A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

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DJ

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A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

An Open Letter to Cindy Sheehan From the Proud Father of a U.S. Marine<br />By Brantley Smith<br />Posted On August 17, 2005<br /><br />Ms. Sheehan,<br /><br />By your actions over the past two weeks it is clear that you missed an important aspect of Civics 101: With rights come responsibilities. You certainly have the right to voice your opinion against the war in Iraq and the President's policies. You even have the right to camp outside the<br />President's home in Crawford and demand he meet with you. Your status as a mother who has lost a child in the war also gives your words and actions a credibility and a larger audience than otherwise would be the case. Now that your supporters have given you a broad forum from which to be heard, making you a national figure, its time you considered your responsibilities to all<br />of us. I have a daughter set to deploy to Fallujah in two weeks and I have a serious concern with how your irresponsible and short sighted actions might impact on her. She is, after all, a volunteer, like your son, and she is going in harm's way because she believes it is her responsibility to protect your rights and freedoms.<br /><br />Well meaning people like you always seem to forget the law of unintended consequences and in your vanity and arrogant self-righteousness never bother to think through what it is you are trying to do versus what you may actually accomplish. I am here to inform you, Ma'am, that you will not<br />change the policy of our government by sitting outside Crawford making a spectacle of yourself in the name of your rights to free speech; what you will do is provide more propaganda for our enemies and cost the lives of even more brave and selfless American warriors.<br /><br /><br />How long do you think it will be before you become a star on Al Jazeera? For all I know, it may have already happened. One thing is certain, though, and that is that your actions and words will further embolden a ruthless and evil enemy and more American blood will be shed and some of it will be on your hands. I pray that my daughter will not be one of them. If she is, then I will hold you and those like you partly responsible. Yes, my daughter's fate will depend mostly on her own courageous decision to serve, but only the most naive among us can deny the impact our own words and actions here in America have in a world grown smaller by the revolution in communications technology.<br /><br />I am sure you believe that you are serving some great cause by putting our servicemen and women in more danger and that you can, by your irresponsible exercise of free speech, help end a policy you disagree with. Your emotion may be compelling but the reality is that you will not set in motion any process that will change or undo what has been done. The war will go on because to end it now would dishonor the sacrifice of all of our fellow countrymen who have died in the cause of fighting terrorism. Rational Americans will not allow that. Too much is at stake. Unfortunately, shallow and irrational ones, such as yourself, will continue to put the lives of our sons and daughters in danger by aiding and abetting an enemy who sees propagandizing in the mass media as its main weapon in a war it could otherwise not win standing on its own wretched and evil justification of radical Islam, or by force of arms. You, Ma'am, have joined forces with an<br />evil you neither understand nor apparently have tried to comprehend. You direct your anger toward our country while the enemy plots to kill and maim the innocent. You make a mockery of responsible free speech while thousands of young men and women fight desperately to preserve your safety. Instead of honoring your son's sacrifice you are inspired to comfort an evil enemy.<br /><br />You clearly do not understand the challenge we face as a nation and have not tried to put it in historical perspective. It is a sad fact that it is those of your thinking that have led us to where we are today. Decades of appeasement to these haters of everything we hold dear has cost thousands of American lives from Beirut to New York and in dozens of other forgotten places. Remember Lockerbie? The Achille Lauro? The USS Cole? We as a people were dragged into this war, much like December 7th, 1941, and we must fight and win it wherever the enemy hides and against whomever would support him. Make no mistake about Iraq. It is both a legitimate and crucial campaign in this much larger, global war of radical Islam's making. These people hate us for who we are, not what we have done. We did not bring this on ourselves, as many would have us believe, by our policies and actions abroad. We brought this on ourselves in 1775 when the Founding Fathers embarked on a course of freedom, tolerance, and liberal democratic and social ideals.<br />These haters of all we hold dear strive to destroy forever a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" that Abraham Lincoln hoped would never "Perish from the earth". They would replace it with an oppressive world theocracy unlike anything modern history has ever seen for its ruthless disregard for personal freedom and liberty. If more appeasement is your answer for an alternative policy, spare us. We have suffered enough from cowardice and inaction.<br /><br />An historical analogy screams to be let out here. It is one of two men, both named Chamberlain. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a school teacher turned soldier in the American Civil War, found himself in the crosshairs of history on a warm July day in 1863 on a small hill in Pennsylvania.<br />Commanding the 20th Maine Regiment on the extreme Union left at Gettysburg he was in a most perilous position. Should he fail to hold against a strong Confederate attack, the Union could be lost. You see, he was serving in an increasingly unpopular war at home against a resurgent enemy, and for a President fighting for his political life. Colonel Chamberlain, stoic but determined, refused to yield. His small regiment held against an onslaught of Confederate attacks, an action many historians believe turned the tide of the war. He was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. The other half of this analogy focuses on Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of Great<br />Britain in the years preceding World War II. His story is widely known. Through his policy of appeasement and a lack of moral courage, he handed Adolf Hitler much of Europe. Which side of history have you chosen, Ma'am?<br /><br />Your son died in the service of freedom and my daughter will go in harm's way to protect and preserve it. Honor their sacrifice, Ma'am, by exercising it responsibly.<br /><br />I will pray with you and I will grieve with you but I will not stand by silent while you needlessly and arrogantly endanger the life of my daughter and her comrades in arms. Please bless us with your silence and go home.<br /><br />Brantley Smith<br />Proud father of a United States Marine<br />Tullahoma, TN
 

timfromfc

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Well said!!! May God keep your daughter (and all our soldiers) safe while they risk their lives for us!
 

SS MAYFLOAT

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

DJ, sure seems like there has been a lot of reading on some long posts lately. But I have to say thanks for this post. Yeah, it was a bit long but well worth the reading. <br /><br />I wish more people could understand what this Marines father is pointing out. Thanks again for an uplifting post DJ..... :D
 

TELMANMN

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

May your son come back unscathed. <br /> Your reasoning is flawed but you and the mother of Sheehan may God Bless. <br /> Semper Fi can be used for good or bad. I use Semper Fi only in the good way for you and your son. (Not a Marine, only a draftee years ago) but may God Bless.
 

ErikDC

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

DJ, God Bless you and your family, please thank your daughter for her service. Good luck with your open letter, with the likes of Sheehan, it will probably fall on deaf ears. I appreciate it, tho.
 

Kenneth Brown

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

uh, its not DJ's daughter guys.
 
D

DJ

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Kenneth,<br /><br />You got that correct. :rolleyes: Good for you. You have NO idea of my family situation, and I'll keep it that way.<br /><br />My sentiments remain the same, for the author.
 

ErikDC

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Sorry, I don't know what DJ's real name is. I guess that wasn't his original post, huh?
 

ErikDC

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Sorry, I don't know what DJ's real name is. I guess that wasn't his original post, huh? :eek: I guess the 'Posted on August 17, 2005' should have been a clue. I feel stupid.
 
D

DJ

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Erik,<br /><br />It was NOT my original post. It was C&P, from a freind.<br /><br />However, it was quite representative of a majority of Americans. Me included.<br /><br />Be well.
 

ErikDC

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Well, nevertheless, I agree with your friends sentiments.
 

Ralph 123

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Do you think Cindy will now donate her Bus to disaster relief since the media and their allies have abandoned her?
 

ErikDC

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Only if she can find vegetable oil pumps to fuel the bus.
 
D

DJ

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Do you think Cindy will now donate her Bus to disaster relief since the media and their allies have abandoned her?<br /><br />
NOPE!
 

Kenneth Brown

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Originally posted by DJ:<br /> Kenneth,<br /><br />You got that correct. :rolleyes: Good for you. You have NO idea of my family situation, and I'll keep it that way.<br /><br />My sentiments remain the same, for the author.
I don't get it. Must you always be this way? I was simply stating a fact and you get pissed at me? :rolleyes: <br /><br /><br />As a side note I feel the same way as the author.
 
D

DJ

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Kenneth,<br /><br />Not P.O.'d at all. Just a misunderstanding that I wanted to get straight.<br /><br />No problem here. I may have misread/understood. No hard feelings? Right?
 

demsvmejm

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

I read most of DJ's C&P post and agreed with most and was heartened by the sympathy the author had. However I take exception with the assertion that our war in Iraq is legitimate. We went in under false pretenses. Known to be false then, and embarrassingly known to be false now. And ever notice the shift in priorities? Before we went in it was because SH had WMD's and we had to stop him. After it was proved that there were no WMD's all of a sudden the focus was on the human rights atrocities. To be fair those atrocities were mentioned a few times, but as a very minor point before the WMD fiasco. I don't care what good may have come out of our invasion, we went in for the wrong reasons, and the premises for those reasons have been proved to be false. And if indeed we invaded for national security purposes, why not Iran? That is a country proven to be steeped much deeper in radical Islam and terrorism than Iraq ever was. But baby bush had no interest in Iran, so we just brush them off. Documents leaked/released show that the bush administration was planning an invasion of Iraq well before September 11. So it does not take someone with a high intelligence level to understand that we invaded Iraq because baby bush wanted to. And that we do not invade Iran, for the exact same reasons used for invading Iraq, because baby bush has no interest in Iran. It is sad that the right doesn't have the ability to understand this. Or rather that the sheople can't dig their heads out of the red party's derriere long enough to see this.<br /><br />I respect our troops, I support our troops in that they are doing a job they were ordered to do. I also believe that we need to supply our troops with the tools and equipment to get that job done. But I do not support this war, or the idiot bush. I want our troops to get the job done, and come home, as quickly as possible. Does this mean I support an immediate or near future pull-out, NO. I would like to spend my tax dollars here at home, on our poor, on our schools, on training and equipping our police and firefighters, but we also need to finish the job our idiot-in-chief got us into. <br /><br />It all comes down to this, no matter how right the benefits and outcome, nothing started under the wrong pretenses or reasons is right or proper. Jsut as two wrongs don't make a right, neither does a wrong plus a right, it's still wrong.<br /><br />But then again, since the republican party wanted this war, the country is supposed to embrace it. The tide has shifted on that cruise, at least if the "liberal" media and polls are to be believed.
 

rogerwa

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

David your first assertion, as always is the case with this issue, is patently false. When you hang your allegations on a falsity the rest falls with it. Just like the Bush stole the election crap.<br /><br />I won't take the time to respond to this BS as it has already been done many times.<br /><br />The media IS liberal. look at how many are registered democrats. There is no need for "'s
 

imported_Curmudgeon

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

It's always someone's war with you people. Lincoln's war, or was that the War of Northern Agression, Roosevelts war, Truman's w .. uh, police action, Kenne ... uh, Johnson's war, Carter's wa .. opps, he turned the other cheek and let 'em rot, Clinto .. uh,oh, another police action. Now it's Baby Bush and the Republican's war! Waaa, waaa, some things never change!! :eek:
 

TELMANMN

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Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Re: A fathers letter to Ms. Sheehan

Suport our troops, not stupidity.
 
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