembered for a long, long time as the women who made George Bush look very, very bad.
    Already her name is more remembered than that of her son's. It appears to have taken other tolls also. The Smoking Gun has a picture of the divorce papers her husband has filed.
    Oh my, how shocking! How positively tabloid! And Cindy’s personal life is important to her quest to hold Bush accountable how?

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    Wile, they've been separated since June. Cindy has said they've differed on how to handle their grief over their son's death. This should be a private matter between them.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    Don’t know how often Bush talks to his neighbors, but hopefully this won't be Bush’s response to Cindy’s invitation to join her in prayer: Man fires shotgun as mother of fallen soldier and her supporters hold service

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#9)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    Wyle-If Cindy is as tenacious as the four 9/11 widows have been, she is likely to get results, and be part of American history. If her agenda was to get into the history books she would not have gotten this far and would most certainly be forgotten.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#10)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    her name will be forgotten in six months by the very groups that are using her now.
    What's your point? That you intend to beat the rush and ignore her now?

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#11)
    by DawesFred60 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    I Love you Cindy Sheehan, what will bush and business do now? why can't he come to a prayer meeting for our guys and our girls who are being killed for big business?..is bush really into the gods? or is bush using the god thing to keep you in line?..you know like bin laden keeps his boys and girls in line?..to kill other for the gods?..this is great strategy keep it up and ask where is bin laden? and remember what Carl Sandburg said about war. see Grass one of his best. if our government was really fighting a war on terror it would fight it In the old way. I love this woman. Hey bush go to the meeting, or someday the meeting will come to you. Long live the USA.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    I know little about his religious beliefs. Read this. You may be surprised, and so would many who voted for him. Oh, well.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#13)
    by theologicus on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    Her name will be forgotten in six months. Much the same was said about Rosa Parks. Or have you forgotten?

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#14)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    He turned Cindy down...lets see him turn down his good buddy Jesus H. Christ.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#15)
    by Wile ECoyote on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    Sque
    aky: Wyle-If Cindy is as tenacious as the four 9/11 widows have been, she is likely to get results
    What results did the 9/11 widows get and what are their names? Quick, no cheating! TL: Yep it is private. Good thing Casey was not adopted, the NYT would be all over that.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#16)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    GWB was Born into Methodism now adopts Domionism.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#17)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    Wyle-my mind is not quit the steel trap as yours, what are their names? And what are the names all the presidents, vice presidents, current members of congress, while you are at it....nice try...we'll see..

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#18)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    Yeah, Mattlage really made a piercing observation and left us all deep in retrospective awe when he pontificated "This is Texas." How ridiculous.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#19)
    by Peaches on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    Ah, come on Wile, The damage is already done. The PResident approval rating is falling fast. The Iraq war is lost and the Prez is just scrtching his head and trying to get on with his life. So, we forget who Cindy Sheehan is (which with each passing day she's front page news--it is going to become harder to do), We won't forget the mistake called The Iraq war any easier than Viet Nam. And ppj will never forget to remind us about some insurgent leader in Iraq who was bolstered by the news in the US about Cindy Sheehan. There you go. History in the making.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    Yeah, Mattlage really made a piercing observation and left us all deep in retrospective awe when he pontificated "This is Texas." How ridiculous.
    Sadly, what he said speaks volumes. I assume that as a neighbor of Bush’s, Mattlage’s background has been thoroughly checked out by the Secret Service, but isn’t it interesting to note how quickly the SS signaled the “all clear” after the shotgun incident? Granted, Mattlage is a local landowner and can probably shoot a shotgun anytime he wants to under Texas law, but it makes me really wonder what all there was/is working behind the scenes on this one. Cindy Sheehan seems to have remained calm “under fire” about the incident, but it sure would make me pretty nervous to be down there surrounded by a bunch of gun totin’ rednecks. Makes me admire her even more, now.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#21)
    by Al on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    There's a very simple test to see whether Cindy Sheehan will be remembered six months from now: Wait six months. In the meantime, she certainly seems to have grabbed everyone's attention right now. Silly trolls. Bush is apparently very keen on praying, mainly for himself. Here is an excerpt from a description of a meeting that Bush had with some representatives of different religions a few days after September 11:
    "The entire meeting was unhurried, casual, thoughtful. As the President's aides began to gather in the room, it was clear the meeting -- now well into its second hour--was about to end. One of our group asked, "Mr. President, what can we do for you?" He indicated that we could "pray for me, for our country, for my family." He believes in the efficacy of prayer and needs wisdom and guidance and grace, he said. A Greek orthodox Archbishop was invited to lead us in prayer. We all joined hands in a prayer circle, including the president. It was a powerful and moving moment. As the prayer ended and we began to rise, one among us began, haltingly, to sing "God Bless America," a distinctly unchauvinistic song that Americans have turned to over the past few weeks. We all began to join in, including the President. He then mingled, shook hands, and thanked us as we left.
    He seemed to be particularly concerned with his own safety, and Laura's:
    The President discussed the terrible day, going over some of the events as he experienced them, doing what so many Americans are doing in trying to come to grips with what happened. He told us that it is clear the White House was a target; that it was an "old building made of plaster and brick" and that had it been struck it would have been demolished and many people killed, "including my wife." (He paused and choked up at that thought.)
    Cindy Sheehan might have a better chance of convincing Bush to show up if she told him they would be praying for him and Laura.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#22)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    Kos nails it re: the pundit class being out of touch.
    Hackett has said he's been swamped with calls and emails from soldiers in Iraq wanting to follow in his footsteps -- return home from Iraq to run for office..... Demcratic vets in Congress far outnumber Republicans vets. They are quick to accuse Democrats of being anti-American, yet they themselves have done little to serve their nation.
    kos

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#23)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    labyrinth-He also said he was getting ready for dove season. Gonna "go underneath the law" an git me some yeller doves.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#24)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    He also said he was getting ready for dove season. Gonna "go underneath the law" an git me some yeller doves.
    Considering how doves have always represented peace, and considering that the peace movement is now camped out by Mattlege's front door, his words are of particular concern. Hope the SS keeps a close watch on that wacko.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#25)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    He may be on the payroll.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    Jennifer Wilbanks Natalee Holloway Ward Churchill Tom DeLay Bernard Kerik Gavin Arvizo . Cindy Sheehan Just another nine days' media wonder. Someone made a Rosa Parks analogy: apt in the sense that both Parks and Sheehan have an agenda; incorrect insofar as to the moral stature applying equally. Casey (remember him?) was 24, an adult grown man. He volunteered to fight. George Bush didn't take him away, George Bush didn't kill him, and George Bush can't return him. Cindy Sheehan also has a lot of personal baggage, which prevents her from appealing to anyone but the Hate-Bush Left. If this protest truly had legs, there'd be 25,000 alongside her, not 250. It's just another media creation, and when people get tired of it, they'll move on.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#27)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    Lab - Dove hunting is a religion in Texas, and many other places in the south. Also some very good eating. You write:
    Cindy Sheehan seems to have remained calm “under fire” about the incident, but it sure would make me pretty nervous to be down there surrounded by a bunch of gun totin’ rednecks.
    Well, neither you, or her, have to be there. Uh... what was that Forest Gump said: "Stupid is as stupid does?" Something like that. Squeaky - If you had seen him on TV you would say that maybe the demonstrators do have a problem. Peaches - Where you been, dude? Long time no insult.
    There you go. History in the making.
    Yep. That's about it.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#28)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    PPJ-I did see the footage of him. His dove remark was loaded. Also, if he cares so much about getting these people off land, (NBC is paying him) he should encourage his neighbor to do the right thing.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#29)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    Sqeaky writes:
    he should encourage his neighbor to do the right thing.
    Uh, so if you want someone off your property you should intercede on their behalf with your neighbor? Now I know the Left is shaky on property rights, but don't you think that's a bit much?

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#30)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:22 PM EST
    They're not on his property. They're not on his property. He jus don' laahhhk et when them there yellerbellied commies is in the road makin' noise. Again, though, give him kudos for managing to clear up the very pressing question of what state he's in.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#31)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:23 PM EST
    If Sheehan donated $25k he would meet with her. If she donated $100k she'd be staying overnight (in the Lincoln bedroom.) So how much money was her son's life worth!?

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#32)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:23 PM EST
    BTW, if anyone but a bush supporter had fired off rounds near the president's compound the SS would have taken them DOWN.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#33)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:23 PM EST
    Fred Dawes hit it on the head...Bush only uses God to bamboozle idiots. Cindy Sheehan doesn't have a prayer of getting this creep to show.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#34)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:23 PM EST
    One more reason he won't show...he's already too busy praying for another 9/11 so he can get the green light to invade Iran.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#35)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:23 PM EST
    Maybe he is not that nuts. China seems to a party pooper for nuking Iran, a big wet blanket.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#36)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:23 PM EST
    Ernie - You better home he does something to stop Iran's nukes or you may well wind up ionized by one of them. Sailor - Yes, but the Clinton Administration gave Frequent Stayer points and Green Stamps if paid in cash." ;-) glanton - They are preventing him from the normal and usual use of his property. That is why Zoning was invented. Tell me. If you lived next to Kerry, would you want this?

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#37)
    by Peaches on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:23 PM EST
    Where you been, dude? Long time no insult.
    The Muddy Pig, remember. You aren't getting senile on me are you?

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#39)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:23 PM EST
    Well, neither you, or her, have to be there. Uh... what was that Forest Gump said: "Stupid is as stupid does?" Something like that. Ernie - You better home he does something to stop Iran's nukes or you may well wind up ionized by one of them. Boy someone is off their meds today.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#40)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:23 PM EST
    They're not preventing him from doing anything. It just gets on his nerves to look at them and to hear them. What I "want" people to do near and/or and adjacent to my property is totally irrelevant. Believe me. I live in Texas. I look at and hear the most inane pro-Bush rhetoric every day.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#41)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:25 PM EST
    Baked Alaska, Where to start addressing such reactionary nonsense. Bush made the decision to send these soldiers to die on a lie -- a lie he knew, a lie he cultivated, a lie he went to bat with. He is as much an accesory to her son's death as any accessory to a murder would be. If not, why hold any elected representative accountable for anything? I mean, if taking the nation into war for lying, dysfunctional, deluded "reasons" isn't worth holding a president accountable for, why would everything else matter? You also know absolutely nothing about why Casey went into the military, how he felt about being lied to, or being thrown into an unwinnable bloodbath. Nothing. And that is not the issue, the issue is his mother trying to DO SOMETHING AS A FREE AMERICAN in her son's name because she feels passionately about it. She is risking something, what are you doing? She's accepted being a target of intense hatred to stand up for what she believes in. Have you done anything a nth that brave lately? If you have, I apologize. Also, no one would be talking about Casey Sheehan at all if it weren't for his mother. He'd just be another anonymous coffin unloaded in private, away from cameras. Unless the pentagon wretchedly decides to use their death for military propaganda, as they did with Pat Tillman. As for Parks, I have a hunch, call me crazy, that she'd dress you down mightily for trying to play moral referee with the two of them. They are both women much stronger, I suspect, more principled and willing to risk something for a larger truth they believe in than either of us.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#42)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:25 PM EST
    If Cindy Sheehan had FF boobs like that pornstar Carey, she could go to the White House for a party. Too bad she is only a Gold Star Mother, among this country's highest honors. The same people who proudly wore their Purple Heart bandaids can hardly be expected to care one wiggly sh*t for the families Bush has destroyed. As for '250,000 instead of 250,' Jim, there is a difference between a GSM and a protester like myself. I haven't lost any children or family members in this crisis, and she has lost a son. The moral difference is GREAT. I fight for justice; Cindy Sheehan fights for her son's life to have meaning, a meaning that Bush stole from her and from him. She will fight until she drops, and never stop. Neither will the 9i1 widows stop. And these are enemies FAR worse than protesters like me, because whatever their outrage at injustice, their loss is permanent. September 24 is the giant protest rally in DC (and around the country). That's where you can count up your 250,000 plus. Part of the reason why protesters are not arriving in Waco in huge numbers is out of RESPECT for Sheehan's protest. Huge crowds of protesters would give the SS or the Texas Rangers the excuse they would need to bust up the event. I suspect you undertand that, Jim, and are trying to bait a trap. But Bush has already fallen into that trap. Mission Accomplished, Mrs. Sheehan.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#43)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:26 PM EST
    peaches - Come on guy, fess up. You've been off on a secret mission. But just in case, I'll have a rye and a beer. Sink the rye, please. Join me?? My treat. You can get the next one. dadler - Let me check your moral compass. Just for this exercise, let us assume that Bush lied. Now we know, yes, even you know, that he was speaking based on the information he had available, but let's just play a game. Question: Who provided him the reason and the means for him to lie? Was it the Christian Right? No, they were just happy that the evileeee Clinton with his BJ's was gone. Was it the far Right? No, they were just happy that their man had beaten the evileee Algore and his forces of darkness (also known as Democratic Attorneys aka ACLU.) Was it the Repub party? No, they were just happy to get back on the A list and have a chance to go to all the best parties. Who was it? Could it have been OBL and his bunch of killers? Didn't they attack us on 9/11? And no matter how evileeeeee Bush was, and the Christian (Look out! He's got a cross!!!) Right... The fact is that the attack on 9/11 featured radical Moslems.....not Jerry Fallwell. Now. The question then becomes, as the enabler of Bush's lies, do you blame them in any way for the attack and the actions thereafter? Mrs. Sheehan's son.. Would he have been killed in Iraq if 9/11 had not happened? Tell us, dadler. Do you have any blame in your heart for the radical Moslems? Aren't we taught that we must not be the enabler of sin? And if you do, would not a reasonable person mention that blame from time to time?

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#44)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:26 PM EST
    PIL - Actually, I do not think that Gold Star mothers regard that as an honor. At best it is a tragedy played out on a field so wide you, and I, can not see the sides. And I pray that we never will.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#45)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:26 PM EST
    PPJ-have you ever read PNAC. It is a postmodern script designed to create reality theater. You will find the answers to all your rhetorical questions there. Hopefully the play will be ending soon due to the moral bankruptcy of the actors, playwrights, financiers, and cheerleaders.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#46)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:26 PM EST
    Squeaky - My whole life has been reality, and my experience with those who talk about "theater" is that they haven't. I suspect you fall into that category.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#47)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:26 PM EST
    Realpolitik is the 'reality theater' being discussed. It is commonly racist. The PNAC paper is correctly called a psychotic, illegal realpolitik conspiracy. Fascism + racism = Nazism. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Realpolitik (German for "politics of reality") is foreign politics based on practical concerns rather than theory or ethics."

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#48)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:26 PM EST
    Realpolitik is the 'reality theater' being discussed. It is commonly racist, as when Kissinger illegally targeted Cambodia and Laos, triggering the Cambodian genocide. Laos was bombed more thoroughly than any other country on earth. The PNAC paper is correctly called a psychotic, illegal realpolitik conspiracy, for profit.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#49)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:26 PM EST
    PIL As I told Squeaky, my whole life has been reality, and my experience with those who talk about "theater" is that they haven't. I know you fall into that category.

    Re: Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for (none / 0) (#51)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:27 PM EST
    I'd like to say "ditto" to Dadler's response to Baked Alaska's posting. You know, one thing I've never understood is why disagreeing with "the right" always ends in personal insults and name-calling rather than sticking to issues. I take a look at comments like that and PPJ's and I have to wonder if all of that anger and hate isn't stressful. Another thing I don't understand is why disagreeing with Bush or the war automatically means we support terrorists. Quite the opposite--the "war on terror" CANNOT be won this way. Furthermore, Iraq would have happened regardless. I recently dug back to emails I had sent back before the 2000 election predicting a war in Iraq--to me, that prediction was about as risky as predicting sun in the desert. I lived in the Middle East for 5 years. I was there on 9/11 (and quite contrary to popular belief, Arabs were horrified by that just as much as anyone else). I was there during the Afghan war and for the first year of the Iraq war (I watched attacks launched from behind where I lived). My point here is that I had a front-row seat to the deterioration of trust and credibility in the Middle East and I watched anger grow where previously there hadn't been that much. Again, quite contrary to popular belief in the US, not all Muslims hate Americans or Christians--at least they didn't used to. The area that they had strong disagreement with us was of course on the Israeli Palestinian conflict; otherwise, most of them liked us. Then came Bush. Then came Iraq. You know the rest of the story. Another point that Americans, particularly those on the right, gloss over is the fact that only 3 countries in the world had ever recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan (I did happen to live in one of those). Translation: The vast majority of the Muslim world did NOT support Taliban-like regimes. The Middle East is an incredibly complex part of the world. There are some wonderful things about it and some horrible things about it--pretty much the case in most countries. For Bush and company to think that they could march into a Gulf Arab country, be greeted with flowers, and announce "we're having democracy and it starts on Monday" was shockingly ignorant--anyone who had ever spent more than 5 minutes in the Gulf would have known it wouldn't work that way. That ignorance, coupled with the Bush Administration's highly offensive diplomatic arrogance, has cost the US in ways it can perhaps never recover from. Our credibility is destroyed worldwide and we're the most distrusted country on the planet. We're also seen as the biggest threat to world peace in polls all over the globe. I left the Middle East and now live in Poland, the government of which supported the war. I can tell you, the people who live in the countries whose governments defied them (the only "coalition" country which had public support for the war was the US)do NOT support us. Oh, I guess I shouldn't have been suprised about the name-calling by Bush-supporters on this blog--Bush came out with "Axis of Evil" and that's worked beautifully: We launched an illegal war we can't get out of on one of the axis members, and the other 2 have beefed up their nuclear capacities as a result. In closing, I'd like to respond to PPJ's (assumingly rhetorical) question: Aren't we taught that we must not be the enabler of sin? Yes, we certainly are. That's why we need to quit supporting those who kill people, tell lies, covet others' land and resources, etc. If you're going to invoke some sort of religion-based comment to support a view that killing others is okay, then you've already lost the argument, in my opinion. "Thanks" to people who took the time to read this.

    Cindy Sheehan Invites Bush to Prayer Vigil for Troops | 49 comments (49 topical)