Oceanic,
Casey Sheehan is heroic because he voluteered several times to fight when his nation asked him to. He was not drafted, he was not in it for the college money - acting shocked and angry when the military actually asked him to do what they were paying him for, Casey was in it because he believed that somethings were worth fighting for and, unfortunately, somethings were worth dying for.
What were these things that Casey believed in?
1. That Saddam Hussein was a direct and dangerous threat to the United States of America. When we went to war, the majority of nations in the world believed that Saddam either had WMD or the capability to make them. Casey believed that a terrible dictator with an extreme dislike of the United States of America and access to or the ability to get access to dangerous weapons that could kill millions needed to be stopped. And he believed that was worth fighting for, and dying for.
2. That even though we did not find stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction we did find thousands of pounds of yellowcake uranium, much of which was enriched, thousands of weapons provided to Iraq by France and Russia (during the supposed UN embargos - one more piece of evidence that these nations were not/are not our friends), we found millions of gallons of chemical weapons being smuggled in from Syria by terrorists heading towards the US Embassy in Lebanon...chemicals that Syria does not have the capability of making...Casey and thousands of others like him were and are fighting because of the report of the US Weapons Inspectors who published their reports that stated even though no WMD were found...it was obvious and apparent that Saddam maintained the capability to build them and the desire to do so. It was obvious that his intention was to placate the UN until the corupt organization looked the other way...and then to begin his weapons program anew. The head of the inspection team stated in his report that it was all the more obvious now that Saddam was a threat that needed to be removed.
3. Casey was fighting for the people of Iraq, for the majority of a nation that was being led by an oppresive minority who did not give them a say, who put their children into prisons because of their parents political beliefs, who fed political dissedents to doberman pincers, who put people feet first into plastic shreaders, who cut off peoples hands while singing "Happy Birthday, Saddam." He and others like him felt that fighting for people to have the right to choose a government that best represented them was worth it, even if it turned out that the government they chose didn't look just like ours.
4. He was fighting for an ideal. For the idea that in order to defeat terrorism forever it isn't enough to capture Osama bin Laden or al Zarquawi...they are simply the most prominent figures of a huge, longstanding problem. He was fighting for the idea that if we help people defeat the terroristic rulers that are oppressing them, help them establish a nation that will help them grow and thrive...that they will have a better choice for their lives other than to blow themselves up on a bus in Israel or London...or in a plane in New York. An he was fighting for the hope that with a stable government of the people thriving in Iraq, a very central nation in the middle east the idea of freedom and self-agency would spread to the more dangerous nations around it like Syria and Iran (and as we are already seeing in Libya, Egypt, and Lebanon) WITHOUT the United States having to invade those nations.
He was fighting so that you don't have to, Oceana, so that you and I can sit here and type away about freedom and war and dying soldiers expressing whatever crazy opinions we may have...without fear of reprisal from our government, without fear of our loved ones disappearing in the middle of the night...without the fear of our feet being caned when we say that we hate George W. Bush...
No, fighting for our freedoms and way of life were not direct reasons to go to Iraq...but EVERY TIME an American chooses to join the military and fight for our nation that is what they are doing. They are saying:
"I accept the responsibility to pick up arms and answer the call of our President. I accept that I might be sent to a nation far away from my loved ones, for a cause that hopefully, I believe in. But even if I don't, I will go and fight with all my heart. Helping good and innocent people when I can, defeating evil and dangerous people whenever possible. I will do this so you don't have to, so you can stay at home and enjoy the freedoms that I am willing to risk giving up by putting my life on the line. I will do this so that America knows that there will always be men and women who will be willing to fight for people all over the world who need us and to protect the freedoms of the people we love at home."
Is that melodramatic? Maybe. Overthetop? Perhaps. But when you decide that you will answer the call of a President and a Congress you have never met, putting your life on the line, leaving your family and friends behind you have to believe in something. And these men and women, and most definetly Casey was one of them, believe in what they were fighting for: The people of Iraq, the safety and security of the American people, the dream that one day the thought of someone blowing up a bus full of children, a building full of husbands and wives, sons, daughters, a subway full of moms and dads...will all be unbelievable...like a terrible dream.
This is what Casey fought and died for. And if that isn't heroic...than I don't know what is.
