31/8/05:C.SHEEHAN:MY SON DIED BECAUSE GEORG BUSH LIED(GLW/FWD)



GREENLEFT WEEKLY AUSTRALIA, 31-AUG-2005
www.greenlfet.org.au

UNITED STATES: Hypocrites and liars

Cindy Sheehan, Crawford, Texas

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 analyse 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 the flood gates that I opened in Crawford, Texas.

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 Veterans 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, goddamn it?
How in the world is anybody still sitting on that fence? If you fall
on the side that is pro-George [Bush] 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 travelling 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 mainstream media thinks, I did not just fall off
a pumpkin truck in Crawford 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 left 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 or "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 July 23, 2002, prove that he
knew that Saddam [Hussein] didn't have WMDs 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 US 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" mainstream 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 scrutinise
anything I have ever said when they never scrutinise 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
WMDs 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.

[Reprinted from <http//www.buzzflash.com>. To learn more about Cindy
Sheehan visit <http://www.meetwithcindy.com> or about Gold Star
Families for Peace, visit < http://www.gsfp.org.]

>From Green Left Weekly, August 31, 2005.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.
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