Blessings?
By Cindy Sheehan
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Thursday 24 November 2005
It was hard to feel blessed today as I sat at Casey's grave here in Vacaville, California. Sure, a lot of good things have happened in my sphere of influence this year, but the blessings are always hampered by the reason for the blessings.
If Casey had not been killed in Iraq in George's imperialistic war for power and wealth, I wouldn't be on this path. I wish to God I weren't on this path. But I am, so here are the blessings I am thankful for this year.
The main blessings that I can thankfully still count are my three children: Carly, Andy, and Janey. They are incredibly wonderful children who didn't ask for the trail that George Bush has set them on by the murder of their oldest brother. They didn't ask to have a mom who is away most of the time trying to make the world a better place to leave for them. They didn't ask for it, but they are handling everything with the courage and integrity that are the hallmarks of Sheehan children.
I can look at the events of the past week or so and be thankful that some Democrats are finally displaying a modicum of courage in speaking out against the war and for bringing the troops home from this monstrosity. I hope we can look toward this with the expectation that the Democrats will finally unite against the immoral occupation of Iraq that has put an empty place at the holiday tables of over 2100 American families.
I can also hope against hope that the war criminals in power that advocate and condone torture and use the same chemical weapons against innocent Iraqis that they hypocritically accused Saddam of using against his own people will finally have to resign in disgrace before a mostly complicit Congress has to impeach them. After George and Co. resign in shame, someone needs to haul them off to The Hague for war crimes trials. That would be something to celebrate.
I am especially thankful for the inspiration that led me to Crawford in August to confront the criminal on his own turf. I am thankful to George, who very predictably did not meet with me and so sparked the Camp Casey Peace movement. I am extremely appreciative for the thousands of Americans who came out to Camp Casey over our three-week miraculous stay, and I am also gratified for the millions of citizens who stood behind us with their prayers and support. The peace movement is gaining momentum, and we will see our troops come home soon. This fact is overwhelmingly miraculous to me.
I have met so many amazing, loving, and delightful people since I started my quest to end the occupation of Iraq. My Gold Star Families are especially dear to me. In their tragedies they have found a way to bring their horrible grief to the forefront of the American consciousness and help America see the terrible price some of us have had to pay. One of my Gold Star Moms had her son commit suicide two years ago as George was smirkingly serving the plastic turkey. Another dad got in touch with me this week to tell me that they are sadly burying their son on the Saturday after Thanksgiving this year. The Gold Star Families for Peace are handling their losses with grace, courage and integrity. The Bush crime family and their cronies can take lessons from them. This administration full of neocon crooks has ruined the holidays for so many people worldwide. I don't know how they can choke down their turkey!
I am profoundly grateful for the life of my son Casey Austin. He always lived his life with grace, courage and integrity. His life has been a model for me in my resolve to bring his buddies home alive. Unlike George, Casey never got anything handed to him on a silver platter. Casey put himself on a silver platter and handed his young life over to save the lives of his buddies. I am not grateful for the way he died and the too many others who have tragically come home in flag-draped coffins, too. The atrocity has to end before too many more families experience the emptiness of a chair at the family table that once rang with laughter and now rings with sighs and forced, mostly false, mirth.
Since Camp Casey, I do have hope that one of these days our holidays will have real joy and laughter again. I have hope that America is ready to take back our rights, freedoms and responsibilities. I have hope that people will be held accountable for the needless death and destruction they have caused the world. I am intensely grateful for the return of hope.
I also have high hopes that we are at a unique point in history where we will be able to change the paradigm of our existence from one of perpetual war and killing to one of perpetual love and peace. This will be the best blessing that a mom could ever ask for! Maybe next year!
***********************************************************
War protesters plan Iraqi meal for Thanksgiving
By Angela K. Broan / Associated Press
CRAWFORD, Texas - Turkey and dressing won't be on the Thanksgiving table of dozens of war protesters camping near President Bush's ranch.
Instead, they will eat an Iraqi meal of lentil soup, rice, traditional Middle Eastern bread and a salad with parsley, tomatoes and bulgur wheat.
"We want to connect with them and their simple lives as compared to the abundance we have in this country," said Hadi Jawad, a Pakistan native who co-founded the Crawford Peace House.
Their early Thursday afternoon meal was planned at the same 1-acre private lot that a landowner let them use in August during the last few weeks of their 26-day protest led by Berkeley, Calif. resident Cindy Sheehan.
Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son Casey died in Iraq last year, first set up camp Aug. 6 in ditches off the main road leading to Bush's ranch, refusing to leave until he talked to her or ended his ranch vacation. Some demonstrators remained there even after the larger camp was set up on the nearby private lot.
Sheehan remained at home in California for a family emergency but planned to arrive in Crawford in time for Friday's dedication of a Peace House garden named for her son and Saturday's anti-war rally. The group is resuming its protest this week to coincide with Bush's Thanksgiving ranch visit.
On Wednesday, 12 protesters were arrested after setting up camp at Sheehan's original makeshift site, defying two recently enacted county bans on roadside camping and parking.
They were charged with criminal trespassing and obstructing a highway passageway, misdemeanors each carrying a maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. They were released a few hours later on personal recognizance bonds and ordered to appear in court in January.
"Since it was instituted because of what we did for 26 days in August, it's appropriate that we're the ones challenging this ordinance," said one of those arrested, Ann Wright, who resigned her post as a senior diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Mongolia in 2003 in protest of the war with Iraq.
Also arrested was Daniel Ellsberg, a former high-level Pentagon analyst who in 1969 copied and leaked the Pentagon Papers - the 7,000-page study of U.S. decision-making in Vietnam - to Congress and the media.
Ellsberg didn't attend the August vigil because he thought the focus should be on relatives of those killed in Iraq, not peace activists who protested Vietnam. But he changed his mind after recently meeting Sheehan and came to Crawford, where he was arrested for the 70th time since the 1970s for various protests.
"Those of us who finally saw through the Vietnam war saw through this war, and all the actions that were necessary to end the Vietnam war will be necessary here," Ellsberg said. "I think the American people will get us out of this (war)."
**********************************************************
Open Letter to George Bush by CindySheehan Thu Nov 24, 2005 at 08:42:24 PM PDTNovember 24, 2005
George,
My family is spending our 2nd Thanksgiving without Casey thanks to you and your lies. I am spending the day crying on a plane on my way to come to Crawford to again ask you for a meeting.
I had been to Crawford for three weeks in the summer and to DC several times asking for a meeting with you and now I am returning to our vacation home to once again try and meet with you. I don't know why you like Crawford so much, but I love it because of the Camp Casey Peace Community that arose during August this year when you wouldn't meet with me. When I arrived back here at the Peace House I felt a sense of coming home and belonging to something that is far greater than any of us: a community that is filled with love, acceptance and peace. Is this what you feel when you return frequently to Crawford? Also, the beautiful Texas sunset stirred memories of our days at Camp Casey when we would close our activities each day with ex-Marine, Jeff Key playing taps among the crosses that honored our fallen. August was a miraculous time.
Since August,when I wanted to ask you the question: For what noble cause did you kill Casey and the others, over 200 more of our brave young men and women have been killed in the charade of Iraq. We can only guess how many innocent Iraqis have been slaughtered. You still have not answered my question. Many people in our country who have had sons or daughters killed, who have sons and daughters serving, and many concerned Americans want to know that answer to that question, also.
Also, since August we have discovered that American forces are using chemical weapons in Iraq. The Army admitted that white phosphorous was used as an offensive weapon against "enemy combatants." Oh really, George, since when did a weapon fired from a distance distinguish between enemies and innocents? Especially when it is so hard for soldiers on the ground to differentiate between enemies and innocents? It is hard for one to ignore if not look away from the grisly pictures of the burned citizens of Fallujah.
By the way, George, isn't the use of chemical weapons prohibited? Don't you always say that "Saddam is a bad man" for using chemical weapons on his own people? So is it okay for you to use chemical weapons in Iraq because the citizens of Iraq are not "your people?" Saddam should be on trial for killing so many innocent people. Bombing cities where innocent civilians live and using chemical weapons are war crimes. Does that make you an alleged war criminal? Move over, Saddam. There is a new bad guy in town.
George, for the sake of the Iraqi people, don't you think it is time to bring our military forces home from Iraq? It is time to stop hypocritically and callously killing them to spread your brand of freedom and democracy. You know the kind of freedom and democracy you like? Where no open dissent is allowed; no one is able to petition the government for redress of wrongs; where our emails can be read and our library reading materials checked up on and analyzed? Your kind of freedom and democracy smears brave patriots as cowards and traitors for daring to speak out against your murderous policies. A majority of Americans don't even want your brand of freedom and democracy. What makes you think the Iraqi people want it?
George, also for the sake of our wonderful, brave, and very young people who proudly wear the uniform of the USA: it is time to bring them home. They have done everything you have asked of them. They have also done things that make at least onequarter of them very sick in their hearts and souls. Some of them have been so needlessly and avoidably killed and some of them are coming home with pieces of them missing. For what George? What noble cause?
George, you had everything handed to you on a silver platter. I don't blame you for using your family influence to get out of serving in Vietnam. I don't blame anyone for trying to get out of that disastrous and totally evil war. What I do blame you for is killing my son in another disastrous and evil war. Casey had nothing handed to him on a silver platter. He was willing to serve his country and to even die to save his buddy's lives. You should be ashamed of yourself for exploiting Casey's honor and the honor of everyone in our armed forces of which the post of Commander in Chief was also handed to you on a silver platter. Ask your Vice President if he thinks that Casey may have had other "priorities" besides dying at 24. Ask you mama if her "beautiful mind" is bothered yet. Mine is.
Did you have the sacred luxury of having your two daughters at home with you today for Thanksgiving dinner? Did you proudly tease with them during the meal like my family used to do? Did you tell old funny family stories and laugh about old times? Did you, George? Our family did share a meal together and we tried to be merry, but you know what? It's not the same with a very valuable family member gone forever. Casey's premature death puts a damper on all of our days, but the holidays are especially hard.
Are you and Laura going to hit the sack tonight and toss and turn or stare out of the window worried that Jenna or Barbara may be killed in Iraq? Are you going to jump at every single ringing of the telephone, or hearts beating wildly run to every knock at the door; fearing the Angel of Death in an Army uniform? I didn't think so. Two soldiers were killed today in Iraq, George. I hope to God their families aren't just sitting down to enjoy their meal when the grim reapers come to tell them their holidays are ruined for ever. There is no good time for such horrendous news.
I ask you to again do the right thing.
Bring our troops home from Iraq. Don't kill others because your murderous policies have already killed so many. How many deaths do you think will be enough before Casey's is "justified?" 58,000? One was too many.
I will tell you what noble cause Casey died for, George: true and lasting peace. Please dignify all of the deaths by finally stopping the barbaric killing: before you ruin too many more holidays for way too many more people.
Cindy Sheehan
Camp Casey Peace Mom
Founder of Gold Star Families for Peace
Founder of Camp Casey Peace Foundation
No comments:
Post a Comment