Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: La madre del soldato

From The Mississippi Press, 8/19/05:
http://www.gulflive.com/opinion/mississippipress/index.ssf?/base/opinion/112
4446525178320.xml
The president, Gold Star moms and harsh reality
On Sept.11, 2001 we sat in our classrooms, offices, and living rooms
and listened as our confusion turned to shock.
We stood rigidly wondering what could possibly be happening as we
heard that the Twin Towers had been toppled by hijacked jetliners and
there were multiple explosions in Washington D.C.
Few of us had ever heard of al-Qaida or had given much thought to
Osama bin Laden and many of those who had, considered him a Cold War
friend.
For once our culture spoke with one voice as we all concentrated on
the same event and the same set of facts.
All citizens of this great nation felt unity and strongly felt what it
was to be American.
That was demonstrated in the huge outpouring of patriotism.
Americans wanted to give.
We instinctively knew to go give blood to local blood banks.
We gave to help the families of those who died and for the policemen
and firefighters who lived.
We were ready to destroy those who had made us our most vulnerable.
We were united in common purpose.
This was a point at which Americans could have been united to rid
ourselves of dependence on Middle East oil.
We could have done any number of great things.
We had sympathy and support from countries all around the world.
Instead, in what I believe is the greatest squandered moment in his
presidency and perhaps decades, President Bush told us to shop as he
began to plan for war.
Today, we find ourselves in that war.
This is a war in which we were told our soldiers would be greeted as
liberators with flowers, not as occupiers greeted with Improvised
Explosive Devices (IEDs).
This is a war we were told could be done on the cheap.
It would only cost us a couple billion dollars to complete; that
figure is quickly rising toward $500 billion.
As dramatic as this war is, something truly awful is happening.
Americans have begun to zone out the war.
An Ivy League professor with a son in the Marines found a startling
discovery using research and statistics.
Only about 5 percent of Americans are directly related to someone
serving in Iraq.
For many of us, the war is just something we see on TV.
It simply does not affect our daily lives.
Military families face all the sacrifice while the rest of us merely
watch from the sidelines with or without a yellow ribbon.
Edward Schoeder, a 23-year-old reservist, died in the war.
Schroeder's mother said the Bush war policy was " continuing the same
thing without changing what you're doing is like the classic
definition of insanity -- doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting a different result."
President Bush tells us that if we change course the terrorists win.
The mother of another casualty has camped out along the road near the
president's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Cindy Sheehan, a Gold Star mother (the designation for a mom who has
lost a child in war), is demanding a meeting with the President to air
her belief that we must end the war now to save the lives of others.
Her story has brought the war back home for many Americans.
She became a threat to the establishment and the establishment lashed
out, hard.
According to right-wing talk shows, she has become deranged and is a
tool of the far Left.
The details of her divorce have been broadcast far and wide and she is
routinely described as an embarrassment to her family.
Worst of all, perhaps, was Rush Limbaugh when he claimed she was
making everything up.
The most plausible explanation for why the president will not see her
is that the president's time is valuable and that if he agreed to see
her it would set a precedent.
That also doesn't hold water.
Last week, President Bush's convoy had to pass Cindy as he went to a
big-bucks fundraiser for the Republican National Committee.
The White House has said that he will read at least three large books
before his five-week vacation is over.
This weekend he will go on a bike ride with Lance Armstrong.
He has the time.
When questioned by reporters about Cindy Sheehan before going on a
bike ride around his ranch he said, "I think it's also important for
me to go on with my life."
While it may work for George W., for the families of those killed in a
war that looks increasingly futile, ignoring reality is not an option.

war that looks increasingly futile, ignoring reality is not an option.
Infatti non e' "ignoring reality" ma "ignoring a poor woman that talk
foir herself only".
-Stefano

Stando a quanto riferito dai notiziari televisivi, la citata madre spera di 
ottenere risposta al quesito "perché é morto mio figlio", il che lascerebbe 
perplessi sulle informazioni in suo possesso circa il "lavoro" svolto dal 
figlio in terra straniera, a meno che non intendesse riferirsi al reale 
scopo per cui é stato sacrificato ....... 

 wrote in message
news:%8KNe.23034$F23.2...@twister2.libero.it...

Suppongo che quella madre , con la sua domanda non si aspetti nessuna
risposta; e`una sentenza chiara e tonda; e` un'accusa di omicidio.
La risposta e`alla portata di tutti e sarebbe un peso enorme dover
rispondere, anche a un presidente con la "P" maiuscola...e giorgetto non
appartiene certo a quella categoria.
Giano