It’s always hard to criticize the actions of a grieving mother when she’s speaking out against the war in which her son died. Grief can cause anyone to make angry claims. The support of radical ideas is not a newfound symptom of grief.

Cindy Sheehan, mother of a son who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq, is an example of one of these grief-stricken parents who have lost sight of the memories of their children. She has used her son’s death in the battle against the Bush administration. Instead of remembering her son as a hero, she dishonors him by questioning the mission for which he so honorably gave his life.

In July, a soldier I was deployed with committed suicide. Even after several months of civilian life, he had trouble controlling his flashbacks and nightmares. Post-combat Stress Disorder got the best of him.

His mother has since become involved with Sheehan via e-mail and has joined the anti-war regime that is becoming increasingly popular.

Much like Michael Moore, some of them have attacked the Army’s recruiting efforts. One implied coercive tactics – posters of young, robust men and women dressed as if they were headed to a sporting event – masked the possibility of going to war. War critics accuse the military of questionable recruiting practices even though no one is pressed into service in our all-volunteer military.

Apparently she didn’t see the obvious connection between soldiers and war. Surely she can recall Desert Storm, in which thousands of reserve and guard soldiers were deployed to liberate Kuwait.

The Sheehan gang claims “Bush lied,” as if weapons of mass destruction were the only reason for attacking Iraq. They seem to have forgotten the other reasons for going to war. More integral was a message to radical Islamic terrorists: if you attack the United States, we will not withdraw our presence in the gulf; we will expand it.

Sheehan and her supporters base their logic on a fallacy: if we were wrong about one thing, we must be wrong about the others. They also assume that because we have no proof of weapons of mass destruction, they never existed.

Reasons for such disent against the war might be explained by an illusion of a standstill or quagmire; The American death toll continues to rise and the insurgency seems to be self-sustaining.

In reality, insurgents have constantly been changing their tactics in an effort to find a way to defeat the U.S. military. From beheading contractors to attacking U.S. convoys, we have stayed the course – fighting, building an economy and training Iraqi soldiers – as insurgents are laid to rest by the hundreds.

It’s entirely possible the actions of the Sheehan and company are built on grief. Anger is a stage in the grieving process and will eventually subside. If they don’t eventually realize their actions, however, it will become evident that this is clearly a detestable attempt to exploit the deaths of American soldiers, including their own family members.

It’s tough to criticize a grieving mother, but it’s necessary to defend the image of a soldier’s service. Political dissent and grief are not excuses to exploit an honorable death.

– Aaron Gott is a sophomore in political science from South Amana.