Cindy's cause inspired my letter to the editor:
When Cindy Sheehan lost her son Casey to an unnecessary war, she turned grief into action to help prevent other needless deaths--a truly noble cause.
We have Megan's Law and the Amber Alert to protect our children; I propose a Casey Doctrine, requiring a national vote and a mandatory draft before U.S. troops can be ordered into combat. This law might help insure that our young men and women are never sent to kill and be killed unless we are directly threatened and all nonmilitary options have been exhausted.
Casey Sheehan was willing to die to defend America, but he died for a pack of lies. Invading Iraq may turn out to be the worst foreign policy tragedy in our history; we must do everything possible to see that such a nightmarish blunder is never committed again.
We owe it to Casey.
The Christian Science Monitor and
The Waco Tribune-Herald have printed portions of it. A friend forwarded my letter to Cindy, and this was Cindy's response:
Dear Chris, I love the Casey Doctrine. It is making me cry for hope and joy. Love and peace soon, Cindy
I don't know if this should be a "doctrine" or a "resolution" or if it would require amending the Constitution. I do know that it might seem naive and far-fetched, and it certainly doesn't stand a chance with our current Congress, but a draft would change a lot of minds about this war, and we obviously need a more stringent process to make sure that our children are never again sent to die so that a pathetic excuse for a human being can act out his Oedipus complex and preen and strut as a "war president." What do y'all think?