Is this any way to honor the war dead ?

Question

Here's an excerpt from an article concerning the widow of Sgt Patrick Stewart.

quote from article ----------------------------------------
CARSON CITY -- When President Bush took time Tuesday to meet family members of some of the fallen soldiers from Northern Nevada, a woman whose husband made the ultimate sacrifice was notably absent.

Roberta Stewart of Fernley, who lost her husband, Sgt. Patrick Stewart, when the helicopter he was in was shot down in Afghanistan in September 2005, said she was not invited to the meeting that followed Bush's speech to the American Legion's national convention in Reno.

Other members of the Stewart family were invited to the brief, private meeting, including her husband's parents and brother, as were family members of others who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Stewart said her in-laws were contacted by the White House last week in advance of the visit by Bush to Reno. But she received no call or e-mail extending an invitation.
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http://www.lvrj.com/news/9441071.html

Here is a link to the article.

Do you think it was rude to exclude the widow from a meeting where other family members of the fallen soldier were invited ?

Do you think this honors or dishonors Sgt Patrick Stewart.

Or do you think Bush was correct to invite the deceased parents & sibling but to exclude the widow ?

Actually, I meant to put this in the Religion & Sprirituality section, how ironic that I accidently put it in the military section.

Bushonlysubma -

Did you read the article, you answer makes no sense. The Wiccan soldier is DEAD so he isn't criticising anyone. Other family members of his were invited, but his OWN WIFE was snubbed. Other soldiers who were killed in the SAME incident, their families were invited. Bush SNUBBED this woman due to her faith. Does the honor or dishonor Sgt Patrick Stewart, to have the commander in chief meet with his family, but deliberately snub his wife. Would YOU want to be honored that way ?

Uncle Derk --

Perhaps the VA should have thought about unfavorable reactions of war widows, when they denied them symbols of their faith for their deceased husbands. The VA has treated Wiccans and their family very poorly over the past ten years. You seem to think that the VA should CONTINUE to treat them poorly.

Stone K - I don't buy your "SNAFU" theory, our commander in chief has the same contempt for her religion as you do. The VA denied Wiccans a symbol of their faith on their gravestones for nearly a decade, while giving Christians several emlems to choose from, as well as emblems for various other non-Christians beliefs, including atheism. What right would her in-laws have to demand that the president exclude her ?

This snub is clearly based on Bush's contempt for her religion, the same contempt that drove the VA to ban Wiccan pentagrams as grave markers, the same contempt that drove Bush to declare that Wicca isn't a real religion, and that Wiccans in the military should not enjoy their constitutional free excercise of their religion.

Answer 1

i think it was rude to say the least...His wife should have been allowed to be there and should have gotten a call from the white house herself,,,,unfortunately the president must have been taking a nap when the calls were made....

Answer 2

Clearly, she had already 'made waves' and the President's handlers presumably wanted to avoid any controversy that might come from the meeting - and whatever she might have said about it to the press afterwards. The stuff of politics.

Wicca's history as an accepted religion is pretty short. Though it's a revival of ancient european paganism, it's short on authentic detail. Much of it's traditions are drawn from the 19th century Druid revival (which was almost entirely made up from whole cloth at the time), and from Crowley, who was not a pagan, but a Mason (and an inveterate fabricator, as well). Wicca doesn't get a lot of respect, both because it draws upon traditions that were once thought of as 'witchcraft' - and because it doesn't have much well-documented tradition to draw from.

It's actually a pretty reasonable belief system, though - and not at all cultish, unlike many other modern made-up or revived religions, like Scientology, many splinter versions of Christianity, and so forth.

Answer 3

Or it could have been, in military terms, a SNAFU.

I highly doubt any one was intentionally excluded. Also the President is not responsible for the people invited to hear him speak or to meet him. he usually has a press agent who handles that.

So if some one dropped the ball it was who ever planed the event.

Also the "Wicca" faith, is not a real religion... It is a novelty set up by some one who took idea from true nature worshiping societies and slapped them together to make a "religion".

Most true Nature worshiping religions were all but wiped out during the medieval periods and the only ones to survive were the ones found in the Americas, none of which are the basis for the Wicca faith.

But I am getting away from my point.

If she was not invited it was a mistake or it was at the behest of her in-laws. She can whine and moan about people not accepting her "Religion" but it doesn't. the very fact she is using this as an opportunity to claim she is a victim of religious persecuting just shows she is just trying to grab sympathy points.

ADD ON: you confuse contempt with a real world understanding of facts.

I am a student of history and I was learning about world religions as a child. I understand exactly where the idea of "wicca" comes from, so please don't lay a contempt card on me. In fact the only person who seems to have contempt for others is you and your contempt for anyone who thinks that joke of a "religion" is anyhting but a phony created for people who who felt like they could not fit in any where else.

Wicca uses a bunch of contrived ceremonies for a number of gods that we no longer understand. it is based on an "old faith" when in reality the religion it is based on has been dead for almost a thousand years and left no written information on it's ceremonies.

I was makeing an un-biased fact based observation. you are the only one putting your blind hate an emotions in to the argument.

Some people just want to be victims...

Sad...

Answer 4

They placed on a similar situation, a purple poppy which you could purchase from the VFW, Veterans of remote places conflict. You used to make sure them lots, yet i haven't seen them in a whilst. The final time I observed anybody purchase one, it grew to become into my husband and we've been on a protection rigidity base at fortress Hood, Texas. I remember seeing them as a newborn, however.

Answer 5

Perhaps the family thought the widow would pull a "Cindy Shehan" and dis-respect the occasion. I'm sure they had their reasons. Usually a widow is given the flag which draped the coffin...maybe she spat on it and refused it...who knows.
There is much to this story we do not know...

Answer 6

Respect the war dead by making the phrase 'war dead' a thing of the past. Learn from battles as to not repeat them.

Answer 7

No. Our President Bush already thanked them 1,000 times in advance. They should quietly go away and just shut the hell up.
There will be retribution for these "soldiers" who are criticizing our President Bush!

Answer 8

to remember the sacrifice they made and not to take your freedom for granted.

Answer 9

I don't know...what's her party affiliation? Probably not Republican.

Answer 10

no