Mother vs. Mother

I didn't see this because I as at Church and then the lake this morning, but here is a debate on Fox News Sunday today, between two mothers who both lost 19 year old sons in Iraq. As is the norm with Fox News, one mother supports the war and the other does not. It is a very interesting debate.

Here is a bit:

We're joined now by two mothers whose sons, when they were both just 19, were killed in Iraq. They now have very different views about the war that the U.S. is waging. Rhonda Winfield's son, Marine Lance Corporal Jason Redifer, died this January, just one week before his tour was up. Rhonda supports the president's policies.

Barbara Porchia's son, Army Reservist Private First Class Jonathan Cheatham, was killed in July of 2003. She says it's time to start pulling out our troops.

Thank you both for joining us today, and we are very sorry for both of your losses.

BARBARA PORCHIA: Thank you.

RHONDA WINFIELD: Thank you.

WALLACE: Let's start with your sons. Both of them enlisted in the service. Barbara, you say that Jonathan died for what he believed to be right. Does that make it tougher now for you to oppose the war?

PORCHIA: Jonathan died because when we were -- we started the war. We were told that there were weapons of mass construction (search), imminent threat and connection to 9/11. He joined the military right after 9/11, and he said, "Mom, I want to do something to protect our country."

But as time went on, I looked at the weapons of mass destruction, imminent threat and connection to 9/11. Those things all panned out not to be true. And that is when you look at it and you say what are we really over there for if those things are not true.

Even faced with the truth, Porchia will not admit that her son voluntarily joined the military and believed in the military's mission. He believed what he and his fellow soldiers were doing was right. Isn't this typical of liberals? The truth hits them in the face, but they continue to prevaricate.

WALLACE: Rhonda, let me turn to you. As the casualties of more American troops mount, as Iraqis haggle over the constitution, no doubts at all about staying the course in Iraq, no doubts at all about more mothers sending more sons and daughters to fight there?

WINFIELD: Absolutely no doubts. And I don't say that because my son is gone and can't come back. I have an older son who is in the Army and is still serving and will possibly go as well. We have to be here. We cannot simply stay here and wait for them to come to our shores. We were attacked. Our citizens were murdered on September 11th, and waiting for the next move was not an option.

Absolutely right. Would the Cindy Sheehans and Barbara Porchias of the world rather that all their children died in the streets of the United States? That's what will happen if men like their sons do not volunteer to go fight and, if necessary, die over there.

WALLACE: Barbara, let's talk about the other mothers and other sons. Is it fair to them to see folks back home protesting, raising questions about whether it's worth risking their lives?

PORCHIA: The way I look that is all parents -- we love our kids. We love our children dearly. And when we send our children off, I think that we should understand what we're sending our children off for.

Since we don't have weapons of mass destruction, imminent threat or connection to 9/11, and our president's now saying that our soldiers are bringing democracy to Iraq and that our soldiers are dying for a noble cause, I wish he could just explain to us what the noble cause is, so as mothers send their children off they could tell their children what they're so proud of them for, you know, doing and explain to them what they're actually over there for.

My thing now is why are we fighting this war? And if we're fighting terrorists, we were fighting terrorists in Iraq -- I mean in Afghanistan. So why did we go to Iraq to fight terrorists? Osama bin Laden, which caused 9/11, was in Afghanistan, so why did we choose to go to Iraq?

I think that's a question that I would have and I think a lot of other mothers -- and I don't think that we are taking the morale down of the troops, because I think all of our troops understand that we love them and care for them dearly. We just want them, if they have got to be over there, to know what the reason is.(emphasis added)

Come on! What "noble cause" are we fighting for? FREEDOM!!! Freedom for the citizens of the United States and Iraq and Afghanistan and hopefully Iran, Lebanon, Syria, etc., etc., etc., until the end of the earth.

The soldiers, sailors, airment, and Marines know why they are fighting. They don't need their mommies to tell them. Apparently some of them need to tell their mommies what they are fighting for.

We have to fight the terrorists where ever they are: Afghanistan; Iraq; Syria; Saudi Arabia; Lackawanna, New York; Portland, Oregon; Florida; London, England; Australia, etc., etc., etc. The military and law enforcement have to fight the terrorists any way they can so that We the People don't end up fighting them on our own streets, in our own homes.

Liberals need to wake up and realize that these evil cowards don't care if someone is a citizen or a soldier. An American is an American and they want to kill all Americans. And the reason: we have freedom.

WALLACE: Rhonda, I know that's a big concern of yours, the question of the message -- if there's home front protest, the message that sends and, as Barbara brought up, the issue it has on morale. How do you answer her statements?

WINFIELD: I think not only is it devastating to our troops to see, as they go out every day, putting their lives on the line, watching their brothers and sisters fall for what they are so courageously fighting for, to think that there is dissension among the ranks back home.

They need to know that they are fully supported, fully believed in and fully engaged by all of our concerns. I just have to think that -- my son carried with him a simple stuffed animal that my younger children sent to him, and he wrote home and told us touching this was home, thinking of us sending this was home.

And he also called and told us about a letter that they received from someone at home, supposedly in support, until they called them all baby killers and murderers. I know what that did to my son that day. And I know when they're there and they hear what's going on here, they can't feel our support.

And not only is it just blatantly an insult to our troops, it says to the whole world that we cannot even unite as a country to defend the liberties that our children are fighting for.

Amen, Mrs. Winfield. The people who call our soldiers "baby killers and murderers" are despicable cowards who deserve to go live in the type of place Iraq was. Then they would see some baby killers and murderers. Perhaps these liberals should go visit the rape rooms, torture chambers, and mass graves Saddam and his cronies left behind. How dare they call our brave, wonderful, self-sacrificing men of the military such things. It makes me so angry.

Make sure you read the rest of the transcript here.