At first, the Junta bet that no one would care. In 1977, however, when the crowds began to grow, and murmurs began to get louder, the Junta acted: Three mothers were abducted and became victims of the same clandestine kidnappings and murder that had taken their children.
As is usually the case, it wasn't until the economy began to collapse, and inflation reached 900%, that those who were seemingly unaffected by the rape of their fellow Argentines' civil liberties began to wake up.
The madres de la Plaza de Mayo - the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo - through their persistence, their maternal instinct - their unequivocal universal truth - exposed the murderous campaign that the Argentine government had waged against its own people - and they toppled the government.
What Cindy Sheehan is doing in Crawford, Texas is no less significant. Mrs. Sheehan is only the first. Others must follow if we hope to make sense of what a majority of Americans now consider to be senseless killings in Iraq.
The president may continue to ignore Cindy Sheehan. He may even have her arrested - as has been rumored - as a threat to national security. But there will be more Cindy Sheehans. And - just as in Argentina - truth will prevail.
George Henson unpoetaloco@yahoo.com Dallas, Texas
As is usually the case, it wasn't until the economy began to collapse, and inflation reached 900%, that those who were seemingly unaffected by the rape of their fellow Argentines' civil liberties began to wake up.
The madres de la Plaza de Mayo - the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo - through their persistence, their maternal instinct - their unequivocal universal truth - exposed the murderous campaign that the Argentine government had waged against its own people - and they toppled the government.
What Cindy Sheehan is doing in Crawford, Texas is no less significant. Mrs. Sheehan is only the first. Others must follow if we hope to make sense of what a majority of Americans now consider to be senseless killings in Iraq.
George Henson unpoetaloco@yahoo.com Dallas, Texas
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