Baroud on Sheehan
Ramzy Baroud (editor of The Palestinian Chronicle and researcher for Aljazeera.net English has written a piece on Cindy Sheehan entitled She speaks for all of us:
While the clichéd understanding of the media’s role in the US is that it is an open, unhindered and evenly representative forum, the sad, albeit unsurprising truth is that the US mainstream media has always been a one-sided, drum-beating, chest-pounding, war-mongering medium
Somehow, I don’t think he’s ever read the New York Times.
What’s also remarkable is his attitude towards Sheehan - the “ordinary woman”:
while some champions of the anti-war movement are incapable of articulating a decisive and uncompromising agenda on ending the war in Iraq, Sheehan, this ordinary woman with a small tent, a few sandwiches and a cell phone has proven more unshakable than anti-war groups who claim tens of thousands of members. “We’re over there and we need to come home,” she told reporters on August 16. She contested the claim that ‘leaving Iraq in chaos’ is a non-option. “We need to let the Iraqi people handle their own business,” she said, arguing, according to Salon.com that “the US presence is the source of all violence there.”
Sheehan has been part of the anti-war movement for quite some time - a fact that is easily verified with a simple Google search. While she may have been “ordinary” a couple of years ago, she is now a part of a political movement.
My heart goes out to Sheehan for her loss, however, she does not speak for all Americans, nor all parents of those killed in action. For Baroud to portray her as such is just as biased as the media he tries to paint with broad strokes.
