opinion

by paul rockwell

The defrauded young

THE AGONY OF war can transform any human being.

In 1914, at the outset of World War I, Rudyard Kipling, the bellicose poet of the British empire who coined the infamous phrase "white man's burden," urged his own son to join the British military. One week after his son enlisted, he was dead. Overwhelmed with grief, Kipling wrote two "Epitaphs for War." In the first, dead soldiers speak:

If any question why we died,

Tell them because our fathers lied.

In the second, "The Dead Statesman," a statesman speaks:

And now all my lies are proved untrue.

And I must face the men I slew.

What tale shall serve me here among

Mine angry and defrauded young.

There are many kinds of betrayal in human affairs – forgery, embezzlement, adultery, murder. But in the affairs of state, there is no greater disloyalty, no greater act of betrayal, than to send young men and women to their deaths on the basis of fraud.

To lie is to murder.

That is the theme of Cindy Sheehan's defiant, witty, compassionate, and deeply patriotic first book, Not One More Mother's Child. What begins in grief over the loss of her son Casey on April 4, 2004, ends in hope at Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas, in August 2005. Action overcomes grief. Direct action empowers.

Army Specialist Casey Sheehan died in an ambush in Sadyr City. Bill Mitchell, Cindy's comrade in grief, lost his son Michael in the same calamity.

The Iraqi people are patriotic and proud. It was a huge blunder when US commanders closed down the Shiite newspaper. Rebellions erupted throughout the city. Shiite youths, many no older than Michael and Casey, set up roadblocks. They placed washing machines, refrigerators, and burning tires in the streets. US soldiers were trapped by an ill-trained militia armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

Who, then, killed Casey? His mother's answer is unflinching. Casey was murdered by President George W. Bush. US soldiers are victims of their own government. "Bush," she explains, "put our kids in another person's country, and Casey was killed by insurgents. He wasn't killed by terrorists. He was killed by Shiite militia who wanted him out of the country, after Casey had been told he would be welcomed with chocolate and flowers as a liberator. The Iraqi people saw it differently. They saw him as an occupier."

Mitchell agrees with Sheehan: "My son was killed by Saddam's enemies. We have created enemies because of our actions. Iraqis are responding to what the US has done, and we just continue to fight anyone who gets in the way."

A set of democratic precepts – that we are all God's children; that the insurgents are defending their own homes, streets, and mosques from outside invaders; that Iraqis have as much right to self-determination, the right to be left alone by outside powers, as the American people – basic common sense underlies Sheehan's speeches, letters, and her appeals to the conscience of America.

Our soldiers deserve a reckoning. We cannot bring back the dead, but we can hold our leaders accountable for their crimes. We can end the war and turn Casey's sacrifice into a message of peace. Through Sheehan's activism and inspiration, the memory of the dead can save future generations from the scourge of war.

Cindy Sheehan (joined by Arnie Kotler, publisher of Koa Books) reads from her book Dec. 3, 7:30 p.m., Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut, Berk. (510) 848-0237. Paul Rockwell (rockyspad@hotmail.com) is a columnist for In Motion Magazine.