Bush Missed Opportunity To End Cindy Sheehan's Protest Before It Began

As soon as I heard that Cindy Sheehan (mother of Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, who was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004) was headed for Crawford, Texas, to stage a "I-want-to-meet-with-President-Bush-and-tell-him-what-I-think-about-how-he-killed-my-son-for-oil, etc..." protest against the Iraq War, I prayed that GW would immediately end the media circus before it began.

He could have easily done this by simply inviting Mrs. Sheehan over to his ranch as soon as she arrived and spent some time talking with her and listening to what she had to say.

After that, what would she have left to protest?

It's not that the President hadn't met privately with her before!

Back in June of 2004, the Sheehan family, including Cindy, joined 17 other families for a special-invitation series of private meetings with President Bush. An article published by the Vacaville, California newspaper, The Reporter, indicated that Mrs. Sheehan, while even then strongly against the Iraq War, had experienced a very positive meeting with Bush. "I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis," Cindy said after their meeting. "I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith."

Listen to what she is saying now:

The evidence is overwhelming, compelling, and alarming that George and his indecent bandits traitorously had intelligence fabricated to fit their goal of invading Iraq. The criminals foisted a Lie of Historic Proportions on the world. It was clear to many of us more aware people that George, Condi, Rummy, the two Dicks: Cheney and Perle, Wolfie, and most effectively and treacherously, Colin Powell, lied their brains out before the invasion. The world was even shown where the WMD’S were on the map. We were told that the “smoking gun” could come at any time in the form of a “mushroom cloud” or a cloud of toxic biological or chemical weapons. Does anyone remember duct tape and plastic sheeting?.......

(My son) was sent to occupy and die in a foreign country that was no threat to the USA. However, the biggest threat to our safety, humanity, and our way of life in America are George and his cronies.

It appears that Mrs. Sheehan does not even have the support of her family in this matter. A statement from her family was released yesterday and reads as follows:

The Sheehan Family lost our beloved Casey in the Iraq War and we have been silently, respectfully grieving. We do not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the the expense of her son's good name and reputation. The rest of the Sheehan Family supports the troops, our country, and our President, silently, with prayer and respect.

Sincerely, Casey Sheehan's grandparents, aunts, uncles and numerous cousins.

Paul, at Power Line, has a fine, short post on this matter that is well worth taking the time to read.

As for myself, I have much sympathy for the anger and sense of betrayal (by our government) and injustice (in the death of her son in an unnecessary war) that Cindy Sheehan feels. It is beyond question that her feelings are shared by a very large number of other Americans.

Even so, I join with Power Line in noting that Mrs. Sheehan appears to be a very small minority among those who have lost a son, a daughter or a spouse as a result of serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

And, once again, I will repeat what I said at the beginning of this post: President Bush could have nipped the protest in the bud by simply extending an invitation to meet with her privately....a second time....and simply sittiing and istening to her for a while.

But he didn't.