[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [sftalk] Fw: What One Mom Has to Say to George Bush

[Morton K. Brussel]

Needed fiery stuff! mkb

Begin forwarded message:

> From: <unionyes at ameritech.net>
>
>> What One Mom Has to Say to George Bush
>>
>> * Still Not Worth It by Cindy Sheehan
>>
>> ==========
>>
>> What One Mom Has to Say to George Bush
>>
>> © 2005 by Mike Ferner
>> submitted to portside by the author
>>
>> "That lying bastard, George Bush, is taking a five-week
>> vacation in time of war," Cindy Sheehan told 200
>> cheering members of Veterans For Peace at their annual
>> convention in Dallas last Friday evening. She then
>> announced she would go to Bush's vacation home in
>> nearby Crawford, Texas and camp out until he "tells me
>> why my son died in Iraq. I've got the whole month of
>> August off, and so does he."
>>
>> Sheehan left the VFP meeting on Saturday morning and is
>> now in Crawford with a couple dozen veterans and local
>> peace activists, waiting for Bush to talk with her. She
>> said in Dallas that if he sends anyone else to see her,
>> as happened when national security adviser Steve Hadley
>> and deputy White House chief of staff Joe Hagin did
>> later that day, she would demand that "You get that
>> maniac out here to talk with me in person."
>>
>> She told the audience of veterans from World War Two to
>> today's war in Iraq, that the two main things she plans
>> to tell the man she holds responsible for son Casey's
>> death are "Quit saying that U.S. troops died for a
>> noble cause in Iraq, unless you say, 'well, except for
>> Casey Sheehan.' don't you dare spill any more blood in
>> Casey's name. You do not have permission to use my
>> son's name."
>>
>> "And the other thing I want him to tell me is 'just
>> what was the noble cause Casey died for?' Was it
>> freedom and democracy? Bullshit! He died for oil. He
>> died to make your friends richer. He died to expand
>> American imperialism in the Middle East. We're not
>> freer here, thanks to your PATRIOT Act. Iraq is not
>> free. You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of
>> Palestine and you'll stop the terrorism," she
>> exclaimed.
>>
>> "There, I used the 'I' word - imperialism," the 48
>> year-old mother quipped. "And now I'm going to use
>> another 'I' word - impeachment - because we cannot have
>> these people pardoned. They need to be tried on war
>> crimes and go to jail."
>>
>> As the veterans in Dallas rose to their feet, Sheehan
>> said defiantly, "My son was killed in 2004. I am not
>> paying my taxes for 2004. You killed my son, George
>> Bush, and I don't owe you a penny...you give my son
>> back and I'll pay my taxes. Come after me (for back
>> taxes) and we'll put this war on trial."
>>
>> The co-founder of Gold Star Mothers for Peace objected
>> to hearing that her son was among the soldiers lost in
>> Iraq. "He's not lost," she said tearfully. "He's dead.
>> He became an angel while I was sleeping."
>>
>> She railed against the notion expressed by officials in
>> the Bush administration that bringing the troops home
>> now would dishonor the sacrifice of those who have
>> died. "By sending honorable people to die, they so
>> dishonor themselves. They say we must complete our
>> mission...but why would I want one more mother to go
>> through what I have, just because my son is dead?"
>>
>> The Vacaville, California resident said she first heard
>> of Veterans For Peace in early May last year, during a
>> CNN report about an exhibit of white crosses arranged
>> in rows in the Santa Barbara beach. The exhibit was
>> organized by VFP Chapter 54 to memorialize each U.S.
>> soldier killed in Iraq. Her son had died the month
>> before. "I decided there was only one place I wanted to
>> be on Mother's Day that year, and it was Santa
>> Barbara," she told the VFP members in Dallas.
>>
>> Retired Special Forces Sgt. and VFP member, Stan Goff,
>> today initiated a "Talk to Cindy" campaign to get Bush
>> to meet with Sheehan.  Contact information for the
>> White House is: (202) 456-1111 or
>> comments at whitehouse.gov
>>
>> ###
>>
>> Ferner is a writer in Toledo, Ohio and a member of
>> Veterans for Peace. He can be reached at
>> mike.ferner at sbcglobal.net
>>
>> ==========
>>
>> Still Not Worth It
>>
>> by Cindy Sheehan
>>
>> http://www.lewrockwell.com/sheehan/sheehan10.html
>>
>> Last January, I was bumped from the Larry King Live
>> show for an appearance by the soon to be proven
>> innocent Michael Jackson. I was going to be on the
>> program to answer the question: Did I feel my son's
>> murder in Iraq was "worth it" after the "free"
>> elections in the war torn country on January 30th. I
>> wrote an article then called: "Not Worth It."
>>
>> I never thought I would be invited back on as a guest
>> after I pretty much burned the Larry King bridge with
>> my article. However, to my astonishment, I was invited
>> to be a guest on June 28th. I was asked to be on the
>> broadcast in order to give my impressions and rebuttal
>> to George's speech on Iraq that he delivered in front
>> of the less than enthusiastic (what the White House
>> spin doctors call: respectful) troops at Ft. Bragg, NC.
>>
>> I felt like I was in Bizarro World as I heard George
>> speak about 9/11 five times and mention terrorism 31
>> times, even though these rationales for war have been
>> disproved repeatedly. I think George thinks that since
>> we believed him once about terrorism vis-à-vis Iraq,
>> that we must therefore be gullible enough to believe
>> him this time. I don't know, and I am not a
>> professional pundit, but my theory is he might have
>> mentioned 9/11 to manipulate our emotions and maybe
>> even frighten us a little again?
>>
>> The thing that struck me when I was watching that
>> vacuous man giving his hollow speech was the fact that
>> he could have always replaced the word "terrorists"
>> with the phrase: "my moronic and callous foreign
>> policies" For example, when he said that terrorists
>> spread death and destruction on the streets of Baghdad
>> and kill innocent people, he could have just as easily
>> said: "My moronic and callous foreign policies spread
>> death and destruction on the streets of Baghdad and
>> kill innocent people." When he said that we need to
>> stop terrorists from toppling governments in the
>> region, he could have just as easily said: "We need to
>> stop my moronic and callous foreign policies from
>> toppling governments in the region." People have
>> characterized the speech-lite in many ways, but if I
>> had to pick a few words to describe it, I would say:
>> "Hypocritical, manipulative, condescending, meaningless
>> drivel."
>>
>> I sat through an entire hour in the CNN studio in DC
>> hearing not one person say that the invasion was a
>> mistake and if it was a mistake, then our troops should
>> be brought home immediately. Even the "Democratic"
>> Senators (Kerry and Bayh) on the program just gave
>> their recipes for "success" in Iraq, which did not
>> include any exit strategies. The guest host for that
>> hour was Bob Costas and he asked one guest, Sen. John
>> McCain, an intriguing question: "If you could push
>> Button One and have an eventual wonderful outcome in
>> Iraq, or if you could push Button Two and never have
>> had it happen, which one would you pick?" Of course,
>> Sen. McCain chose Button One. He hasn't had a loved one
>> killed in this enormous tragedy of a war, nor does he
>> have a loved one in harm's way. It has not affected him
>> personally one bit. What skin is it off McCain's nose
>> if our troops remain for a highly unlikely rosy outcome
>> at the cost of thousands of more lives? I would push
>> the button that would bring back my son, Casey, and the
>> tens of thousands of other victims who have been killed
>> for nothing but outright lies and bald-faced betrayals.
>> I would push the button that would give Iraq back its
>> power, water, and infrastructure.
>>
>> My absolute favorite guest of the evening was Sen. John
>> Warner, powerful chair of the Senate Armed Disservices
>> Committee. Of course, he fell in lockstep behind his
>> Führer and praised the speech and how, although we have
>> "all" paid a terrible price for this invasion and
>> occupation, bringing freedom and democracy to the Iraqi
>> people is worth all the sacrifices that the world is
>> making. I sat in the Green Room with Sen. Warner's
>> entourage. I wondered (even out loud) what price they
>> have paid for our administration's misdeeds in Iraq.
>> They all looked like happy, well-fed, well-dressed,
>> well-educated, and well-hydrated Americans. They looked
>> to me like they had plenty of electricity to blow-dry
>> their hair and charge their cell phones and laptops.
>> They looked like they had quite a nice supply of clean
>> drinking water and fresh food. I sincerely doubt if any
>> of them had a loved one ripped from their lives by a
>> car bomb, IED, or bullet in an ambush. I wondered who
>> the "we" was that John Warner spoke of. I spoke with
>> John Warner after his interview and told him unless he
>> was prepared to sacrifice even a good night's sleep
>> over this senseless and criminal war, then he should
>> work on ending it, not prolonging the carnage. He told
>> me that I was "entitled to my opinion," but he would
>> respectfully have to disagree with me. That was awfully
>> Constitutional of him!
>>
>> I finally got on to speak for my 82 seconds (all the
>> time Larry King Live could spare for the peace message)
>> about how this war is a catastrophe and how we should
>> bring the troops home and quit forcing the Iraqi people
>> to pay for our government's hubris and quit forcing
>> innocent children to suffer so we can allegedly fight
>> terrorism somewhere besides America. How absolutely
>> racist and immoral is it to take America's battles to
>> another land and make an entire country pay for the
>> crimes of others? To me, this is blatant genocide. How
>> dare we export our brand of flag-waving death and
>> devastation to a people who have been through so much
>> already? It wasn't bad enough that our sanctions killed
>> tens of thousands of Iraqis before we even started an
>> active aggression against them. Now we have to create
>> confusion, chaos, and disorder there. How dare our
>> president and Congress, and we Americans, allow this to
>> continue?
>>
>> After my brief advocacy for peace, my position was
>> refuted by another Mom whose son was killed in Iraq in
>> 2003 who said she "totally disagrees" with me and
>> "feels sorry" for me. Well, you know what? I ache for
>> her blindness and for the millions of sheeple who have
>> had the wool pulled over their eyes by the bunch of
>> hypocritical, bad shepherds who are running a
>> disastrous herd over the world. I have distressing news
>> for the Soccer Safety Moms and the NASCAR Dads who are
>> such ardent supporters of this administration and war:
>> Your grandchildren and children who will be entering
>> Kindergarten this fall will be fighting George's
>> endless war if he gets his way and is allowed to
>> continue spreading the cancer of imperialism in the
>> Middle-East. Donny Rumsfeld said we could be in Iraq
>> for another dozen years. Does anybody think with all
>> the billions of dollars that are being poured into
>> constructing super-sized bases in Iraq that the war
>> machine plans on relinquishing the cash-cow that is
>> that poor, unfortunate land anytime soon? Think about
>> it when you tuck your child into bed tonight.
>>
>> I heard George and the Senators say that evening the
>> sacrifices we as Americans have had to make for Iraq
>> are "worth it." I really would like to know who has
>> benefited and profited from Iraq and who has really had
>> to sacrifice anything. I know it was "worth it" to Dick
>> Cheney who was the CEO of Halliburton, (of no-bid
>> contract fame) which has raped billions of dollars from
>> our government, from the people of Iraq, and from our
>> soldiers who are not getting what they need to survive
>> in a combat zone. It is "worth it" to Black Water
>> Security Co. who sends one-thousand-dollar-a-day
>> mercenaries to Iraq, funded by the War Department. It
>> is "worth it" to L. Paul Bremer who slunk out of Iraq
>> with 8.8 BILLION dollars missing from the Provisional
>> authority. It is also "worth it" to the other companies
>> and individuals who have been enriched by feeding our
>> children to the military industrial complex. By George,
>> I think we have found the people who think this war is
>> "worth it." But, is it worth it to George Bush who was
>> counting on this unlawful and unprincipled aggression
>> in Iraq to give him "political" capital? Instead, if
>> poll numbers are any good indication, Americans are
>> withdrawing their assent for George and they are
>> withdrawing their consent for him to wage eternal war
>> on humanity.
>>
>> As I sat in the Green Room of CNN, I was saddened and
>> troubled by George's call for us Americans to fly the
>> flag proudly on the 4th to honor our troops. For one
>> thing, the American flag is not a magical token that
>> can bring armor to the troops who are still dying
>> without the protection. The flag is not a faith healer
>> that can restore limbs and eyesight to the ones who
>> have been maimed forever. The flag is not a genie in a
>> bottle that can blink her eyes and bring our children
>> home from this horrible blunder that they are suffering
>> for and being slaughtered for. But, as for me, I will
>> never be able to celebrate another patriotic holiday
>> without mourning what this nation has stolen from my
>> family. I will never be able to look at an American
>> flag without thinking of the uniform my son wore
>> proudly that displayed that same symbol and the evil
>> ones who desecrated and defiled the stars and stripes
>> by lying us into the invasion of Iraq. No, Casey's
>> sacrifice was not "worth it" and George needs to do
>> more than wave his flag and manipulate our sense of
>> patriotism. He needs to march his girls to a
>> recruitment center and send them to Iraq to fight the
>> terrorists that his moronic and callous foreign
>> policies have recruited or he needs to wake up and
>> smell the apple pie and bring our other sons and
>> daughters home, now!
>>
>> July 4, 2005
>>
>> Cindy Sheehan [send her mail] is the mother of Spc.
>> Casey Austin Sheehan, KIA 04/04/04 She is co-founder of
>> Gold Star Families for Peace.
>>
>> Copyright © 2005 LewRockwell.com
>>
>> ==========
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