The Noble Cause

Cindy Sheehan is a brave woman.

She continues to question George Bush about his statements regarding the war and its justification.

Last Saturday she went to President Bush's ranch in Texas to ask him to clarify a statement he made recently that those who have died in Iraq - including her son - have died for "a noble cause."

She wanted to know which part of it was noble. Was it the destruction of order, infrastructure, water delivery systems, economy and society so that there is no power, water or jobs?

Was it putting the educated in Iraq out of work so they would have no choice but to join the Iraqi guard if they want to feed their families?

Was it the killing of over 100,000 Iraqi civilians, many of them children?

Perhaps it is the fact that over 25% of Iraq's children are now starving, they are so severely malnourished.

Could it be the crippling of over 40,000 American service men and women?

Or maybe the nobility comes in tearing the hearts out of those Americans who have lost their children to this war?

Was it defying the U.N. and the world and attacking a nation that had not attacked us?

Was it creating chaos so terrorism and civil war would flourish in Iraq?

As Harold Meyerson wrote in The Washington Post on 6/22/05 "More than two years after Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled, the drive from downtown Baghdad to the airport is still a crapshoot with death."

Or does it lie in the disappearance of six billion dollars of Iraq's oil which many suspect was siphoned off to American interests?

Except to the psychopath, none of these consequences can be considered worth the price of going to war.

Thus it enrages Cindy Sheehan and she grieves over the fact, even as she grieves over the loss of her son, that there was never a noble cause, but lies and political agendas that took us to war and took her son.

When interviewed, she says anger fuels her, but it seems like something more, like a holy anger from a normally loving God who knows that we, as a nation, have committed a great atrocity by invading Iraq and wreaking so much havoc.

For the United States was founded by spiritual men who brought her into existence to fulfill a noble destiny - to honor the human spirit.

Unfortunately, that idea of having a noble purpose has turned into an arrogant superiority that says anything we do - no matter how destructive - is part of that noble cause.

And this is the drum that this President and his advisors are beating, for their own ends.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Honesty and dedication to speaking out against the lie that killing other people is ever noble is desperately needed if we are ever to get back on track.

Clarity about the difference between fighting back when you are invaded - versus invading another country on falsified reports of having weapons - is desperately needed if America ever hopes to get back on her divine path.

A spiritual thread from our founding fathers is running through Cindy Sheehan.

For our flag is tainted, as she so eloquently has said, and our nation deeply divided.

The suffering she and so many have gone through - and are going through - is brushed under the rug and stamped with a happy face.

We cannot go on like this. The truth must out, we must withdraw as the Iraqis want and we must turn to peace.

Remember, Germany considered herself a Christian nation when she made her plans for the ovens and invaded Austria with intentions of conquering the world.

Calling oneself a Christian does not make it so. Only attempting to "walk the talk" of following the path of Christ accomplishes that.

The true noble cause, as he told us in Luke 6:35-37, is pursuing the path of peace.

But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.

Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.

Nothing less will return us to our true noble cause.