Just admit it!

The debate about Cindy Sheehan and her grief over the death of her son, Casey, in the war against Iraq has brought about a a new level of political discussion in our country. Even so, one core element of her protest is being ignored. One simple fact has not been addressed:

Bush believes that Cindy Sheehan's grief is acceptable.

Bush's belief in the war in Iraq is strong enough to allow him to accept the grief of Cindy Sheehan and every other family member who has lost a loved one in the war against Iraq. What is surprising in all of this discussion, is that Bush and his PR machine seem incapable of saying out loud what the rest of us recognize every day.

Bush has decided that the 10 or 20 Americans who will die today and tomorrow and the 50 or 100 Iraqis who will die today and tomorrow are acceptable losses in order to achieve his particular political goals.

In a way, this debate reminds me of the debate we have been having in this country about abortion. Personally, I am willing to accept that a woman's right to choose an abortion has, as a direct consequence, the grief that some people will experience over the death of a fetus. A certain percentage of my fellow citizens believe that a fetus has been murdered when a woman chooses to have an abortion. I am willing to accept their grief. My belief in a woman's right to control her own body is more important to me than the grief that a substantial number of anti-choice citizens might experience at the death of her fetus.

If the death of a fetus can become a topic of public discussion, how can we avoid talking about all the lives that have been snuffed out in the war against Iraq? How in the world can seeing the crosses lining a ditch in Crawford, Texas, and listening to the pain of family members be seen as inappropriate for a man who has deliberately chosen to risk the lives of so many people?

What Sheehan is doing, to the dismay of many, is showing that there are consequences to war.

The war in Iraq may not inconvenience the majority of American citizens. We are not living under rationing. We are not facing blackouts and air raids. We are not buying gas on alternate days based on a sticker attached to our personal vehicles.

But we are, every single day, spending the lives of our fellow citizens and the citizens of Iraq.

Cindy Sheehan's great sin is in making visible what has been hidden all these months and years. The deaths of over 1,800 U.S. soldiers has been invisible. The deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been invisible. The responsiblity for those deaths, which lays squarely in the hands of Bush and his administration, have been invisible.

Not any more. Cindy Sheehan and the other families of those who have died or been permanently disabled in the war against Iraq, are refusing to let us hide from the consequences of our decisions. We cannot cover up their pain with cinematic fictions about the glory of war. We cannot pretend that war is a struggle of the brave and pure against the evil and small-minded. We must accept that the reality of war is pain for so many people and so many families on all sides of the conflict.

For that honesty, Cindy Sheehan and the families who have come together in Texas deserve our support and respect.