Cindy Sheehan speaks at a press conference in San Francisco, California, February 9, 2006. Sheehan, the anti-Iraq war activist whose son was killed in the conflict there, put an end to speculation that she would launch a long-shot bid to become a U.S. senator from California. REUTERS/Kimberly White
"It's Not Enough to Criticize the President's Policies"
By Cindy Sheehan
Thursday 09 February 2006
Remarks as prepared for delivery.
First of all, I would like to thank everyone for coming today, and send out to my daughter, Carly, a big Happy Birthday. She is 25 today. She is now older than Casey was when he was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004.
I would also like to thank everyone from all over the world who has sent me emails of support and encouragement to consider a challenge to Dianne Feinstein's Senate seat. I literally got hundreds of emails. I am overwhelmed with gratitude and love.
During the Vietnam War, Senator George McGovern stated the following on the Senate floor in September of 1970:
"Every senator in this chamber is partly responsible for sending 50,000 young Americans to an early grave. This chamber reeks of blood ... It does not take any courage at all for a congressman, or a senator, or a president to wrap himself in the flag and say we are staying in Vietnam, because it is not our blood that is being shed. But we are responsible for those young men and their lives and their hopes."
The lack of courage of America's present Senate is partially responsible for my son's death and the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people. Dianne Feinstein is one of the senators who expediently gave her Constitutional obligation to George Bush to invade an innocent country. Dianne Feinstein continues to vote to give George Bush more money to fund what she calls a "mistake." George Bush has been proven to be irresponsible with our young people's lives and with our tax dollars, but the senator keeps giving him more money and more power to prolongthe murder and mayhem in Iraq.
I am standing here today to say "enough." It is not enough to "criticize" the President's policies while you are handing him more money to fund his policies. It is like giving an addict more money to purchase drugs when you would like him or her to quit.
It is not enough to criticize the President's policies when more and more flag-draped coffins are coming home each day and more families are being devastated by these policies while other people are putting food on their tables and becoming fabulously wealthy off of Casey's flesh and blood and the sorrow of scores of others.
I am here today to call on not only Senator Feinstein, but our other senator, Senator Boxer, who heroically did not abrogate her responsibility to declare war to the President, to quit "figuring out" ways to bring our troops home and start sponsoring legislation. The last Senate vote for increased funding for the killing was 99-0. How about cutting off the President's means for killing? It is not that difficult. There is not one piece of legislation in the Senate currently in opposition to Iraq.
It is not "enough" to say that one is critical of the war in Iraq. I and The Nation magazine have called on every Democrat of good conscience in America to oppose "pro-war" Democrats in the upcoming elections. If an elected official voted for the war, votes for the funding of the war, and doesn't call for an immediate withdrawal of the troops, then that official is "pro-war," no matter what he or she says. We in America are fed up with rhetoric, and if the actions don't match the rhetoric, then we are not buying what they are selling anymore.
I have been weighing my decision to run for Senate here in California carefully, even before Camp Casey. My entire being since Casey was killed has been immersed in trying to end the occupation of Iraq before any other mothers have to fall on the floor screaming for their child who should not have been in harm's way in the first place. In making my decision whether to run or not, I had to decide which course of action would bring the troops home sooner. Is my being on the outside, putting pressure on the inside more effective, or would a Senate campaign help bring our kids home sooner? If I thought that running for Senate would bring our young people home more quickly,I would do it in aminute, but I am not convinced that that would be so.
I have decided not to run, but I am calling on all Californians and Americans to support all anti-war candidates to promote a paradigm of peace in the world, and I will be supporting and working for dozens of anti-war candidates all over the country. Our emphasis will be holding all of the pro-war candidates accountable for their tragic mistakes, and voting in representatives who will hold George Bush and his administration accountable for all of their mistakes in Iraq and here in America.
We Americans are looking for ways to become involved in our political process. We are tired of being complacent and we are so tired of business as usual.
Gold Star Families for Peace and Code Pink are sponsoring an International Women's Day for Peace on March 8 th. We are holding rallies and events all over the world that day. Specifically, we are trying to bring two Iraqi mothers whose children have been killed over from Iraq to speak at our event in Washington, DC, and they are being denied visas from the State Department. My freedom of speech and my civil rights were violated last week for wearing a t-shirt; now these Iraqi women who have paid the ultimate price for our leaders' stupidity and greed are being denied the right to come to America and tell their stories. We are urging America to call the State Department and demand that these two women be given visas.
We are also encouraging grass roots Americans to demand that the Senate start doing something to end the travesty in Iraq. We believe that it will be the women who lead our nation to peace and we are especially calling on America to put pressure on Hillary Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, and Barbara Boxer to be the leaders that our nation so desperately needs. It is time.
It is too late for me. My life and the lives of nearly 2300 American families have been tragically altered by the ennui of the Senate and the callousness and incompetence of this administration. I will never get to see my son or hear his voice again. His future was robbed needlessly from him. The complicity of the Senate has guaranteed that my future is one of pain and longing for my son's presence. It is not too late for the millions of people still in harm's way.
I, as an American, and as the mother of a hero, pledge to do what I can as a citizen to end the occupation of Iraq. I am not running against Feinstein, but I will continue to be a thorn in the side of the senator and anyone who is not stridently working for peace. That is my promise.
To get information to pressure the State Department and our senators and for information on the International Women's Day for Peace, go to: WomenSayNoToWar.org.
Thank you and God Bless America ... Please!!!
Cindy Sheehan, wearing a picture of her son, flashes a peace sign before a press conference in San Francisco, California, February 9, 2006. Sheehan, the anti-Iraq war activist whose son was killed in the conflict there, put an end to speculation that she would launch a long-shot bid to become a U.S. senator from California. REUTERS/Kimberly White
Cindy Sheehan, who became a peace activist after her son was killed in Iraq, announces she will not campaign for the U.S. Senate seat from California held by Democrat Dianne Feinstein, during a news conference in front of San Francisco City Hall, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006. (AP Photo/Jakub Mosur)
Cindy Sheehan's arrest
On Feb. 1 the Bangor Daily News reported that "... anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier in Iraq, was taken into custody by police in the House gallery just before Bush spoke to a joint session of Congress. She
was escorted from the visitors gallery after causing a disruption, a Capitol Police official said."
This was by no means the true story.
According to Sheehan, she was given a ticket by several congresspersons including Lynn Woolsey who brought her the ticket. She was seated in the fifth gallery, front row, fourth seat in. The person, who in a few minutes was to arrest her, helped her to her seat.
She had just climbed three flights of stairs after going to the bathroom and was warm so she unzipped her jacket. She turned to her right to take her left arm out, when the same officer saw her shirt and yelled "Protester."
He then ran over to her, hauled her out of her seat, and roughly (with hands behind her back) shoved her up the stairs. Her shirt was printed with "2245 dead. How many more?" She was roughly hauled off and arrested for "unlawful conduct." She was held for four hours in two jails before being released.
She wore the shirt to make a statement. The press knew she was going to be there and she thought they might scan the crowd and see the shirt. She did not wear it to be disruptive, she said, or she would have unzipped her jacket during President Bush's speech.
She said, "I don't want to live in a country that prohibits any person, whether or not he or she has paid the ultimate price for that country, from wearing, saying, writing, or telephoning any negative statements about the government." She will file a First Amendment lawsuit against the government.
Cary Bradford
Belfast
Family and community
We've all heard the song "That's What Friends Are For." Well, it has taken me three weeks to sit down and gather my thoughts over a letter to the editor written about Rep.
Eddie Dugay.
One doesn't have to agree with what he does or doesn't do for this community, but if you don't he has a phone number and an e-mail address for you to contact him and discuss your issues.
Bringing up a personal, financial situation that the family has fallen upon and referring to our town report for a tax situation had nothing to do with the political issues in question. That had to do with Rep. Dugay's entire family. Let us not forget that his wife and his two children had to read that.
We have all fallen upon tough situations in our lives, whether it be financially, emotionally or physically. I have always admired this community for coming to the rescue of those in need with support and understanding. Unlike people in the public eye, our hard times are sympathized with by the community, not spoken about, not rumored about or condemned.
If Dugay was not our representative, I know there would be genuine concern for a family who may have fallen on bad times. It wouldn't matter how, it would matter, because that family is part of this community.
If you disagree with the representative, contact him. The family and their personal affairs should not come under the same subject.
Jan Latvis
Cherryfield
Defense of the Conovers
This is in response to Peter Hilton's letter (BDN, Feb. 2) in which he assailed Garrett and Alexandra Conover's use of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. Hilton's opinion does not match the professional association that I've shared with the Conovers for years.
I first met the Conovers in 1981 during one of their winter trips on the Allagash. I remember that day well. It was middle of the winter, the temperature was minus twenty degrees and the wind had blown for days. When they stopped for a visit I didn't even know they were tenting near my residence on Umsaskis Lake.
During my 18 years as supervisor of the waterway I kept in close contact with the Conovers including a few trips that I was able to snowshoe with them on the river. With Alexandra
and Garrett I witnessed first hand just how difficult and rewarding winter travel can be.
During our acquaintance, I have found them extremely knowledgeable about winter survival as well as cooperative and dedicated to protecting the Allagash. In time they became volunteer for the Department of Conservation and wrote a proposal suggesting ways to manage the area for winter use.
The Conovers and their clients have traveled hundred of miles in Maine and in Canada using only snow shoes and skies while carrying gear on narrow toboggans. For Hilton to suggest that such travel is destructive or that the Conovers would do anything to harm Maine's Wild and Scenic River is just plain wrong.
The Conovers are about professionalism and education. Their work allows others to enjoy Maine's wild places as a part of nature. From a true picture of Alexandra and Garrett work please see their Web site at wwww.winterwalk2006.org.
Tim Caverly
Millinocket
Speeding trash haulers
I read with interest the letter, "Stench headed your way" (BDN, Jan. 28-29).
You folks from Brewer will soon get your chance to experience first-hand the aroma from "Sawyer Mountain." The odor you wrote about on Jan. 10 is nothing compared to what you will have on July 10, Aug. 10, etc.
Another situation will accompany the odor. Picture one of those trucks sitting at the traffic light on South Main Street where it meets Route 9. The liquid waste will run out of the tailgate and down the hill.
If your city council does not plan for policemen, as is the case in Hampden, you will notice an increased problem with speeding trash haulers. This does not lessen the "stench" because a good percentage of the trucks are overweight and they travel in packs.
These are but a few of the new problems associated with "trash treasure."
Jim Barrows
Hampden
Attention, law-breakers
Alberto Gonzales, top law enforcement official in the nation, when asked why the administration did not follow the law
when spying on citizens, replied that the law is too cumbersome (BDN, Feb. 6).
If you or I are caught breaking the law, can we also now simply reply the same?
Bruce Hautala
Bangor
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