And My Verdict Is...

It has taken me a long time to figure out what I think of the whole Cindy Sheehan story. At various times I have been all over the map. There is no doubt that if you are willing to keep an open mind and you go to sites on the other side of the political spectrum (Free Republic, etc.), your perspective will be challenged sometimes. As a result, I've flip-flopped between thinking Sheehan is a great American hero and thinking she's either an exploited victim or a selfish manipulator. After considering all the facts as I understand them and the credibility of analysis on all sides, I've concluded that Sheehan is, on balance, a positive inspiration.

To be fair, both sides have been wrong on a number of things. Many of the more sympathetic souls on the Right believe that Sheehan has been exploited by some far Left groups (like CodePink and MoveOn.org) to push their agendas. The truth is that Sheehan has been involved with those groups for quite a while now, and there is no reason to believe that she isn't acting out of her own convictions. I also disagree with the Left's fawning over her, and attributing a higher "moral authority" to her because of her loss of a son in the war. In addition, many people on the Left talk as if Sheehan's camping out at the Crawford ranch was some spontaneous act from which a national movement sprouted. Clearly, all of this was calculated although, in my mind, that doesn't diminish its power and importance.

Then there are the personal attacks from the Right. Sheehan has been called everything from "nutty" to anti-Semitic. I don't think any of the critics who call her "nutty" have any credentials in the field of psychiatrics. The pundits are also out talking about how she is dishonouring the memory of her son, and how she just wants to milk the media attention for herself. The fact that they have made an issue of Cindy Sheehan means that they want to push the issues for which she stands to the background. This has been a common Right Wing tactic for dealing with people that dare to challenge the infallibility of the Bush administration, and especially regarding the war. Richard Clarke, Joseph Wilson, Scott Ritter and anybody else who turned out to be right was personally vilified by the Right and, subsequently, the media. They want nothing more than for the spotlight to go on the personality rather than the issues. The fact that the Right has, once again, employed that tactic with Sheehan indicates to me that they are fearful of what she might accomplish and what truths she might expose. (UPDATE: Check out Frank Rich's column in the Sunday New York Times on this topic.) There aren't too many saints walking around, and if you try hard enough you can find plenty of dirt on everybody. Cindy Sheehan is not a perfect human being, but that doesn't mean her questions of the President aren't valid.

As for the anti-Semitic charge, she has made statements in opposition to Israeli occupation, but most of them aren't necessarily anti-Semitic on their face. There was one troubling line attributed to her about her son joining the Army "to protect America, not Israel", implying that Israel was the reason for the war. She has to answer for that and, in fact, has denied that remark and sentiment. Some have inferred anti-Semitism from her criticism of the Neo-Cons and PNAC. I am in full agreement with her on that criticism, so I guess that makes me an anti-Semite too. But the bigger problem is that people like David Duke and other racists have jumped on the peace bandwagon by citing these statements. (Forgive me for not providing a link to David Duke. It's too repugnant.) I wrote in an earlier post about the strange bedfellows in politics, and people like David Duke are an albatross around the neck of the peace movement in general and the opposition to the war in Iraq in particular. But that doesn't make the opposition any less noble.

Even with all her warts, Cindy Sheehan asks an important question: What is the noble cause that her son died for? What was the real motivation for this war? She has followed through with her plan, and has stood up to what she knew would be a harrowing attack. It's hard not to admire her just for that. And her actions have inspired anti-war vigils to spring up all over America. While public support for the war has been steadily declining as people have become wise to the facts, it took a Cindy Sheehan to re-invigorate public displays of dissent. Only history will tell if she is making a difference for the better. Many call her heroic. It's hard to disagree.