by Charles Coughlin

Anyone who still thinks George Bush is a decent human being should consider the case of Cindy Sheehan. Mrs. Sheehan lost her son in Iraq and wants to meet Bush in person to confront him over the loss of her son. She is waiting outside Bush’s ranch in 100 degree Texas heat. So far Bush has sent out a couple underlings spouting the usual neocon spiel about “how important it is to turn Iraq into a democracy” in a cowardly attempt to deal with her indirectly. Meanwhile, millions of Americans have heard of her plight and are following this story with the greatest of sympathy.

How are the neocons responding to Cindy Sheehan? Believe it or not, many are attacking her. They have accused her of becoming a pawn of leftists or the anti-war movement. Mrs. Sheehan had earlier attended a White House event for parents who lost children. (Most likely this was a carefully scripted event and any hostile questioning of the president was not allowed.) Some neocons are claiming that the White House event should be “good enough” for Mrs. Sheehan –after all she “only” lost her son. It’s entirely possible Cindy Sheehan has learnt of the Downing Street Memos and other evidence that Bush lied us into war since that meeting. The neocons however don’t want people to be able to change their minds especially a mother who lost a son in Bush’s unjust war.

Over the last two days, neocons have begun dutifully calling in and harassing leftist and libertarian radio talk show hosts, who normally get few -if any- neocon calls. One neocon seriously suggested that Cindy Sheehan was a “security threat” to the President because she was standing by the road three miles from Bush’s ranch (the closest the authorities would let her get). Another neocon said that Cindy Sheehan was being “used” –completely dismissing the idea that a woman might actually be upset over losing a son in a pointless war. Other neocon callers did their old song and dance about how “necessary” the Iraq war was and how “important” a democracy in Iraq would be to ordinary Americans. (One wonders if these callers were based in Israel.) A recent poll showed 57 percent of Americans believe Bush lied us into the war. Another poll reports 59 percent of Americans consider the Iraq was wrong.

Would it really inconvenience George Bush to meet with this poor woman? Sure, Bush would just tell her the same old lies and neocon spin, but doesn’t Dubya realize that this story is snowballing into yet another gigantic problem for him. Instead of appearing compassionate (even in a phony way) Bush is appearing arrogant and aloof.

One recent article noted that Cindy Sheehan and people sympathetic to her were forced by law enforcement to stand in a ditch and not on the rarely-used road (while the media walked all over the road without a single arrest). Some public property just outside the Bush ranch could not be used by protestors even though they constitute the public. Secret Service vehicles raced up and down the road at high speed at night past the protestors while local residents slowed down for the sake of safety. A law enforcement vehicle drove by at 6am with its siren blaring. It’s hard to believe a mother who lost a son is being treated this badly, but Bush considers us and our children expendable pawns, who must be punished if we object to the useless waste of life that Bush and his neocon cabal have caused.