The War Against Cindy

by Butler Shaffer

In Gaelic, the name “Sheehan” means “peace maker.” It is precisely the desire of Cindy and millions of others to foster peace and prevent additional deaths – whether of Americans or Iraqis – that underlies the campaign President Bush and other statists strive to marginalize. This war has been nothing but one string of ever-changing lies from the beginning. The spinmeisters continue to exploit the suffering that their lies, forgeries, and deceptions have created for untold thousands of people. The twisted-ribbon bumper-stickers that read “support the troops” have a hidden message that often comes through in the course of further discussion: “support the war and support President Bush; sacrifice the troops.”

As this psychopathic administration now scans its world atlas for new targets upon which to direct its forces of “shock and awe,” it is time for all of us to understand that there is nothing “noble” in the systematic slaughter of people. There is no “honor” in bringing grief and suffering to others; and no transcendent “purpose” in being part of a collective of fungible human beings to be exploited for whatever ends suit those with ambitions over the lives of others. “Life” belongs to living individuals, not to the state, a message each of us must impart to our children and grandchildren as they learn to resist the seductions of those who would destroy them. It is also time for Americans to take a stand with Cindy Sheehan and help this country rediscover its soul, and return to the sense of decency from which it has so aimlessly strayed.

We might begin our transformation with the lesson offered by a friend of Kurt Vonnegut as the two returned from Europe following their World War II soldiering. Vonnegut asked this man what he had learned from his wartime experiences, to which his friend replied: “not to believe my government.”