Interesting


Olde Hornet

Olde Hornet

Well-Known Member
If this gets enough press - will they demonize her?

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/07/mom.protest/

Soldier's mom digs in near Bush ranch
Senator sees 'echoes of Vietnam' in vigil to meet president

Sunday, August 7, 2005; Posted: 5:31 p.m. EDT (21:31 GMT)

CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- A mother whose son was killed in Iraq says she is prepared to continue her protest outside President Bush's ranch through August until she is granted an opportunity to speak with him.

Later, in a TV interview, a Democratic senator from California said the episode evokes images that were commonplace during the Vietnam War.

Cindy Sheehan's 24-year-old son -- Army Spc. Casey Sheehan of Vacaville, California -- was killed in Baghdad's Sadr City on April 4, 2004. The Humvee mechanic was one of eight U.S. soldiers killed there that day by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. (Full story)

They are among the 1,829 American troops, including 31 this month, who have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.

The president -- who is spending a nearly five-week-long working vacation at his Texas ranch -- said in a speech Wednesday that the sacrifices of U.S. troops were "made in a noble cause." (Full story)

Sheehan said she found little comfort in his comments.

"I want to ask the president, why did he kill my son?" Sheehan told reporters. "He said my son died in a noble cause, and I want to ask him what that noble cause is."

Sheehan said hers was one of a group of about 15 families who each met separately with the president one day last June.

"He wouldn't look at the pictures of Casey. He didn't even know Casey's name," she told CNN Sunday. "Every time we tried to talk about Casey and how much we missed him, he would change the subject."

Sheehan said she was so distraught at the time that she failed to ask the questions she now wants answered.

"I want him to honor my son by bringing the troops home immediately," Sheehan told reporters Saturday. "I don't want him to use my son's name or my name to justify any more killing."

Sheehan, who co-founded the anti-war group Gold Star Families for Peace, led about 50 demonstrators near the Bush ranch Saturday. Some protesters were with the group Veterans for Peace, which was holding a convention in Dallas.

The protesters stopped their bus miles from the ranch in Crawford, and walked less than a half-mile before being stopped by local law enforcement officials.

A message on the Gold Star Families Web site says, "We want our loved ones' sacrifices to be honored by bringing our nation's sons and daughters home from the travesty that is Iraq IMMEDIATELY, since this war is based on horrendous lies and deceptions.

"Just because our children are dead, why would we want any more families to suffer the same pain and devastation?"

The message also urges Bush to send his twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, to Iraq "if the cause is so noble."

The site says the group is made up of families of soldiers who have died as a result of war, primarily in Iraq.

Joe Hagin, White House deputy chief of staff, and Stephen Hadley, national security adviser, met with Sheehan for about 45 minutes Saturday, according to White House spokesman Trent Duffy.

Sheehan said that the two men "were very respectful."

"They told me the party line of why we are in Iraq," she said. "I told them that I don't believe that they believed that."

Duffy said Saturday that "many of the hundreds of families the president has met with know their loved one died for a noble cause and that the best way to honor their sacrifice is to complete the mission."

Bush has refused to provide a time frame for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, saying American forces will return home when Iraqis can take care of their own security.

"President Bush wants the troops home as soon as possible, but the U.S. will not cut and run from terrorists," Duffy said.

Sheehan elicited sympathy from both sides of the political spectrum on Sunday.

"What you're seeing with that mom trying to meet with President Bush is echoes of Vietnam," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat. "Because no one is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel."

"I think the president ought to meet with this mother," said Sen. George Allen, a Virginia Republican. "What I would say to her is her son will always be remembered as a great hero and a patriot, advanced freedom in Iraq and the Middle East, has made this country more secure."

Boxer said her own message would be different: "I would tell her to do everything she could to spare other families this grief, to get us off this cycle of violence."
 
I feel for this Mother and all the others...:(

Personally, I believe the president should meet w/her. Why not?
 



"I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis," Cindy said after their meeting. "I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith."
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I am just curious what happen between then and now that made her change her mind about Bush and the war. Maybe she is just grieving late.
 
Killer Bees said:
I am just curious what happen between then and now that made her change her mind about Bush and the way. Maybe she is just grieving late.
Click to expand...


As I posted right after this war started, the Hollywood images that this administration tried to create of "Johnny coming marching home again" in his well-pressed uniform into the open arms of his beauty-queen wife, and adoring children smiling in a bright 20th Century Fox spotlight, would soon diminsh once the real bodies of loved ones were delivered home in flag-draped coffins.


REALITY is a mutha!
 
AAMU Alum said:
As I posted right after this war started, the Hollywood images that this administration tried to create of "Johnny coming marching home again" in his well-pressed uniform into the open arms of his beauty-queen wife, and adoring children smiling in a bright 20th Century Fox spotlight, would soon diminsh once the real bodies of loved ones were delivered home in flag-draped coffins.


REALITY is a mutha!
Click to expand...
:read:
 
AAMU Alum said:
As I posted right after this war started, the Hollywood images that this administration tried to create of "Johnny coming marching home again" in his well-pressed uniform into the open arms of his beauty-queen wife, and adoring children smiling in a bright 20th Century Fox spotlight, would soon diminsh once the real bodies of loved ones were delivered home in flag-draped coffins.


REALITY is a mutha!
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And you are right! :tup:

BTW, I think she should go home. She met with the president and meeting with him again will not change the fact that her child is dead. Neither will ANYTHING he could say. Her child was in the service and went to a war, and unfortunately, the result is sometimes loss of life. She needs to speak to a grief counselor and pray to God to deliver her peace. I really feel badly for her. I could not even imagine!
 
Her point is not to really meet with him, but to drive home the point that our soldiers need to come home. This war was based on lies and deceptions and for the president to keep saying they died for a noble cause, is simple getting old. How can it be a noble cause if it was based on a lies and deceptions? At the end of the day, she has to deal with the loss of her son.....not Bush.

She has the right to question why her son was killed, no matter how many times she meets with the president. If it is such a noble cause, it shouldn't be that hard to explain. :smug:
 
It did not take long - you can read the entire article at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050813/ap_on_re_us/peace_mom

Normal Life Over for Protesting Mother

By MARTHA MENDOZA, AP National Writer Sat Aug 13, 7:47 PM ET

VACAVILLE, Calif. - Before her son was killed in
Iraq, before she began a peace vigil outside
President Bush's Texas ranch, before she became an icon of the anti-war movement and the face of grieving mothers, there was a time when Cindy Sheehan's life was, by all appearances, incredibly normal.
ADVERTISEMENT

She grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles, and married her high school sweetheart, Patrick Sheehan. They had four babies, one almost every other year. They drove their growing clan in a huge, yellow station wagon nicknamed the "BananaMobile." She volunteered at a Vacaville church and later, as the children grew, she worked there.

Normal life ended for Cindy Sheehan in April 2004, when her oldest son Casey, 24, a father of twin girls, was killed in Iraq.

First, she says, "I was a Mom in deep shock and deep grief."

Then, two months later, came what she considered to be a disturbingly placid meeting with President Bush. While she found him to be a "man of faith," she also said later that he seemed "totally disconnected from humanity and reality." And when she later heard him speak of soldiers' deaths as "noble," Sheehan felt she had to do something.

"The shock has worn off and deep anger has set in," she said.

Sheehan co-founded an anti-war organization and began talking, demonstrating, speaking at a congressional hearing. She got a Web site, a public relations assistant (financed by an anti-war group), an entourage of peace activists and a speaking tour.

But while her message was strong and widely disseminated, she didn't become world famous until about a week ago when, after speaking at the annual Veterans For Peace national conference in Dallas, she took a bus to Crawford, Texas, site of Bush's ranch, to have a word with her president.

For the record, here's what she said she wants to tell him: "I would say, 'What is the noble cause my son died for?' And I would say if the cause is so noble has he encouraged his daughters to enlist? And I would be asking him to quit using Casey's sacrifice to justify continued killing, and to use Casey's sacrifice to promote peace."

Sheehan's peaceful vigil, her unstoppable anguish, her gentle way of speaking, have captured attention for an anti-war movement that until now hasn't had much of a leader. Over the past week she appeared on every major television and radio network and in newspapers around the world.

Critics have started calling her a pawn of the left-wing. Some conservative organizations, talk show hosts and even some of her own extended family accuse her of shifting her position and say she is lowering troop morale.

"To be perfectly honest, I think it is disgraceful," said bookkeeper Diana Kraft of Vacaville, whose son is in the Navy. "I don't know the loss she's feeling to lose a son because, thank goodness, I haven't had that, but we're in this war and we have to support the troops."

Other friends, neighbors and church members argue that she is a hero, and say they're proud of what she's doing.

Dozens of people have joined her and others have sent flowers and food. Other "Camp Casey" demonstrations and vigils are springing up around the country, with signs calling on Bush to "Talk To Cindy." Activists in San Francisco rallied on her behalf Friday; others planned to gather Monday in New York's Union Square.
 
Where's Dick Cheney? We need more comments like the "insurgents are in their death throes" He will put Cindy Sheeham in her place. :alicia:
 
J C said:
Where's Dick Cheney? We need more comments like the "insurgents are in their death throes" He will put Cindy Sheeham in her place. :alicia:
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Just like the gas prices are putting you in your place. :|
 
Interesting.

Her husband recently filed for divorce.

Honestly, I think she lost mind. Once the media moves on to another story, this women will likely fall into a great depression.
 
DasuavestBalla said:
Her point is not to really meet with him, but to drive home the point that our soldiers need to come home. This war was based on lies and deceptions and for the president to keep saying they died for a noble cause, is simple getting old. How can it be a noble cause if it was based on a lies and deceptions? At the end of the day, she has to deal with the loss of her son.....not Bush.

She has the right to question why her son was killed, no matter how many times she meets with the president. If it is such a noble cause, it shouldn't be that hard to explain. :smug:
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I think she wants to meet with him still and wants him to say what "honorable" reason her son died. But still I agree with the above quote.

By protesting she and those there are showing more guts than a lot of democrats in Congress. Frankly, they are doing the democrats' jobs. As Michael Moore said the democratic party in this country is the lamest opposition party in the world. Hopefully, things will change under Howard Dean.

As for her being there, understand that Bush is taking a long vacation. But it is nice to be King.
 
Killer Bees said:
I am just curious what happen between then and now that made her change her mind about Bush and the war. Maybe she is just grieving late.
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She met with him before all the "truths" or 'lies" of why we went to war came out.
 
Seems like she has some opposition.

While Sheehan has gotten a lot of support in her vigil, and has been joined by dozens of sympathizers, she's also sparked some opposition.

Monday night, a pickup truck tore through the rows of white crosses.
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Full Article

Now thats a good way to show pro-troop/anti-war protestor support. Run over the memorial to fallen troops.
 



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