I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.
crossposted from Dailykos
I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.
The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?
However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong."
I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt "two" party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don’t see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person’s heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?
I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an "attention whore" then I really need to be committed. I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither. If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others. I have spent every available cent I got from the money a "grateful" country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey’s brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings. I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.
The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.
I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won’t work with that group; he won’t attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.
Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people. However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children’s children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system. George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.
I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble.
Camp Casey has served its purpose. It’s for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford , Texas ? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too...which makes the property even more valuable.
This is my resignation letter as the "face" of the American anti-war movement. This is not my "Checkers" moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.
Good-bye America ...you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.
It’s up to you now.
Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, who was KIA in Iraq on 04/04/04. She is a co-founder and President of Gold Star Families for Peace and the author of two books: Not One More Mother's Child and Dear President Bush.
| 62 comments |
|
|
Cindy is right about too many democrats Cindy is right about the failure of too many democrats to be anything more than "tweedledee, tweedledum" when it comes to America's policies. Even in nazi Germany, it was only a lonely few who stood in opposition to that country's policies (until after the disaster, of course). by
charlie jackson (9 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 10 comments)
on Monday, May 28, 2007 at 10:50:20 PM
|
|
The author is a fifty-something year old physician soon to be expatriated. |
Dangerous to live among because they are weak You're correct about both the ominous nature of this development with Ms. Sheehan, and about the pain to follow. I don't see it as an "if" anymore, just a "when". I personally don't feel very close to the American people any more, and I sure don't trust them to solve any problem. For me, there is only one solution, and it means disentraining myself from America and its people. They are dangerous to live among because they are intellectually and morally weak, and that's not changing any time soon. by
Yaybob (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 174 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 1:53:43 PM
|
|
Retired programmer. Full time leftist and revolutionary. |
Don't think twice, it's all right I have to tough it out here -- too old, too poor to consider the move. I used to think we could at least work toward softening the landing, but even that seems impossible now. We are going to crash. Hard. I think the only thing left to do is get the attention of young people and tell them to get the hell out of here. Learn Spanish, Portuguese or Chinese and split. by
Max Ward (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 43 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 9:04:12 PM
|
|
The author is a fifty-something year old physician soon to be expatriated. |
Good title to your post. Emigration is not possible for everybody and is not right for everybody. And it will allow us to escape only some of the neocon's influence, not all of it. But being in America for me now is like being in a car with the windows rolled up after somebody had a couple of chalupas. I could tolerate it if I had to, up until the dragooning and torture part, anyway. But I don't want to. This country and its culture are benumbing, benighting parasites, and I prefer not to sacrifice the opportunity to find a better life in a healthier culture with better people in which to live out my remaining years (I'm in my early fifties). America and I have irreconcilable philosophical differences. It stands for global war, fascism and climatological destablization, and I don't. We fell out of love, and I have nothing to offer it anymore. by
Yaybob (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 174 comments)
on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 at 7:43:16 AM
|
|
Thank you Cindy, for your leadership and courage. by
Samuel Bryan (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 141 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 2:38:47 AM
|
|
Veteran, Political Conultant, writter. single, GWM. Escaped from Kentucky and student working on my Masters. Living in Indianapolis. |
There was reason for Casey's Death, it was greed Cindy should be a hero to all of us. Her son died son for money. Moeny that is going into Bushco's pocket, (blood money). I hate to see her give up. The November election didn't change anything in DC. I feel like my party has left me also. I am disabled vet. It made me angry when the idiot in chief went to the Arlington. he had no right to be there. Cindy plase find someone to pass the torch onto by
Gareece (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 46 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 4:19:53 AM
|
|
Love is my religion; the world is my family. |
Thank you Cindy You are one brave human. If we had a more like you and Michael Moore this country and the world might really wake up. I wish you inner peace as that is the only real peace in this world, the peace that passes all understanding. We will only see peace in the world when enough humans decide to transcend fear and separation with unity and unconditional love. When enough people find that consciousness of inner peace collective consciousness will change the world but not until. Peace is not just the absence of violence but an inward journey that comes with every breath. I believe each of us creates our own universe by the choices we make. Each of us must first choose to be the peace that we would want to see in the world. Aloha and Namaste, Cindy. Love is my only religion; the world is my family. by
carl (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 129 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 5:43:31 AM
|
|
|
...beautifully put Your words are lovely :) Namaste (a favourite word of mine also) Tina Louise by
tinalouise (1 articles, 1 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 21 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 1:05:42 PM
|
|
A writer is a rogue goose. All other gees fly in a flock formation; every goose knows his place and time for honking. The rogue goose is undisciplined. He leaves the formation indiscriminately to have a look at it from aside. He roams back and forth, takes a peep at the leader, honks a little bit from behind, distracts everyone and writes on what he sees. Time passes and as he wants to return back to his place he discovers someone else there. Thus he either has to wait until they land for rest... |
I repeat my comment here again As a person whose grandfther died prematurely because of the war, whose parents are traumatized forever by being refugees in the WWII, whose son has a permanent trauma from the Nuclear disaster, who himself was a refugee, lost a country and saw people committing suicide because of total despair I sincerely and forewer owe Cindy Sheehan and others like her for giving me hope that US people are still 'free aandd brave' I salute Cinddy Sheehan no matter what she does. by
Mark Sashine (54 articles, 19 quicklinks, 252 diaries, 3605 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 6:44:51 AM
|
|
A writer is a rogue goose. All other gees fly in a flock formation; every goose knows his place and time for honking. The rogue goose is undisciplined. He leaves the formation indiscriminately to have a look at it from aside. He roams back and forth, takes a peep at the leader, honks a little bit from behind, distracts everyone and writes on what he sees. Time passes and as he wants to return back to his place he discovers someone else there. Thus he either has to wait until they land for rest... |
and one more ' If the country you love had become a coven of criminals and the heaven for torturers and executioners wipe its dust off your feet because your love for it is helpless' F. Durrenmatt, 'Romul Augustul' by
Mark Sashine (54 articles, 19 quicklinks, 252 diaries, 3605 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 6:47:56 AM
|
|
|
Not Wasted Casey's life was not wasted. It acted as the springboard for Cindy's activities on all our behalf. Her abdication as "the face" means the torch has been passed. Are we men and women enough to accept it? (Great Durrenmatt quote, Panurg.) by
Russ Wellen (58 articles, 1029 quicklinks, 66 diaries, 335 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 7:25:52 AM
|
|
electronic technician, truth seeker |
I Salute You Cindy, I salute you.... one of the few brave Americans we have. Bob by
Bob Gormley (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 941 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 7:32:59 AM
|
|
Born and Bred in South Central LA. I spent 12 years working in the IT Dept. for federal contractor Northrop-Grumman on classified and high security projects such as the B2 Bomber. After Northrop I became an IT consultant with the state of California in Sacramento and worked on projects with the Dept of Consumer Affairs and CalTrans, as well as projects for Kaiser Permanente in Oakland. Now living in Los Angeles with my own independant web design company where I operate the Truth 2 Power Online R... |
Thanks Cindy for your efforts your heart and your courage. You're not the only one who seems to have been massively stung by critics on your own side of the argument looking at what <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/28/144119/025">Greg Palast</a> has written today. <>Whenever you go out on a limb and take a stand, there will always be people trying to saw it off. <> And it can be so hurtful when the people with the saw are on your side, be they in congress, Dkos, DU or here. When Congress voted to temporarily go along with the President Tragic War I said <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/25/115052/804">Don't Panic</a>. But it wasn't panic, it was Rage that people were feeling. Now it's despair and betrayal. <>They've lost hope. You've served your tour in this battle well, I salute you. We will continue proudly and remember the courage you've shown us all. Vyan by
F. Vyan Walton (65 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 12 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 8:52:19 AM
|
|
|
Millions of Americans are with you Thank you for standing on principle, even when it was painful. The mainstream media has become a propaganda arm of the Bush administration, and some liberal blogs are just not worth paying attention to. by
John R Moffett (83 articles, 17 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 650 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 9:19:42 AM
|
|
Christian anti-war activist |
you are a hero Cindy You are a hero and have done for Americans what they cannot do for themselves, which is to speak against war and the devastation and misery that results from war. American troops are not fighting for our freedoms, they are pawns as part of the industrial-military complex, for power and money by politicians and magnates. Shame on American Christian churches for not speaking against war, they have capitulated to the secular state and are morally bankrupt. You are a hero Cindy Sheehan for what you did. by
danhshubin (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 9:22:55 AM
|
|
*I like posting on OpEdNews.Com because is one of the few websites that let's me speak about REALITY without trying to make me be "PC" because political correctness is EVIL!
|
well... Mrs. Sheehan is right in that THE DUOPOLY IS THE PROBLEM. I say we must find a way to destroy it.... by
BenMarbleMD (22 articles, 0 quicklinks, 217 diaries, 322 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 9:27:48 AM
|
|
A retired Navyman who has ran for 1st. District of Tennessee as a Green with a primary plank of Impeaching Bush/Chaney and a secondary plank of listening to and serving people instead of corporations. He now has accepted the position of FOAVC Coordinater for TN. He also is a direct decendent both on his Mothers and Fathers failies of members of the Seneca Nation. |
Don't give up. Cindi,
by
Robert N Smith (11 articles, 0 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 121 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 10:44:58 AM
|
|
I live in the heart of America, and am haunted by the saying:
|
Perhaps our country's not worth saving Cindy, I met you via email way before the media circus. We discussed 'The Mask of Sanity." You fought those "masks" with everything you had, and only time will show your impact. If time shows that the world was not worth saving, that is no reflection on your superior efforts. Kurt Vonnegut, who went through the horrors of Dresden, tried too. To what success? In a world worth saving, you should have never had to make the effort. Thank you, and those who assisted you, for trying. Perhaps Kurt's last book, “A Man Without a Country," that concludes with a poem called “Requiem” which has these closing lines, says it best: When the last living thing has died on account of us, how poetical it would be if Earth could say, in a voice floating up perhaps from the floor of the Grand Canyon, “It is done.” People did not like it here. ----------- Respectfully, Edward Ulysses Cate by
Edward Ulysses Cate (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 221 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 10:54:47 AM
|
|
The author is a fifty-something year old physician soon to be expatriated. |
What a great name! Ed U Cate by
Yaybob (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 174 comments)
on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 at 7:29:57 AM
|
|
Jackson Thoreau is a Washington, D.C.-area journalist/writer. His latest book, "Born to Cheat: How Bush, Cheney, Rove & Co. Broke the Rules, From the Sandlot to the White House," debuted at the Take Back America conference in June 2007. More info on the book is at http://www.geocities.com/jacksonthor/cheat.html |
People in peace movement are human, not saints To Cindy,
by
Jackson Thoreau (30 articles, 0 quicklinks, 13 diaries, 24 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 11:21:47 AM
|
|
I do not regret voting for Nader in 1996, 2000 or working for Nader's ballot access in 2004. I voted for and supported the best man, not a lessor evil. |
Join My Campign Cindy DRIVE THE SPEED LIMIT. If those who opposed the war simply drove the speed limit, they would reduce fueling the war. I earned 100 extra miles per tank of gas, and hopefully saved a troop or two. Join me! by
Granger (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 8 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 11:31:33 AM
|
|
|
The source of their anger is fear Of course the protectors of the status quo will lash out against anyone exposing the deceit that is so rampant in our government and media. I hope Cindy takes the time to rest and heal. I hope she knows how much she is appreciated. Among the many things I am grateful for is her being a "peace amabassador" with other countries. She has done more to counteract the negative view of Americans as stupid sheep than anyone else. by
Kathlyn Stone (42 articles, 227 quicklinks, 27 diaries, 665 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 11:44:21 AM
|
|
I'm an 81 year old widow, of close to eight years. Still have an active (and social activist) mind. With six offspring,I've spent a good part of my life so far, raising a family, and enjoying the fruits of their own families. Sixteen Grand kids and six Great, with two more due. My favorite quotation is 'Nothing By Chance.' It's from a book by Richard Bach. The signature at the bottom of my e-mail is "Walk in peace, balance and harmony." |
Peace Cindy Cindy, How we'll miss you, and your activism, but your spirit will always lead those of us trying to live up to your example. I will continue in your name. I am among those officially removing myself from the Demlican party. We are in the process now of choosing an official name, as Independent doesn't work too well. Meantime, I'm checking out the American Revolutionary party, on-line. It will do as my new designation 'til the group finds and agrees on a new name for a new party. Good luck Cindy, and know that many of us will always appreciate what you started in America. by
Pat Herrick (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 167 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 12:03:28 PM
|
|
I am a wife, mother, former teacher living in SLC, UT. I love history and am an avid reader. My hearts desire is to see an end to the horrors of this world. |
New Party Please ad my email to your mailing list. I too am looking for a new party. I am looking at Richardson right now because he has experience, has done a good job in NM as Gov. and might actually have a chance at winning. We don't have any options right now but we can't take a chance that the repugs will stay because we pulled votes from our sickly dems. jburn83468@aol.com by
Judy Burnett (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 15 comments)
on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 4:48:09 PM
|
|
A 'senior' world citizen concerned about how badly our shared domicile is being ravaged by imperialists, dominionists, neo-cons and evangelists. |
"Good Riddance Attention Whore" by Cindy Sheehan Once upon a time there was a Republic with a Senate & Senators but then the Senators were corrupted by the booty (gold, slaves and property) acquired from invasions in to the lands of their neighbors, near and distant, wars which were justified in the Senate as being in defense of the Republic's 'legitimate' interests. Their neighbors, near and far, were subdued and classified as Vandals and barbarians. The Republic's Media in the Colosseum glorified and made acceptable blood sports and pure gore! When protesting voices were raised asking simply for SANITY, these voices were silenced even if they were Brutus', Cassius' and Cicero's! Soon the Republic became an Empire spreading terror over 3 continents. This Empire believed it was invincible and feared no god, not even the God that Peter and Paul warned them about and even after one of the Emperors coverted! Then the inevitable happened and the wrath of God descended upon the Empire. Valerian the Vandal and Attila the Hun appeared on the horizon and the rest is history. Cindy, do not lose heart. God is going to take over where you left off. It is your&nb |