Sunday, September 25, 2005
WHAT HAPPENED TO HOPE?
The New York Times last week:
Many New Yorkers said yesterday that Ms. Sheehan gave them back hope that was lost when war was declared on Iraq.
The Washington Post today:
For Many, Anger Has Grown Since Start of War
It sure has. Particularly among pro-war types:
Tempers flared near a tent erected by supporters of Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who camped outside Bush’s Texas ranch this summer. Six parents came by to cut their children’s photos from a poster showing the faces of the first 1,000 Americans to die in the Iraq conflict.
“My son wouldn’t want his face here,” said Charlotte Smette of Makoti, N.D., trembling in her husband’s arms with angry tears. Around his neck, Doug Smette wore a wooden cross and the dog tags of his son, Keith, who was killed in Iraq on Jan. 24, 2004.
A few feet away, protesters had laid out rows of empty boots embellished with small U.S. flags and white candles next to a tableau of small white crosses.
“This, to me, is disrespectful,” said John Wroblewski of Jefferson Township, N.J., whose son, John, served in the Marines and was killed in a firefight in Iraq.
Disrespect for dead US servicemen? From Mother Sheehan’s concern elves? Unthinkable.