A New Feature in the Barnyard

After some discussions with friends I have decided to post a" Guest's Column" as a semidaily post,Otis Page will write the sunday editorial, wednesday will be open to my readers to write one on any topic presented here in the Barnyard, submit your entries to goats_barnyard@msn.com, For example: This piece from Otis on Cindy Sheehan,this is his.

CINDY SHEEHAN
Cindy Sheehan appears as an embittered critic of the war, a personal attitude she reputably held before her son, SPC Casey Sheehan, was killed in Iraq in April 2004. In reflecting on Sheehan’s sorrow, one may find solace in President Lincoln’s letter to Mrs. Lydia Bixby of Boston, who Lincoln was told had lost sons in the Civil War.
"I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming," Lincoln wrote. "But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom."
Sheehan met with President Bush and he personally extended his condolences to her and her extended family.
Sheehan now centers a controversial effort to end the Iraq War, allied with and supported by organizations that opposed George Bush during the Presidential election.
Sheehan is criticized by members of her family since she appears to have subordinated her grief to an anti-war activism that some feel disparages the memory of her son and, significantly, all those who have lost their lives in the war including those who are fighting in Iraq. There is no question that the anti-war activist movement gives the wrong message to terrorist insurgents who oppose the democratization of Iraq.
The grief of a son’s death – and the deaths of approximately 1800 military in Iraq – is a solemn occasion for consolation, as are the deaths of the approximate 3, 000 killed on 9/11, and, for that matter, the deaths of over 30,000 people who are killed each year on the nation’s highways. But the death of SPC Casey Sheehan or the other military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan is not in vain.
“Men are never really willing to die except for the sake of freedom: therefore they do not believe in dying completely.” Albert Camus (1913–60)
What inspires the anti-war activist movement now headed by Cindy Sheehan? What is the cause of angst on behalf of those who are sincerely against the war?
The matter is in some measure prescribed by a cynical political motivation as a result of certain Democrats who wish to embarrass President Bush, to regain power despite the implication their conduct undermines the nation’s policy and resolve to win the war. It is partially defined by a small minority who sincerely oppose war. Some argue that the issue is how we are prosecuting the war, given the insurgency.
But we must put the question in context. The Middle East threat was initially manifested as a result of our dedication to a peaceful resolve of the Israeli/Palestinian matter. There have been numerous subsequent incursions against the United States such as Iran’s takeover of our embassy in 1979 and the attack on the Cole followed by the devastation of 9/11.
After pleadings at the United Nations, actions in Afghanistan and Iraq confronted the terrorist militancy. It is now prominently understood in terms of the suicide bombings, beheadings, the immerging nuclear capability of Iran and the subtle but obvious belligerence of Syria. The context is further understood in terms of our dependence of Middle East oil and the nature of the terrorist threat magnified by the Islamic culture with incursions in Spain and London.
What is the real issue that bothers people about the Iraq war and the whole matter in the Middle East? What is it Cindy Sheehan does not understand as she parades as the “point person” for the anti-war activist movement? What is the reason the death of her son is for a greater cause?
The real issue is, are we right in militarily confronting the terrorist threat in the Middle East? Do people understand that this is the issue – not just the present insurgency in Iraq? Given this understanding, is the confrontation truly important and meaningful to our national interest and security?
Cindy Sheehan should be mindful that true freedom in the Middle East is one cause besides our freedom at home from Islamic militant terrorism. Regarding freedom in the Islamic world consider the following:
“As for those who think the Arab world promises freedom, the briefest study of its routine traditional treatment of blacks (slavery) and women (purdah) will provide relief from all illusion. If Malcolm X had been a black woman his last message to the world would have been entirely different. The brotherhood of Moslem men— all colors— may exist there, but part of the glue that holds them together is the thorough suppression of women.” Alice Walker (b. 1944)
What is the real reason? We must win WWIII or the freedom of our standard of living and our way of life will forever change here in America. That threat is both ideological considering the conflict with militant Islam and resource based considering Western Civilization’s dependence on Middle East Oil.
The ideological threat is cultural in a religious context that is not only addressed in terms of conflicts with Christianity and Judaism, but with all beliefs including those that do not believe in religion at all. Yes, the freedom of religion and the separation of religion from State will be threatened.
Our dependence on Middle East oil is a threat currently being employed by Iran in its positioning of the West on its immerging nuclear capability. The world’s expanding demand and rising price for a barrel of oil exemplifies the crisis. The issue transcends the reality of $3.00+ per gallon gasoline to the reality of gas and fuel rationing – a specific lessening of freedom because of the limitation of oil supplies.
How does this all effect the issue Cindy Sheehan is protesting about in the context of the loss of her son? The Bush Administration has acted wisely and courageously with actions in Afghanistan and Iraq to compromise and destabilize the terrorist threat in the Middle East. We now have military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan and are prepared to neutralize if not overcome the immergence of the long forecasted nuclear capability in Iran. France and Germany must now face the reality that they too must come to terms with the Middle East threat as the United States and Brittan have with its actions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Our costs in dollars and lives have been minimal considering the greater costs if we had not acted. We were betrayed by the United Nations in proceeding as revealed by the Oil for Food scandal. But despite this, Bush acted.
Cindy Sheehan appears to be not acting on a primary grief but with a political motivation as an anti-war activist. Although honored as SPC Casey Sheehan’s mother, she did not sacrifice her life. Her son did “to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom." His sacrifice was made in a great and noble cause in an effort that attempts to not only protect our freedoms but promises freedom to those who have been enslaved by theocratic despotism and cruel dictatorships in a land described historically as the cradle of civilization.
SPC Casey Sheehan and the noble list of others who have lost their lives in the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns are heroes dedicated to our quest to protect our freedom at home while attempting to provide freedom to millions now incarcerated by a bondage that knows only servitude and death where that bondage now threatens our own.
Cindy Sheehan and her supporting cast of organizations are wrong in exploiting their anti-war activism in a way that demeans the heroic contribution of her son and all others who are making the supreme sacrifice in war in the Middle East for the reason the war is just in the name of freedom throughout the world.

From Goat: Well said and unknowing of my post on this.