M a r k D i l l e y

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t r u t h o u t || Mother of Fallen Soldier Responds to Iraq Withdrawal Debate

"For the last several days, there has been a running debate on this page about how and when the United States should withdraw from Iraq. It began with a post of mine asking FYI forum members to come up with a plan to do this, as everyone appears to be in agreement that leaving Iraq is something that must happen.

The second thread came as a response to an Anti-War.com post that bluntly and appropriately questioned my candlepower on this issue. My reply was an attempt to lay out the wide, varied and multifaceted problems inherent in an immediate withdrawal that cannot be ignored. I sure don't have all the answers on this, and I probably never will, but I did my best to lay out the issues as I understand them.

Yesterday afternoon, I received a letter from Cindy Sheehan, co-founder of Gold Star Families For Peace and mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, who was killed in Baghdad on April 4th, 2004. He was 24 years old.

Beyond being an unassailable voice of moral strength and brutally-won wisdom on this matter, Cindy Sheehan brings an absolutely necessary perspective to this conversation. It is the curse of policy and issues analysts everywhere: We dig into the facts and theories and possibilities and potential ramifications of this or that, and sometimes get away from the flesh-and-bone realities of what we are dealing with.

Casey Austin Sheehan was a man, alive and well, and now he is gone because of this war. I am ashamed that I needed to be slapped across the head to remember this, but I am glad for it as well. I needed it, and perhaps some FYI readers needed it, too.

Cindy Sheehan was kind enough to allow me to reprint her letter here" which I have. My response to her words is below the letter"