Cindy Sheehan

Pro-Democracy Means Anti-Fascism

by Cindy Sheehan

www.zmag.org, September 30, 2007

Watching the pro-democracy marches in Burma both inspires and sickens me. I am inspired by seeing thousands of red-robed monks leading the demonstrations and sickened by the violence they are being met with by the military.

Seeing the images of the monks and others being beaten reminds me of the Democratic Convention in 1968 where Chicago police beat the living daylights out of demonstrators who were there to try and force the party to come closer to the budding anti-war movement. It didn't work. Instead of wonderful-pro-peace candidate, George McGovern, the party nominated Johnson's VP, Hubert Humphrey. We know what happened next: Nixon. After last night's Democratic "debate" I am terrified and assured that the Democrats will have another pro-war nominee.

The other event in my memory that the pro-democracy movement in Burma reminds me of is Kent State, Ohio in May, 1970. Four students were killed and nine were wounded marching against escalation of the Vietnam debacle.. I have heard from many people who were of age to protest the Vietnam war at that time that the killings had the affect of frightening them into not protesting, or scaling their protests back.

Of course the present state of our nation is not as overtly oppressive as the government of Myanmar (Burma), presently where a Nobel Peace Laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi has been under house arrest there for years, but we who have been paying attention to events can see that America is on the precipice of serious fascism and only the brave actions of Americans committed to freedom, democracy and peace will help stem the tide of this rising neo-fascism that doesn't march through our streets in goose-step and swastikas, but is creeping into our lives like cat's paws.

According to Chris Rowthorn, in his brilliant article, When America Went Fascist, we went fascist on December 11, 2000 when the Supreme Court appointed George as our unelected, un-democratic and illegal President. Although it is easy and tempting to blame everything on BushCo, this is about the only assertion that I disagree with in his article.

What about during the Clinton regime? Does anyone remember Elian Gonzales or The Branch Davidians in Waco? Let's go back further. What about when Truman dropped to WMD on hundreds of thousands of innocent victims in Japan? What about Korea? Eisenhower and the Military Industrial Complex? What about the Gulf of Tonkin? What about Watergate? What about Panama? Kosovo? Nicaragua? Free trade agreements that hurt workers in all countries that are involved in them and what about the abuse of language in this country: Patriot Act; Homeland Security; Clear Water and Clean Skies-and the No Child Left Behind Act that leaves every child behind and is just a funnel to the recruiter's office?

There are just a few measures that we can use to stop this slide and Rowthorn articulates what has become an important part of my platform. Only vote for candidates that promise the following thingsfor president, or any other federal elective offices:

* Repeal the Patriot Act_* Repeal No Child Left Behind_* Scale down the Department of Homeland Security and rename it so it loses its Nazi_tone and is brought under civilian control._* Restore habeas corpus and close all torture camps by repealing the Military Commissions' Act._* Repeal all contracts with paid mercenary killer companies._* Restore the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878._* Repeal all BushCo-Presidential directives (especially Directive 51) and review all laws that contain signing statements._* Restore the 4th Amendment by enforcing warrants for spying on Americans._* Impeach Bush and Cheney-post presidency so they can't receive federal benefits._* Bring all troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan and review military needs for other bases around the world._* Repeal all free trade agreements._* Kick AIPAC and other lobbyists out of the halls of Congress where they have no business.

One of the most profound ways we can stop this descent into fascism is by impeaching, removing from office and incarcerating George Bush and Dick Cheney, et al. I am very skeptical of a complicit Congress, Inc doing anything about them in this term. I am also very skeptical of a "professional" and fascist military leadership taking their oath of service seriously and above their corporate-military allegiance to the Executive Branch recently and so tellingly revealed by General Betray-Us, so a military coup is out of the question and has the tricky element of becoming a military dictatorship.

I was supposed to be in court today in Washington, DC for my last arrest. I didn't go because I am not under allegiance and repudiate the fascists that run our government and the enforcers who are doing their best Nazi-job of "following orders" in oppressing our rights as Americans.

Why are they beating up a Reverend who served in the Air Force, and honorably left after the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq, for wanting to attend a hearing in Congress?

Why are they arresting a Gold Star Mother for exercising the very freedoms for which George Bush freakishly says her son died?

Why are my daughter and assistant under indictment for Contempt of Congress when BushCo have steadily refused to testify before committees under oath, or any other way? As a matter of fact, Betray-Us wasn't even put under oath that day in the House.

Why are college students being tasered for asking the same questions that we all want answered from John Kerry who threw our Representative Republic in the garbage along with the 2004 election?

Why are nooses being hung in the South?

Why do any of us pay our Federal Taxes to a government that we abhor and which we adamantly disagree with? Why do we allow our hard earned money to be used for murder and oppression?

Why is Congress giving BushCo more authority to begin a New World War?

Where are religious leaders to lead us in pro-democracy demonstrations? Most of our mainstream religions suffer from the same neo-fascism that our governmental leaders suffer from.

Why do we march in DC on Saturdays and get arrested just to get arrested? It's time to descend on DC on a weekday and make commitments to our world and our posterity to over throw this fascism right now.

When can we have a country-wide massive general strike?

Recent reports show that Saddam made overtures to America through the UAE and Spain to go into exile weeks before the March, 2003 invasion of Iraq. Of course, the overtures were rejected because George's small mind was already made up to invade Iraq before he became president in some sick way to either show up or gain approval from a dysfunctional family. What if Spain's former President Aznar had spoken up then? What if Colin Powell, George Tenet, or any of the criminal neocons had spoken up to prevent this horrible loss of life and pain before it even started?

I wouldn't be under a bench warrant right now. Rev wouldn't be recovering from a badly sprained ankle. Casey would be alive and hundreds of thousands of others would be alive.

We can't count on anyone but ourselves. It's now up to we the people to follow the example of our brothers and sisters in Burma to courageously confront the anti-democracy/pro-fascist elements of our society.

*****

An Open Letter to the Democratic Congress

Why I Am Leaving the Democratic Party

by Cindy Sheehan, CounterPunch

http://www.zmag.org/content/, May 28, 2007

(May 28) Dublin, Ireland

Dear Democratic Congress,

Hello, my name is Cindy Sheehan and my son Casey Sheehan was killed on April 04, 2004 in Sadr City , Baghdad , Iraq . He was killed when the Republicans still were in control of Congress. Naively, I set off on my tireless campaign calling on Congress to rescind George's authority to wage his war of terror while asking him "for what noble cause" did Casey and thousands of other have to die. Now, with Democrats in control of Congress, I have lost my optimistic naiveté and have become cynically pessimistic as I see you all caving into "Mr. 28%"

There is absolutely no sane or defensible reason for you to hand Bloody King George more money to condemn more of our brave, tired, and damaged soldiers and the people of Iraq to more death and carnage. You think giving him more money is politically expedient, but it is a moral abomination and every second the occupation of Iraq endures, you all have more blood on your hands.

Ms. Pelosi, Speaker of the House, said after George signed the new weak as a newborn baby funding authorization bill: "Now, I think the president's policy will begin to unravel." Begin to unravel? How many more of our children will have to be killed and how much more of Iraq will have to be demolished before you all think enough unraveling has occurred? How many more crimes will BushCo be allowed to commit while their poll numbers are crumbling before you all gain the political "courage" to hold them accountable. If Iraq hasn't unraveled in Ms. Pelosi's mind, what will it take? With almost 700,000 Iraqis dead and four million refugees (which the US refuses to admit) how could it get worse? Well, it is getting worse and it can get much worse thanks to your complicity.

Being cynically pessimistic, it seems to me that this new vote to extend the war until the end of September, (and let's face it, on October 1st, you will give him more money after some more theatrics, which you think are fooling the anti-war faction of your party) will feed right into the presidential primary season and you believe that if you just hang on until then, the Democrats will be able to re-take the White House. Didn't you see how "well" that worked for John Kerry in 2004 when he played the politics of careful fence sitting and pandering? The American electorate are getting disgusted with weaklings who blow where the wind takes them while frittering away our precious lifeblood and borrowing money from our new owners, the Chinese.

I knew having a Democratic Congress would make no difference in grassroots action. That's why we went to DC when you all were sworn in to tell you that we wanted the troops back from Iraq and BushCo held accountable while you pushed for ethics reform which is quite a hoot...don't' you think? We all know that it is affordable for you all to play this game of political mayhem because you have no children in harm's way...let me tell you what it is like:

You watch your reluctant soldier march off to a war that neither you nor he agrees with. Once your soldier leaves the country all you can do is worry. You lie awake at night staring at the moon wondering if today will be the day that you get that dreaded knock on your door. You can't concentrate, you can't eat, and your entire life becomes consumed with apprehension while you are waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Then, when your worst fears are realized, you begin a life of constant pain, regret, and longing. Everyday is hard, but then you come up on "special" days...like upcoming Memorial Day. Memorial Day holds double pain for me because, not only are we supposed to honor our fallen troops, but Casey was born on Memorial Day in 1979. It used to be a day of celebration for us and now it is a day of despair. Our needlessly killed soldiers of this war and the past conflict in Vietnam have all left an unnecessary trail of sorrow and deep holes of absence that will never be filled.

So, Democratic Congress, with the current daily death toll of 3.72 troops per day, you have condemned 473 more to these early graves. 473 more lives wasted for your political greed: Thousands of broken hearts because of your cowardice and avarice. How can you even go to sleep at night or look at yourselves in a mirror? How do you put behind you the screaming mothers on both sides of the conflict? How does the agony you have created escape you? It will never escape me...I can't run far enough or hide well enough to get away from it.

By the end of September, we will be about 80 troops short of another bloody milestone: 4000, and MoveOn.org will hold nationwide candlelight vigils and you all will be busy passing legislation that will snuff the lights out of thousands more human beings.

Congratulations Congress, you have bought yourself a few more months of an illegal and immoral bloodbath. And you know you mean to continue it indefinitely so "other presidents" can solve the horrid problem BushCo forced our world into.

It used to be George Bush's war. You could have ended it honorably. Now it is yours and you all will descend into calumnious history with BushCo.

The Camp Casey Peace Institute is calling all citizens who are as disgusted as we are with you all to join us in Philadelphia on July 4th to try and figure a way out of this "two" party system that is bought and paid for by the war machine which has a stranglehold on every aspect of our lives. As for myself, I am leaving the Democratic Party. You have completely failed those who put you in power to change the direction our country is heading. We did not elect you to help sink our ship of state but to guide it to safe harbor.

We do not condone our government's violent meddling in sovereign countries and we condemn the continued murderous occupation of Iraq .

We gave you a chance, you betrayed us.

Sincerely,_Cindy Sheehan_Founder and President of_Gold Star Families for Peace.

Founder and Director of_The Camp Casey Peace Institute

Eternally grieving mother of Casey Sheehan

***

"Good Riddance Attention Whore"

by CindySheehan

http://www.dailykos.com/, May 28, 2007 at 09:57:01 AM PDT

I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.

0. CindySheehan's diary :: ::
0.
I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.

The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?

However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong."

I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don't find alternatives to this corrupt "two" party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don't see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person's heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?

I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an "attention whore" then I really need to be committed. I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither. If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others. I have spent every available cent I got from the money a "grateful" country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey's brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings. I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.

The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.

I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won't work with that group; he won't attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.

Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people. However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children's children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system. George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.

I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble.

Camp Casey has served its purpose. It's for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford , Texas ? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too...which makes the property even more valuable.

This is my resignation letter as the "face" of the American anti-war movement. This is not my "Checkers" moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.

Good-bye America ...you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it.

It's up to you now.

***

Cindy Sheehan interviewed by David Barsamian

The Progressive magazine, March 2006

"I will never, ever forget the night of April 4, 2004, when I found out my son Casey had been killed in Iraq," Cindy Sheehan recalls. "I will also never forget the day when we buried my sweet boy, my oldest son. If I live to be. a very old lady and forget everything else, I will never forget when the general handed me the folded flag that had lain on his coffin, as his brother and sisters, standing behind me, sobbed."

The first thing that strikes you about Cindy Sheehan is she is genuine. There is no artifice, power play, or lexical wizardry. She is without affectation. And that has enabled her to make an impact. She has reached beyond intellectual formulations to get to the heart of the matter.

Her August vigil at Bush's Texas ranch rejuvenated a somewhat moribund peace movement. People in the thousands drove to Crawford in solidarity. Hundreds of Camp Caseys sprang up all over the country.

Evoking Gandhi, she says, "In 2005, we learned at we have the power. We learned that can't rely on the propaganda media or the empty promises of most of our elected leadership. We learned that we need to be the change that we desire to be."

She has no faith in some of the leading Democrats. "We are holding such Republicans in Democratic clothing like Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, Joe Biden, and Dianne Feinstein accountable for their support of what George is doing in Iraq," she says, as her voice rises. "When we as Democrats elect our leaders we expect them to reject and loudly repudiate the murderous and corrupt policies of the Administration-not support and defend them." She is considering a run for the Senate against Feinstein.

The right wing has tried to pillory her with the perfunctory anti-American, anti-Israel charges.

And in her case they have taken it a bit further. Bill O'Reilly said, "She's run by far-left elements who are (using her, and she's dumb enough to allow it to happen."

But she is very much her own woman, and she feels deeply and personally about the Iraq War. Sheehan speaks at protests around the country (she was arrested in front of the White House on September 26) and around the world (she was a keynote speaker at the World Social Forum in Caracas in January). At Bush's State of the Union address, she was arrested merely for having a T-shirt on that said "2,245 Dead. How Many More?" She's the author of two books: Dear President Bush and Not One More Mother's Child.

Sheehan has joined Alice Walker, Susan Sarandon, Barbara Lee, Eve Ensler, and international activists to launch a global Women Say No to War campaign. They have planned major actions for International Women's Day on March 8. "The pain this war has caused people all over the world is unimaginable," Sheehan says. "I've met women from so many different countries who are ready to stand together to make our leaders end this madness, and it doesn't matter that we speak different languages-our hearts understand the pain and needless loss that have been caused by this war."

I talked with her in Venice, California, on December 28. A few weeks later, as I was driving through Colorado Springs, a center of the military-fundamentalist complex, I noticed even there a Camp Casey.

David Barsamian
Your daughter Carly wrote a poem called "A Nation Rocked to Sleep." She gave this to you just a few weeks after Casey's death.

Cindy Sheehan
Yes she did. and here's the first and last verse of the poem:

Have you ever heard the sound of a mother screaming for her son?

The torrential weeping of a mother will never be done.

They call him a hero, you should be glad he's one,

But have you ever heard the sound of a mother weeping for her son?

Have you ever heard the sound of a nation being rocked to sleep?

The leaders want to keep you numb so the pain won't be so deep.

But if we the people let them continue, another mother will weep.

Have you ever heard the sound of a nation being rocked to sleep?

Q: What did this poem do for you?

Sheehan: It actually gave me a reason to live. It gave me my motivation to get up in the morning. I didn't do anything to protest the war, to try and stop the war, before Casey went. And I thought, now that I know the truth, now that I know how much it hurts to have a child killed in that illegal and immoral war, I can't just sit on the couch, wallowing in my own grief. I have to get up and do something. I have to try to stop it from happening to another mother.

Q: What were the first couple of steps you took?

Sheehan: The first thing I did was connect with the Mitchell family, in Paso Robles, California. Bill Mitchell is the father. His son Michael was killed the same day as Casey, in the same incident. Bill had founded Military Families Speak Out, and he sent me the link. I signed up for Military Families Speak Out. I also sent them Carly's poem, which they posted on the website. They started sending me requests for speaking engagements.

I didn't feel comfortable with speaking until July 4, 2004. I was just going to support another Gold Star Mom who was speaking in Berkeley, California. But when I got there, I decided that I wanted to speak. I spoke that day, and I really haven't shut up since.

Q: You've said, "We get up every morning, and every morning we see this enormous mountain in front of us. We can't go through it, we can't go under it, so we have to go over it." Talk about overcoming obstacles.

Sheehan: Just waking up and getting out of bed after you've buried a child is almost too much to ask one person to do. I realize that bringing the troops home and having somebody held accountable for Casey's needless death is an immense undertaking, but we can't go back. As much as we'd like to go back to before Casey was killed, we can't. So we have to go forward and we have to go up. Every day is an uphill battle. Sometimes you make progress, sometimes you slide back. But it's the only way to go.

Q: Talk about the support you've received from other military families.

Sheehan: It's so important. I know in my own organization, Gold Star Families for Peace, not only do we advocate for an immediate withdrawal of the troops, we're also a support group. We all have lost a loved one in war. I say lost, but I don't like that euphemism because Casey wasn't lost, he was killed by George Bush's murderous policies in the Middle East.

Q: You've been called the Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement. How do you feel about that comparison?

Sheehan: To be compared to Rosa Parks, I don't think I'm worthy of that. I just did what I thought needed to be done and what I thought was right. August 3 is when I thought of the idea to go to Crawford. August 6 is when I went down there. And that's when I sat down in the ditch and said, I'm not moving until George Bush comes out and talks to me. It was just me and my sister. We didn't have any other groups with us at the time. Then they joined in.

Q: Rosa Parks once said, "I wasn't tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. The only tired I was, was the tired of giving in."

Sheehan: I was also tired. I was tired of the lies, I was tired of the media not asking George Bush the right questions, I was tired of Congress not holding him accountable. And I just thought, you know what, if these people who are in power won't do something, I'm going to try and go down and get the answers.

Q: Why do you think Bush went to war in Iraq?

Sheehan: I really think you would have to look at where these billions of dollars are going. They're going to the Halliburtons, the Bechtels, the Blackwaters. If you read something like War Is a Racket by I, General Smedley Butler, then you know why our country goes to war. A hundred percent of the time to feed the war machine, it's to make the war profiteers richer.

Q: There has been, as you suggest, an endless series of rationales to justify the invasion and occupation. One of the latest is Bush saying, "Our objective is a democratic Iraq." If electoral trends continue as they have, it may be a theocratic one rather than a democratic one.

Sheehan: That's what's happening. Moqtada Al-Sadr apparently was a big winner in the December election, which the Sunnis are disputing. He's a Shia, and his followers are responsible for my son's death. He led an uprising against the Americans. I hate to tell George Bush this, but a theocracy is not a democracy. And that's not why he said we were going to invade Iraq.

Q: What do you think about the uses of faith and the invocation of God to justify war?

Sheehan: George Bush has made the Christian faith an obscenity. To rationalize what he's doing in Iraq because God told him to do it or to make Jesus some kind of a warmonger is another immorality. And for people in America to buy that? I had somebody email me who said, "You know what, Jesus wants me to slap the crap out of you, because he wants me to slap some sense into you to realize that what we're doing in Iraq is a good thing." That is just so hypocritical and wrong beyond anything.

I was a Catholic youth minister for eight years. I am a follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ. And I know that the Jesus that I studied about in the Gospels would not approve of what George Bush is doing. I believe that religious extremism, whether it's Jewish, Muslim, or Christian, has caused a lot of problems in the world for centuries. Leaders misuse religion to have the masses follow them. You can't invoke your religion to do things that you know the founder or the prophet of that religion would be against.

Q: Bush infamously announced "Mission Accomplished" on May 1, 2003. Had it been accomplished, of course, Casey and many tens of thousands of others would be alive today. What would a real Mission Accomplished be?

Sheehan: We need to just get our military presence out of Iraq. And I don't think that's going to happen while George Bush is President, so we have to get George Bush out of office. We have to get our troops home. A Mission Accomplished would be for the Iraqi people to rebuild their government and have whatever system of government they want. Because-you know what?-it's their country. It's not the fifty-first state of America. I've talked to many Iraqis who say, "We didn't need your military presence here, we don't want it here." I think 85 percent, 87 percent, of the country wants the occupation to end. And if George Bush believes in democracy then he should do what the Iraqi people want and get the troops out of there.

We've made a horrible mess of that country. The people there want peace, they want their electricity back, they want their water back, they want their jobs. They want America out.

Q: What are your views on Israel and Palestine?

Sheehan: I believe that a lot of our problems with Muslim terrorists center on the conflict between Israel and Palestine. I believe that these are two separate peoples that can solve their differences without violence, that they can peacefully coexist if both sides are willing to work together. I believe Israel has a right to exist and I believe the Palestinian people have a right to exist. I just believe that killing and occupying another country's land is wrong, no matter who does it. If it's America, if it's Israel, or whatever, I believe that it's wrong. And I believe that we have to work together to solve things without violence and without killing, on any side. I don't like Palestinians killing Israelis, Israelis killing Palestinians. I don't like the insurgents killing Americans. My son was killed by an insurgent. I don't like Americans killing innocent Iraqis either.

We have to force our leaders to solve problems. Just because I'm against the policies of the Israeli government toward Palestine does not mean I'm anti-Israel or anti-Semitic. Just because I'm against George Bush and his policies doesn't mean I'm anti-American. I just believe that we have to force our leaders to work for peace and not for killing.

Q: When Representative John Martha, who is dose to the military, issued a statement in favor of withdrawal, did that create some daylight for dissent?

Sheehan: It did, and I think it was a good thing for him to do. Although I am against the strategic redeployment plan of the DLC that he is in favor of, it would at least start bringing our troops out of Iraq. But the way he came out against it, with so much emotion and so much information, for him to be a combat veteran himself and to come out and say that did carry a lot of weight with a lot of people. They tried to Swift-Boat him, and he just said, "You're calling me a coward when you've got five deferments? Please."

What we should do is admit that we made a mistake and start pulling our troops out, then put in an army of diplomats. But there is going to be a point where some Administration is going to say enough is enough, and they're going to bring the troops home. Why don't we do it now, before any more innocent Iraqis are killed and any more of our soldiers are killed? I've heard people say, "Let's declare victory and get out of there." Our soldiers have completed every single benchmark that this Administration has set for them. Why don't we say that we are victorious, they had their elections, and let's get our troops out of there and let the Iraqi people with a multinational face on it, especially an Arab face, solve the problems without killing?

Q: Why do you think it's impossible for the U.S. military to win in Iraq?

Sheehan: You can't be successful in Iraq. The generals on the ground have said that. There is not a military solution. What would happen if we put more troops in? Would that effectively kill more Iraqi people so we could get out of there? It's insane. Are we fighting terrorism or are we creating terrorism? Obviously, we're creating terrorism and an insurgency by our military presence there.

Q: Your son volunteered for the military. What do you think of calls for reinstituting the draft?

Sheehan: No. I don't want to put any more of our children in the hands of the warmongers and the war machine and the war profiteers. I think that would be a terrible idea. If there is a draft, I would just tell everybody with draft-age children and draft-age children to resist, resist, resist. Do not put yourself in the hands of people who would kill you to line their pockets with your blood.

Q: The No Child Left Behind law had a provision that permitted schools to provide information to the Pentagon for military recruitment. What about efforts to keep military recruiters out of high schools?

Sheehan: Actually, No Child Left Behind didn't permit high schools to give recruiters directory information, it forced them to. If they wanted to get any federal funding, they had to give the directory information to recruiters. And every organization that we work with does counter-recruitment, which is one of the keys to shutting down the war machine. If the human cannon fodder dries up, they won't be able to fight wars. It is very important for peace advocates to go to high schools and hand out flyers or do whatever you can do to stop the children from joining the military.

If every peace person just stops one kid from joining the military, that's one potential American life saved. And how many "enemy" lives are we saving if we prevent one child each from joining the military?

Q: In September, you met with Hillary Clinton and Harry Reid. Your comments on Senator Clinton were widely quoted, but what did Harry Reid have to say?

Sheehan: Harry Reid basically just listened to us the entire time we were there. He had to leave before Hillary because there was a debate going on in the Senate. But before he left, I asked, "So, Senator Reid, are you ready to lead our country out of Iraq?" And he said, "I don't think I have any choice." That was about the only thing he said. And then not too long after that, he closed the Senate to debate on the intelligence question that was never fully investigated before the elections last year.

And you know what Hillary said? She said we have to stay the course so my son's death will not be in vain. I think that was a slap in my face, because I had been calling for months for them to quit saying that, not to justify more killing on the basis that Casey is dead.

Q: You had said you'd love to support her for President.

Sheehan: I think it's too late. She has come out saying that it's not time to withdraw our troops. And if she comes out now and says, "This war is wrong, we need to bring the troops home," I would think it was her politically expedient time to do it. When I talked to her in September, I said, "The longer you wait, the more of our children are dying for no reason." She is waiting for the time when it will make more sense for her career. To me, to base our children's flesh and blood on a political career is not moral. If she came out now, it would be because it was the politically expedient thing to do. We have to support our elected officials who have been calling for an end to the occupation of Iraq for many months now. But since Camp Casey I see a lot more of our elected leaders coming out against the war. I think it's because they see the grassroots movement. They're worried about their jobs.

Q: In 2004, there were two pro-war candidates. Do you see that happening again in 2008?

Sheehan: It probably will happen, and if it does, we'll have to support a third-party candidate if they're for peace. We have to show our elected officials that we are a nation that wants to support peace and not killing.

Q: What steps can people take?

Sheehan: People need to start putting pressure on their elected officials for an investigation into the war crimes. They need to support John Conyers and his call for censure of this administration, and they need to support Gold Star Families for Peace and all our actions that we have coming up. We're going to go back to Camp Casey during Easter week. And we're going to have an action at Barbara Bush's home in Houston called "For God's Sake, Can't You Make Him Stop?" You just need to use your voice and use your presence and go out of your comfort zone, because the longer we let this Administration continue with its war crimes and trampling on our Constitution and our civil rights, the more harm it's doing to humanity.

Q: You say, "I'm a catalyst for change, but I don't want to be the focus of change."

Sheehan: I just try and keep my focus on my goal, and that's bringing the troops home. If that's my focus, then hopefully that will be the focus of anybody who sees an interview with me or hears a speech I may give. That's what I want. I don't want the focus to be on me. I want the focus to be on every person who's been killed in this war, whether they're Iraqi or American or Coalition troops, and to energize people to work for change. And if people do look at me, I hope they'll say, "Wow, one person can make a difference. So what can I do to try and make the world a better place?"

David Barsamian is the director of Alternative Radio in Boulder, Colorado. He interviewed Robert Fisk in the June 2005 issue. His latest book is "Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World with Noam Chomsky."

*****

On the Third Anniversary [Iraq War]

by Cindy Sheehan

www.alternet.org, March 20, 2006

It is time to declare that the horrors we have visited upon Iraq are not being done in our names, with our consent or our approval.

"More fighting and sacrifice will be required to achieve this victory, and for some, the temptation to retreat and abandon our commitments is strong." -- George Bush, Radio Address, March 18, 2006

On March 19, 2003, George Bush "shocked and awed" the world by his premature, if not wholly unnecessary invasion of Iraq. I can remember that night when he came on to tell us that he had begun his war crimes against Iraq in earnest. I was sitting on my couch sobbing for the innocent people of Iraq and for our children who had been put in harm's way by their careless commander in chief.

I was also terrified on a personal and primal level for my son, Casey. As a mother, that terror came from a deep and up to then, unreachable and unknown place in my soul. I hoped that the predictions of swift and easy victory by the various neocon liars would be true, but I knew in my heart that such a "cake walk" would not be possible.

When the 4th Infantry Division from Ft. Hood captured Saddam in December of 2003, I was hoping against hope that our troops would be coming home soon, since they got the person who took Osama's place as Bush's "most wanted." Again, I selfishly prayed that Casey would not have to go over to the mess for his scheduled deployment in March of 2004.

Many people in Bush's circle told us that the paths of our troops would be strewn with flower petals instead of improvised explosive devises and that chocolates, not bullets, would be tossed at them. No amount of praying, hoping, or kidding myself stopped the invasion from happening, or brought a swift conclusion to the war. Right around the 1st anniversary of the invasion, Casey and the 1st Cavalry left for Iraq. After Casey had been there for five days, he and seven other soldiers were killed on April 4, 2004, in an ambush in Sadr City by the Mahdi forces loyal to Moqtada al Sadr.

Shortly after Casey was killed, power was transferred from Jay Bremer to a puppet government and Bremer skulked out of Iraq in the middle of the night with $8.8 billion missing from the Coalition Provisional Authority. Bremer came home to a Presidential Medal of Freedom and Casey came home in a cardboard box. We picked him up from SFO at the United Airlines loading dock the day before Easter that year. Casey was awarded medals that were pinned on the uniform that covered his lifeless chest.

George Bush said today that the war was going to take more fighting and more sacrifice. I want to know who is fighting. I want to know if the members of the executive and legislative branches that are so willing to leave our troops in the middle of sectarian violence and a militarily undefeatable resistance are willing to send their children over to the desert to take the place of the at least 72% of soldiers who want to come home. Are they willing to go over there themselves to fight? George Bush didn't finish his commitment to the country when he went AWOL from the Alabama National Guard; why hasn't he been called back up to go and fight and die in his own "noble cause"? I have heard of other men and women his age who have been called back up. This is not our children's fight. As in all war, the only people who benefit are the war profiteers.

I would also like to know who is making sacrifices in this country besides the soldiers and their families. Where are the shared sacrifices of the past? There was a USA Today poll recently which said that at least 50% of our population has "cried" because of the war and so many more have put magnets on their cars. I wonder how many of our citizens wake up everyday with broken hearts and holes in their lives that can never be filled. I wonder how many wake up missing arms and legs, or both? I wonder how many can't sleep because they are afraid of the nightmares that haunt even their waking hours.

In one of George Bush's canned speeches to another hand-picked audience, he assured another poor, unfortunate Gold Star Mother that he would make sure her son didn't die in "vain." He is still insisting on killing more people because he has already killed so many. I realized a hard fact of life shortly after Casey was killed: He died in vain. He and so many more of his buddies would be alive if their commander in chief and the war machine weren't so greedy, heartless and incompetent.

As the country of Iraq disintegrates more everyday, and the bodies pile up in the morgues faster than they can be buried, it is time to honor the sacrifices of our young people who were misused, ill-used and killed in Iraq by bringing their still living buddies home immediately. The Iraqi people know that the violence won't stop until the occupiers leave. The insurgency cannot go on without targets. It is time to realize that no matter how hard the Pentagon works at its propaganda machine, terrorism cannot be stopped by killing innocent people. Terrorism can only be stopped by analyzing what is causing the terrorism and changing behavior accordingly.

Buddhists say that everyone dies twice. Once when his/her body dies and once when the last person who remembers him/her dies. I want Casey and his buddies to live forever. I want the memories of our children who have been killed in this war to be honored by remembering them as the last casualties of the military industrial complex -- not as pawns used in an evil game of corporate greed run amok and governmental corruption and cold-heartedness gone unchecked.

Finally, today George Bush said that the temptation to abandon "our" commitments is strong. I never made a commitment to preemptive war. I didn't authorize Congress to abrogate its responsibilities to declare war. I didn't give the orders to invade a country that was no threat to the USA. I didn't give the orders to use depleted uranium in Iraq. I wasn't the one who devoted myself to torture and imprisoning people without due process. I didn't lie to the world about the reasons for the invasion. I have no commitments to honor in Iraq but I believe George Bush's commitments are criminal and they should be abandoned as swiftly as humanly possible.

Most of us are not war criminals; these are not our commitments. It is time for all of us who don't want to be linked or identified with the criminal cabal in DC to stand up loudly and repudiate the behavior of the ones who would lead the world to disaster. It is time to declare stridently that these crimes against humanity are not being done in our names, or with our consent or approval. We need to strive together everyday to bring our troops home and turn our mourning into celebration and our depression into joy.

Honor the dead. Protect the living. End the war.

Cindy Sheehan is co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace.

*****

Cindy Sheehan's Speech

Veterans for Peace National Convention at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas, August 8, 2005

Cindy Sheehan: It's so great to be here.

Last year when you guys had your convention in Boston, my son had only been dead a few months, and we were really honored because the Santa Barbara chapter took my daughter's poem A Nation Rocked to Sleep, (and they did it again this year), and I remember Michael Cervantes, he brought the booklet over to our house and showed it to us, and I never dreamed in a year I'd be standing here in front of you as one of the speakers at your convention, I never dreamed I'd be doing this at all, but isn't it weird what life hands you

I never heard about Veterans for until, I can tell you the exact day I heard about VFP, it was May 4th, 2004, and my son had been dead exactly a month, and I was watching CNN, and something came on, it was a report on Arlington West in Santa Barbara, and we lived about 6 hours north of Santa Barbara, and it was the May 4th before Mother's Day, which was May 8th, and VFP was going to put it up on Sunday, every Sunday, so I called my husband and I said, "There's only one place I want to be on Mother's Day this year, I want to be at Santa Barbara. I want to go and see Arlington West.

When we went, the first time we went, there was a little over 700 crosses, now there's over 1,800 crosses.

And I'm glad to hear everybody else's words, because somebody's gotta stop those lying bastards. Somebody has to stop them.

I got an email yesterday - - If you guys heard I just had a story published that talks about - - it's called Where Do I Live?, it talks about an Iranian-American who got the shaft because a recruiter liked him, and the recruiter falsified his paperwork, so he ended up in prison. He's been in prison since November without due process. Another mother whose son was found dead in Iraq, they told her that he died from a drug overdose. Three months later, they got the toxicology report; no drugs. She was devastated, she said, "I know my son, he did not do drugs. She was told that her son's wife and his battle buddies said in a report that yes, her son abused drugs in Iraq. But when she got that report it said categorically that no, he did not abuse drugs. So how did her son die?

And then there's Kevin and Monica Benderman. Kevin did exactly the right thing and got 15 months in prison. Whereas like Dahr (Jamail) said, the war criminals in Washington, D.C., they don't even lose a night's sleep. Then we have this lying bastard, George Bush, taking a 5-week vacation in a time of war. You know what? I'm never going to get to enjoy another vacation, because of him._My vacation probably - -this is really sad because I have a really cute dress I was going to wear to the banquet tomorrow night, but I'm either gonna be in jail or in a tent in Crawford, waiting until that jerk comes out and tells me why my son died.

Anyway, I got an email, I kinda got off track, a man emailed me yesterday, I get contacted by all kinds of people with their stories, and he said Cindy, I read everything you write, I read it on LewRockwell.com, he said, "I get tears in my eyes, but today I cried real tears, and I screamed, because my dear sweet nineteen ear-old cousin was killed in Iraq.

And he said, "Cindy, why didn't I save him? Why didn't I knock him out, why didn't I take him to Canada? and I wrote him back and I said, "You know what? We all think that.

I said to my son not to go. I said, you know it's wrong, you know you're going over there. You know your unit might have to kill innocent people, you know you might die. And he says, "My buddies are going, I have to go. He said, "If I don't go someone's going to have to do my job, and my buddies will be in danger.

So what really gets me is these chickenhawks, who sent our kids to die, without ever serving in a war themselves. They don't know what it's all about.

30 of our bravest young men have already died this month, and it's only the 5th of August. And the tragedy of the marines in Ohio is awful.

But do you guys remember back in March when we were having our 2nd year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq which was pre-empted by Terry Schiavo, so that's all that was on the news, not 5,000 of us in Fayetteville, Wolf Blitzer said it was insignificant, but they put Terry Schiavo on, and I wrote something then called The Amazing Hypocrites and I asked why does she deserve life more than my son, and the Iraqi people? And more than the other people that this war has killed.

But do you think George Bush will interrupt his vacation and go visit the families of those 20 marines that have died in Ohio this week? No, because he doesn't care, he doesn't have a heart. That's not enough to stop his little 'playing cowboy' game in Crawford for 5 weeks.

So, as you can imagine, the grieving parents who lost - - lost, I don't like to use that word, whose child was murdered, it's extremely difficult, you can't even get a small scab on our wound, because every day it rips open. Every day, I don't know why I do it because I already know that war is ugly, I already know that war is hard. But I open up the DOD site to see, who became an angel, while I was sleeping.

And that rips my heart open, because I know there is another mother whose life is going to be ruined that day. So we can't even begin to heal.

So anyway that filth-spewer and warmonger, George Bush was speaking after the tragedy of the marines in Ohio, he said a couple things that outraged me. Seriously outraged me. And I know I don't look like I'm outraged, I'm always so calm and everything, that's because if I started hitting something, I wouldn't stop 'til it was dead. So I can't even start, cause I know how dangerous that would be, but George Bush was talking, and he never mentioned the terrible incident of those marines, but he did say, that the families of the ones who have been killed can rest assured that their loved ones died for a noble cause.

And, he also said, he says this often, and this really drives me crazy, he said that we have to stay in Iraq and complete the mission, to honor the sacrifices of the ones who have fallen.

And I say, why should I want one more mother to go through what I've gone through, because my son is dead. You know what, the only way he can honor my son's sacrifice is to bring the rest of the troops home. To make my son's death count for peace and love, and not war and hatred like he stands for.

I don't want him using my son's death or my family's sacrifice to continue the killing. I don't want him to exploit the honor of my son and others to continue the killing. They sent these honorable people to die, and are so dishonorable themselves.

So, as many of you have heard, and I didn't mean to cause any problems with the convention, but I was writing an email to everybody, and I was so mad, like I said, and I just had this brainstorm, I'm going to Dallas, I don't know where Crawford is. I've been in Texas, Casey was stationed at Fort Hood. I drove from northern California to Fort Hood one time, it took like, 30 hours. And I thought, I could be driving for days to get from Dallas to Crawford!

But I don't care, I'm goin'. And I'm gonna tell them, "You get that evil maniac out here, cuz a Gold Star Mother, somebody who's blood is on his hands, has some questions for him.

And I'm gonna say, "OK, listen here, George. #1, you quit, and I demand, every time you get out there and say you're going to continue the killing in Iraq to honor the fallen heroes by continuing the mission; you say, 'except Casey Sheehan.'

"And you say 'except for all the members of Goldstar Families for Peace' cuz we think not one drop of blood should be spilled in our families' names. You quit doing that. You don't have my permission.

And I'm gonna say, "And you tell me, what the noble cause is that my son died for. And if he even starts to say 'freedom and democracy' I'm gonna say, bullshit.

You tell me the truth. You tell me that my son died for oil. You tell me that my son died to make your friends rich. You tell me my son died to spread the cancer of pax Americana, imperialism in the Middle East. You tell me that, you don't tell me my son died for 'freedom and democracy.'

Cuz, we're not freer. You're taking away our freedoms. The Iraqi people aren't freer, they're much worse off than before you meddled in their country.

You get America out of Iraq, you get Israel out of Palestine

(massive round of applause)

And if you think I won't say bullshit to the President, I say move on, cuz I'll say what's on my mind.

So, what's gonna happen? I started this, I thought it was gonna be just me and my sister driving to Crawford, but it kind of mushroomed and people from as far away as Dayton, Ohio are coming, to help us, to stand behind us, because I travel all over the country, I speak, I write, I get feedback on my writing, and just in the little over a year that I've been doing this, I've seen a major turnaround in this country.

People don't just want to hear it, they want to know, what can we do? What can we do to get him out of power? And I'm gonna say the 'I' word. Impeach. And we have to have everybody impeached that lied to the American public, and that's the executive branch, and any people in congress, and we gotta go all the way down and we might have to go all the way down to the person who picks up the dogshit in Washington because

We can't let somebody rise to the top who will pardon these war criminals. Because they need to go to prison for what they've done in this world. We can't have a pardon. They need to pay for what they've done.

So anyway, I'm gonna go to Crawford tomorrow, and I'm gonna say I want to talk to him, and they say, he's not coming out, I'm gonna set up my tent there until he comes out to talk to me.

And I have the whole month of August off, just like him. It's just the way it worked out, I was supposed to go to England tomorrow to do some Downing Street things, but Conyers cancelled, so hey, I have a lot of free time on my hands, and I'm gonna stay until he comes out and talks to me. And if he quits his vacation and goes to D.C., I'll pull my tent up, I'll go to D.C., and put it on the White House lawn, and I'll be waiting for you guys when you get there September 24th.

Another thing that I'm doing is - - my son was killed in 2004, so I'm not paying my taxes for 2004. If I get a letter from the IRS, I'm gonna say, you know what, this war is illegal; this is why this war is illegal. This war is immoral; this is why this war is immoral. You killed my son for this. I don't owe you anything. And if I live to be a million, I won't owe you a penny._And I want them to come after me, because unlike what you've been doing with the war resistance, I want to put this frickin' war on trial. And I want to say, "You give me my son, and I'll pay your taxes.

I live in Bacaville, come and get me if you can find me there and put me on trial, because like Camilo (Mejia), Camilo knew what was right. And he went to prison for that. And Henry David Thoreau he went to prison, he refused to pay his poll tax, and Emerson, I call them HT and RW, and RW came to visit HT and said what are you doing here, buddy? And HT said, why aren't you here? This is the only place for a moral person in an immoral world.

It's up to us, the people, to break immoral laws, and resist. As soon as the leaders of a country lie to you, they have no authority over you. These maniacs have no authority over us. And they might be able to put our bodies in prison, but they can't put our spirits in prison. And I know that Camilo came out a much stronger person, he's one of my heroes, it's great a row of heroes in front of me here.

And everyone gave such great testimony this evening, I have to wonder, why do we keep doing this to each other? Why do we let this continue time and time again, why do let it happen? And it's because our country, is so good at demonizing people, I still have relatives from WWII that still call Japanese people 'Japs'. And we demonize the Iraqi people, where, most of this country doesn't even think we're killing innocent people.

Because, "Oh Cindy, don't you remember what happened on September 11th?

"Yeah, but, were any of those people in Iraq? And the people who flew those planes into the Trade Center, where they from Iraq? _When I was growing up, it was 'Communists'. Now it's 'Terrorists'. So you always have to have somebody to fight and be afraid of, so the war machine can build more bombs, guns, and bullets and everything.

But I do see hope. I see hope in this country. 58% of the American public are with us. We're preaching to the choir, but the choir's not singing, if all of the 58% started singing, this war would end.

I got an email the other day and it said, "Cindy, if you didn't use so much profanity there's people 'on the fence' that get offended _And you know what I said? "You know what? You know what, god-damn-it? How, in the world is anybody still 'sitting on that fence'? _"If you fall on the side that is pro-George, and pro-war, you get your ass over to Iraq, and take the place of somebody who wants to come home. And if you fall on the side that is against this war and against George Bush, stand up and speak out. _But whatever side you fall on, quit being on the fence.

The opposite of good is not evil, it's apathy. And we have to get this country off their butts, and we have to get the choir singing._We need to say, bring our troops home now. We can't depend on the people in charge binging our troops home. Because you don't plan on bringing the troops home when you drop so much of the reconstruction money into building permanent bases.

I was hoping to come to the banquet tomorrow night, but unless George comes out and talks to me, I'll be camping at Crawford.

Thank you.

Heroes

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