An Open Letter to
Cindy Sheehan From
the Proud Father of
a U.S. Marine
By Brantley Smith
Posted On August 17,
2005
Ms. Sheehan,
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
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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?
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.
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.
Brantley Smith
Proud father of a
United States
Marine
Tullahoma,
TN
email: usmcengr@aol.com
