Peace activist Cindy Sheehan (R) argues with a police officer before being arrested for blocking the door to the U.S. Mission offices in New York March 6, 2006. Sheehan, whose son was killed while on active military duty in Iraq, was arrested with three others while trying to deliver a petition to stop the Iraqi war to representative of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.
REUTERS/KEITH BEDFORD
Peace activist Sheehan arrested in NY protest
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist whose son was killed in the Iraq war, was arrested with three other protesters in New York on Monday after a rally with women from Iraq.
Sheehan became a central figure in the U.S. anti-war movement last summer after she camped outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch and has been arrested at least two other times at protests.
On Monday, she had joined a delegation of women from Iraq at the rally at the United Nations, urging the United Nations to help prevent civil war in Iraq.
About 20 protesters went to the U.S. mission to the United Nations to deliver a petition with 60,000 signatures seeking an end to the war. Nobody from the mission received them so Sheehan and three other American women sat down in front of the building, refused to leave, and were arrested.
A police spokesman said they were expected to be released later on Monday.
The Iraqi women plan to deliver a petition to the White House on Wednesday. Earlier they held a news conference at U.N. headquarters calling for the United States to withdraw its forces.
Entisar Mohammad Ariabi, a pharmacist at Baghdad's Yarmook Teaching Hospital, wept as she told reporters of the hardships experienced by Iraqi women.
"U.S. occupation has destroyed our country, made it into a prison," she said. "Schools are bombed, hospitals are bombed."
"We thank you, Mr. Bush, for liberating our country from Saddam. But now, go out! Please go out!" she said.
(Additional reporting by Irwin Arieff)
Cindy Sheehan, center, who became a peace activist after her son was killed in Iraq, is joined by Iraqi women Faiza Al-Araji, left, and Dr. Entisar Mohammad Ariabi while addressing reporters in front of the United Nations Headquarters prior to marching to the American Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Monday, March 6, 2006 in New York. Sheehan and three other anti war activist were arrested for tresspassing and resisting arrest after trying to deliver a letter to the American mission. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Peace activist Medea Benjamin is arrested in front the building which houses the American Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Monday, March 6, 2006 in New York. Benjamin, Cindy Sheehan and two other anti war activist were arrested after trying to deliver a letter to the American mission. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Peace activist Cindy Sheehan (R) speaks with Faiza Al-Araji of Iraq during a news conference to talk about ending the U.S. occupation of Iraq in front of the U.N. headquarters in New York March 6, 2006. Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed while on active military duty in Iraq, was later arrested with three others while trying to deliver a petition to stop the Iraqi war to representative of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. REUTERS/Keith Bedford
Cindy Sheehan, who became a peace activist after her son was killed in Iraq, reads a letter she and other peace activists tried to deliver to the American Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Monday, March 6, 2006 in New York. Sheehan and three other anti war activist were arrested after trying to deliver the letter to the American mission. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
From TruthOut.org
Editor's Note: t r u t h o u t's Rebecca MacNeice was on the ground in New York filming the events when the arrests took place. Rebecca described the police as very rough. She said that many in the crowd were thrown against a building including the press. She described the arrestees as being "drug off" in a rough manner. TO also spoke to Cindy Sheehan's sister Dee Dee Miller who spoke to Cindy after the arrest. Dee Dee said that Cindy indicated that the police were very rough with her and the other three arrested. She said that they were requesting an ambulance but we have not confirmed that anyone was seriously injured. Ann Wright who was also on the scene confirmed that the police were very rough and described that the arestees were carried with their arms behind their backs. She said at times that their arms were raised very high which could have caused an injury. We will have footage of the arrests very soon.
Steve Kent from Democracy Now! has provided us with the following update:
Here is an update on the arrest of Cindy Sheehan and three other activists at the UN today when they attempted to deliver a petition with 72,000 signatures organized by womensaynotowar.org to the United States mission. The four are being held now at Police Service Area 4, 8th Street and Avenue C, on their way to the DA's office. They are to be charged with resisting arrest. Sheehan is apparently rather injured from the arrest, according to Rev. Patti Ackerman who just called from custody, with a wrenched arm and bruises on her torso and head from being dropped on the pavement. After initially telling the activists they could deliver the petitions to a receptionist at the US Mission, where they had an appointment to do so, the New York police cited a change of plan from "higher up" and moved in to prevent the delivery and arrest the activists. In addition to rough handling of Ms. Sheehan, one of the Iraqi women with the group was punched in the stomach. This according to Rev. Ackerman on the phone. One broadcast producer with whom I spoke who saw footage of the incident said the police were "particularly nasty" in their handling of the women.
Way to go Cindy!!! They can arrest you but they will never shut you up!
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Cegelis vs. The MachineBy Cindy Sheehan
I am beginning to wonder what it is that such "Democrats" like Rahm Emanuel (Illinois), Chuck Schumer (NY), and Nancy Pelosi (Ca) are protecting in Iraq. What is it that they have at stake in keeping the occupation of Iraq going? Their constituents in every case are solidly anti-war and anti-Bush. They all come from the bluest of states and/or districts. Yet when faced with the chance to defend and promote antiwar candidates who agree with the majority of Americans that it's time to get out of Iraq this year, they go into overdrive to try to destroy their candidacies.
Take the case of Christine Cegelis. Cegelis opposed the war before it started. She supports single-payer health care and a strong transition to renewable energy.
She's pro-choice, and anti-CAFTA. And she has a strong grassroots following in her district. In short, Christine Cegelis is exactly the kind of candidate that the Democratic Party needs.
On top of that, in 2004 Christine took on the thankless task of running against arch-conservative Henry Hyde.
You remember Henry Hyde—the man whose name is on key right-to-life, the man who led the impeachment fight against Bill Clinton, the man who now chairs the International Relations Committee in the House and routinely buries antiwar Democrats' attempts to investigate the lies that took us into the Iraq Warthat then took Casey.
Surprisingly, Christine racked up 44% against Hyde, despite being outspent by 4-1. She immediately announced that she would run again, and faced with her continuing strong grassroots opposition, Hyde decided to retire.
What was her reward for this service? Not an infusion of money to help her win an open seat against a former Tom DeLay aide—No!
Instead, DCCC head Rahm Emanuel went out and found a candidate to run against her, a woman who did not even live in the district. Then, led by Emanuel, almost all the prominent Democrats in the country—John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and many others—have weighed in on behalf of Cegelis' opponent.
The new candidate deserves our praise for her service. Like my son, she served her country, and paid a high price for her service—and for that I applaud her. Tammy
Duckworth has served her country honorably in and out of the military and seems to be a good person. But here is her position on Iraq, straight from the
Republican talking points:
"The fact is that we are in Iraq right now and we can't simply pull up Stakes and create a security vacuum."
Duckworth is not a backer of setting a timetable in the Iraq War and getting out. And her lead sponsor is Emanuel, the man who infamously said, when asked about Murtha's effort to stop the war, that "At the right time, we will have a position."
Christine Cegelis is a true progressive on all the issues, and, in here is her
position on the illegal and immoral occupation of Iraq:
"The war in Iraq has taken the lives of more than 2,000 American men and women
and killed and injured tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians. More than
$200 billion tax dollars have been poured into the effort. Our credibility in
the eyes of the world has been severely damaged. The Bush Administration's
conduct in starting and executing this conflict has been a disaster from the
very earliest stages.
I have opposed this war from the start. But revisiting what brought us to this
disastrous point does not solve the problem. It is time for us to bring our
troops home. The Bush Administration must provide a comprehensive timetable for
withdrawal of the majority of our combat troops at the earliest possible date.
We must bring home our 46,000 citizen soldiers of the National Guard and Reserve
home as soon as possible, where they can continue their lives as our police
officers, our firefighters, our workers and our neighbors. The
U.S. must spell
out a reasonable and detailed plan to transfer power to Iraq's military and
police forces.
Defending our nation against the threat of terrorism is a top priority. The
issues of Iraq and terrorism are now the same. Al-Qaeda had no link to Iraq
before our invasion. Now it is a breeding ground for hatred and terror, and an
ideal recruiting pool for Al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks. Extending the
conflict in Iraq only gives terrorists more opportunities to foment hatred
against America. Instead of lessening the threat of terrorism around the world,
our war has accelerated it. We owe it to ourselves and the world to reverse this
trend, and to use our foreign policy muscle to truly lessen the global reach of
terror. A stable and sovereign Iraq can only occur when the
U.S. becomes an
ally, not an occupying force, and it is only then that we can rebuild trust in
the Middle East and with the Islamic communities of the world.
We need to let the Iraqis determine their own future. This means letting them
run their own political process, instead of meddling in it for our own political
gain. That also means pledging that we will not operate permanent military bases
in Iraq and renouncing any claims to Iraqi oil. We need to make sure that the
Iraqi people understand that we have no intention of permanently occupying their
country. If the Iraqis want international peacekeepers, we need to work
with
them to make that happen. The U.S. also needs to immediately involve
other countries in the effort to rebuild Iraq.
Dozens of countries have a stake in creating a stable Iraq.
The failures of this war must prevent the United States from making similar
mistakes in the future. And the only way we can make sure that lesson is learned
is to elect leaders who understand that lesson."
I agree with Christine Cegelis—we need our troops home as soon
and as safely as possible. George Bush, the Republican Party and too many Rubber-Stamp Democrats have created a security vacuum in the Middle East and in
our own country (does anyone remember Katrina and the devastation of the Gulf
States?)
And if we aren't careful to elect leaders who are strong on National
Security by also being strong on diplomacy and peace, Iran and who knows where
else is next.
As Iraq descends into a civil war prepared and propagated by the neocons with military bases and oil pipelines being constructed with very little reconstruction of
Iraq's infrastructure, 82% of the Iraqi people want the occupation to end and 49% think it's just fine to kill coalition troops to do so.
Meanwhile, our own children and grandchildren will be paying for the leadership vacuum created by both of our major political parties. Bushco has put
our country into deep and debilitating debt; they have made enemies for generations by their policies of terror; and we have lost and had maimed so much
of our national human treasure. Bushco is spying on and imprisoning Americans and other members of humanity without due process and selling our security to
the highest bidders.
In the 6th Congressional District of Illinois on March 21
st, a hometown grassroots progressive is being inundated by the elite forces of the D.C. Democratic Party. She and her team are being outspent and out-advertised, with money pumped in from out-of-the-district.
But Cegelis and her grassroots team are not being outworked; she has deep roots in the district, and has been running nonstop for 3 years now, and she is determined to pull an upset against the Big Boys that are trying to keep the Democratic Party from responding to its antiwar base.
You can help.
As I always say, it's not about "left and right." It is about "right and wrong." It's about good, not bad. It's about time to vote for peace.
It's about time for Congressional leaders like Christine Cegelis.
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