Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 20. August 2005 / Timeline August 20, 2005
Version 3.519. August 2005, 21. August 2005
08/20/2005
Hypocrites and Liars
By Cindy Sheehan
The media are wrong. The people who have come out to Camp Casey to
help coordinate the press and events with me are not putting words
in my mouth, they are taking words out of my mouth. I have been
known for sometime as a person who speaks the truth and speaks it
strongly. I have always called a liar a liar and a hypocrite a
hypocrite. Now I am urged to use softer language to appeal to a
wider audience. Why do my friends at Camp Casey think they are
there? Why did such a big movement occur from such a small action
on August 6, 2005?
I haven't had much time to analyze the Camp Casey phenomena. I just
read that I gave 250 interviews in less than a week's time. I
believe it. I would go to bed with a raw throat every night. I got
pretty tired of answering some questions, like: "What do you want
to say to the President?" and "Do you really think he will meet
with you?" However, since my mom has been sick I have had a chance
to step back and ponder what I started in Crawford, Tx.
I just read an article posted today on LewRockwell.com by artist
Robert Shetterly who painted my portrait. The article reminded me
of something I said at the Veteran's for Peace Convention the night
before I set out to Bush's ranch in my probable futile quest for
the truth. This is what I said:
"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."
This is what the Camp Casey miracle is all about. American citizens
who oppose the war but never had a conduit for their disgust and
dismay are dropping everything and traveling to Crawford to stand
in solidarity with us who have made a commitment to sit outside of
George's ranch for the duration of the miserable Texan August. If
they can't come to Texas, they are attending vigils, writing
letters to their elected officials and to their local newspapers;
they are setting up Camp Casey branches in their hometowns; they
are sending flowers, cards, letters, gifts, and donations here to
us at Camp Casey. We are so grateful for all of the support, but I
think pro-peace Americans are grateful for something to do,
finally.
One thing I haven't noticed or become aware of though is an
increased number of pro-war, pro-Bush people on the other side of
the fence enlisting to go and fight George Bush's war for
imperialism and insatiable greed. The pro-peace side has gotten off
their apathetic butts to be warriors for peace and justice. Where
are the pro-war people? Everyday at Camp Casey we have a couple of
anti-peace people on the other side of the road holding up signs
that remind me that "Freedom isn't Free" but I don't see them
putting their money where their mouths are. I don't think they are
willing to pay even a small down payment for freedom by sacrificing
their own blood or the flesh of their children. I still challenge
them to go to Iraq and let another soldier come home. Perhaps a
soldier that is on his/her third tour of duty, or one that has been
stop-lossed after serving his/her country nobly and selflessly,
only to be held hostage in Iraq by power mad hypocrites who have a
long history of avoiding putting their own skin in the game.
Contrary to what the main stream media thinks, I did not just fall
off a pumpkin truck in Crawford, Tx. on that scorchingly hot day
two weeks ago. I have been writing, speaking, testifying in front
of Congressional committees, lobbying Congress, and doing
interviews for over a year now. I have been pretty well known in
the progressive, peace community and I had many, many supporters
before I even left California. The people who supported me did so
because they know that I uncompromisingly tell the truth about this
war. I have stood up and said: "My son died for NOTHING, and George
Bush and his evil cabal and their reckless policies killed him. My
son was sent to fight in a war that had no basis in reality and was
killed for it." I have never said "pretty please" or "thank you." I
have never said anything wishy-washy like he uses "Patriotic
Rhetoric." I say my son died for LIES. George Bush LIED to us and
he knew he was LYING. The Downing Street Memos dated 23 July, 2002
prove that he knew that Saddam didn't have WMD's or any ties to Al
Qaeda. I believe that George lied and he knew he was lying. He
didn't use patriotic rhetoric. He lied and made us afraid of ghosts
that weren't there. Now he is using patriotic rhetoric to keep the
U.S. military presence in Iraq: Patriotic rhetoric that is based on
greed and nothing else.
Now I am being vilified and dragged through the mud by the righties
and so-called "fair and balanced" main stream media who are afraid
of the truth and can't face someone who tells it by telling any
truth of their own. Now they have to twist, distort, lie, and
scrutinize anything I have ever said when they never scrutinize
anything that George Bush said or is saying. Instead of asking
George or Scotty McClellan if he will meet with me, why aren't they
asking the questions they should have been asking all along: "Why
are our young people fighting, dying, and killing in Iraq? What is
this noble cause you are sending our young people to Iraq for? What
do you hope to accomplish there? Why did you tell us there were
WMD's and ties to Al Qaeda when you knew there weren't? Why did you
lie to us? Why did you lie to the American people? Why did you lie
to the world? Why are our nation's children still in harm's way and
dying everyday when we all know you lied? Why do you continually
say we have to `complete the mission' when you know damn well you
have no idea what that mission is and you can change it at will
like you change your cowboy shirts?"
Camp Casey has grown and prospered and survived all attacks and
challenges because America is sick and tired of liars and
hypocrites and we want the answers to the tough questions that I
was the first to dare ask. THIS is George Bush's accountability
moment and he is failing...miserably. George Bush and his advisers
seriously "misunderestimated" me when they thought they could
intimidate me into leaving before I had the answers, or before the
end of August. I can take anything they throw at me, or Camp Casey.
If it shortens the war by a minute or saves one life, it is worth
it. I think they seriously "misunderestimated" all mothers. I
wonder if any of them had authentic mother-child relationships and
if they are surprised that there are so many mothers in this
country who are bear-like when it comes to wanting the truth and
who want to make meaning of their child's needless and seemingly
meaningless deaths?
The Camp Casey movement will not die until we have a genuine
accounting of the truth and until our troops are brought home. Get
used to it George, we are not going away.
08/20/2005
Protests Continue Despite Absence Of Vacaville Mom
- http://www.nbc11.com/print/4874545/detail.html
Although their leader had just departed because of a family
emergency, anti-war demonstrators here didn't miss a beat, marching
closer to President George W. Bush's ranch to deliver handwritten
letters.
The protest camp outside Bush's ranch resumed its activities
Thursday shortly after Cindy Sheehan -- whose 24-year-old
son Casey died in Iraq -- learned that her 74-year-old mother had a
stroke in Los Angeles and made preparations to leave.
"I'll be back as soon as possible, if it's possible," Sheehan said
before hugging tearful supporters and heading for the airport.
After arriving at the hospital in Los Angeles where her mother is
being treated, Sheehan reiterated the reason for her protest in
Crawford.
"I want to know what the noble cause is that my son died for like
(Bush) always says," she told reporters. "I don't believe dying in
a war of aggression on a country that's no threat to the United
States of America is a noble cause."
On her daily blog, Sheehan wrote that she hoped to return to
Crawford before the end of August. She had refused to leave until
Bush met with her or his monthlong vacation ended. Bush is
scheduled to return to Washington on Sept. 3.
Sheehan's mother is stabilized, Mimi Evans, one of the
demonstrators, said during a news conference in Crawford on Friday.
She offered no additional details on the mother's condition.
Sheehan, of Vacaville, Calif., started the makeshift campsite Aug.
6 in ditches along the road to Bush's ranch. Since then it has
grown to more than 100 people, including many relatives of soldiers
killed in Iraq, and hundreds more visitors who don't spend the
night.
About 150 protesters marched two miles down the road to the
checkpoint outside Bush's ranch Thursday with letters urging first
lady Laura Bush to persuade her husband to meet with Sheehan.
Bush has said he sympathizes with Sheehan. White House spokeswoman
Dana Perino said earlier Thursday that the president said Sheehan
had a right to protest but that he did not plan to change his
schedule and meet with her.
Two top Bush administration officials talked to Sheehan the day she
started her camp, and she and other families met with Bush shortly
after her son's death and before she became a vocal opponent of the
war.
FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley and Sen. Becky Lourey, a Minnesota
lawmaker whose son died in Iraq, joined the protesters Thursday and
planned to stay for a few days. Rowley said going to war was a
mistake because the link between Iraq and al-Qaida was
exaggerated.
Rowley, now retired, gained national attention after criticizing
the FBI for ignoring her pleas before the Sept. 11 attacks to
investigate terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui more
aggressively.
Meanwhile, a conservative California-based group, Move America
Forward, has produced a national television commercial to say
Sheehan does not speak for military families. Group founder Deborah
Johns, whose son is a Marine and is featured in the ad, said she
believes Sheehan's crusade discredits the soldiers serving in
Iraq.
"Cindy Sheehan certainly doesn't speak for me, our military
families or our men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan,"
Johns says in the ad.
Litteratur: Høi, Poul: Cindy-effekten.
I: Berlingske Tidende, 08/18/2005.
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