Cindy Sheehan's interviews, essays, and speeches get better with each passing month, as her pain continues, her passion and insight grow, and the war that killed her son goes on – as the president who killed her son goes on being president. Cindy's latest book, "Dear President Bush," is the best of the three books by or about Cindy Sheehan that I've read.
"Not One More Mother's Child" was Cindy's first collection of essays. It's a longer book, including her writings from November 2004 to September 2005, along with some beautiful photographs and forwards by John Conyers, Thom Hartmann, and Jodie Evans. "The Vigil: 26 Days in Crawford, Texas" is a collection of newspaper reports on Camp Casey from the Lone Star Iconoclast, with a forward by Sheehan. These are both excellent books. One contains much of Cindy's brilliant and moving voice. The other comes close to setting the scene of what it was like to be in that place in Crawford last summer surrounded by so much emotion and so much hope.
Cindy's new book contains material from September 2005 through January 2006, plus a note from the editor, an introduction by Howard Zinn, and an excellent forward by Hart Viges, a veteran of the war on Iraq and a conscientious objector.
"I don't know," Viges writes, "how many innocents I killed with my mortar rounds. I have my imagination to pick at my brain for that one. But I clearly remember the call-out over the radio saying, 'Green light on all taxi cabs. The enemy is using them for transportation.'
"One of our snipers called back on the radio saying 'Excuse me, but did I hear that order correctly? Green light on all taxi cabs?'
Viges was so disturbed by what he did that he refused to continue. But he found a way to go on with his life, working for peace. He found that way through the strength created at Camp Casey
The first and best section of Cindy's new book is a lengthy interview she did with Greg Ruggiero last September, in which Cindy speaks brilliantly off the cuff, which is what she is probably best at. What rings through her remarks is not just the telling of her personal story (there's relatively little of that here), but the way in which her historical and political analysis is inflamed by her personal experience.
Amazingly – if you know and love Cindy – it takes 32 pages before she first curses. She does so when asked "What did you want to say to President Bush when you were camped outside his place in Crawford, Texas?"
Her reply begins: "Well, of course the first thing I wanted to ask was: 'What noble cause did Casey die for? Was it freedom and democracy?' Bullshit. He died for oil. He died to make Bush's friends richer. He died to expand American imperialism in the Middle East…." She concludes by calling for impeachment.
When Cindy said that last September, it had an air of radicalism about it. Many people still liked to talk about the war as a mistake or a miscalculation and to assume that in some sense the war had really been started for democracy, even thought that rationale had been produced after the original selling points of WMD and ties to 9-11 had failed and the war was well underway. (Imagine, though, if military recruits had to sign papers promising to defend the United States or to attack other countries if killing no more than a few hundred thousand people might possibly result in a democracy. What size would the US Army be?)
But Cindy didn't just renounce the latest lie or say her son had died for lies, she pointed to what had really motivated Bush, Cheney, their associates, and the Project for a New American Century. She even went so far as to say the word oil, which has always been the most obvious Big Truth and therefore has elicited the fiercest condemnation in defense of the Big Lie.
Eight months later, Cindy's remarks don't sound very radical. They sound pretty much in line with those of the 65 percent of Americans who disapprove of Bush's performance.
The two essays that Cindy has included on the failures of Democrats and, in particular, Hillary Clinton have become only more relevant. Clinton this week announced a fundraiser for herself being hosted by Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News, and praised George W. Bush to the media. A majority of Democrats have now voted for sanctions that mark the first step toward launching a war on Iran. Some of them should read this book. Maybe you should send your Congress Member a copy.
My favorite article, though, is Cindy's letter to Bush's Mama, Barbara Bush, in which she writes: "On March 18, 2003, a little over a year before my dear, sweet Casey was killed by your son's policies, you appeared on Good Morning America and said the following: 'Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?'
"Now I have something to tell you, Barbara. I didn't want to hear about deaths or body bags either. On April 4, 2004, three Army officers came to my house to tell me that Casey had been killed in Iraq. I fell on the floor screaming and begging the cruel Angel of Death to take me too. But the Angel of Death that took my son is your son."
David Swanson is the author of the upcoming book "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union" by Seven Stories Press and of the introduction to "The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. (more...)
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
I repeat here my letter to all the US fathers from 02/2006
Gentlemen,
The WWIII will start in about half a year. Iran stopped its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, our Donny Rumsfeld is treating a possible attack on Iran as an ‘option’ and we do have about 160000 combat troops right there, in the former Iraq. Our trigger- happy cowboys in Washington have no fear except for the fear of the Congress elections in the Y2006 and what a piece of luck: they now can unleash another war and escape the vision of losing power. Longterm? Who cares? Our Commander- In – Chief talks with God on a regular basis and he, of course, knows the truth. He has a plan. Off we go.
Gentlemen, I know you are busy. I know you have to work hard to feed your families and it only gets harder. I know you are tired as Hell. I know you watch the politics as a low level of entertainment somewhere between Raymond and Nascar. I know the soil goes from under your feet every day. I know you feel bad and the food is bad and your sex life stinks and the property values go down and healthcare goes up and your wife gets old and your children… they are marked for slaughter. In about half a year they will be all killed. Those, of course who will be drafted. And then others, and then others. ALL of them. Our government wants to kill them all.
Gentlemen, really, please pay attention. Our President is mad. A person who openly comes out and says to the public that he stopped being an Alcoholic at 41 because he saw Jesus is mad. Madness is contagious. Our Defense Secretary is mad. Really, why is he so mad about Iran and not about India or Pakistan or China? Who the Hell gave him a right to define who can have what kind of weaponry to defend their country? By the way, what of North Korea? And folks, you all have guns in the houses, right? Imagine you telling your loving neighbor that you don’t want him to buy a shotgun because you have one and that would be quite enough for both of you. Trust me, he will then buy the machine-gun.
We attacked another country and destroyed it. We killed hundreds of thousands. And then we are surprised that all the countries around started to arm themselves?
Gentlemen, have you ever noticed who are those troops you are so nicely supporting with all those ribbons at the asses of your cars?. They are children. We, you, have sent the children, the first generation youth to do your dirty job. Gentlemen, if you please only be men. Accept the truth: it is a dirty war and our children are doing a dirty job. And now the Moloch of War wants more, much more.
European diplomats are not morons like ours. They have to take care of their people. That is why they do what they always have done when some nation goes nuts- they redirect the drive so that nuts and madmen fight each other. Our leaders are mad, right? Iranian leaders are fanatics- even better. The slick Europeans push our madmen to bring our youth to the slaughter of war with fanatics. They did that before. If we want to engage in endless confrontation – fine. If we are so stupid to unleash a WWIII with nukes- then at least our first blow will be not on them and then, when retaliation happens that will be not on them either. And retaliation will take place. IF OUR ARMY ATTACKS IRAN OR ONE OF OUR ALLIES ATTACKS IRAN WE WILL NOT SURVIVE! OUR CHILDREN AND THEIR CHIDREN IF ANY WILL CURSE OUR NAMES FOREVER!
Gentlemen, you all are fathers. You all want the same thing I want- that our children live long, have children and prosper. Please, be courageous, it is your time. STOP IT! Stop it for good! You have the power. In the 70s it was the fathers who stopped the war, not the youth although it was the youth who raised Hell. You know why? Because they came back. But if the WWIII starts they will not come back. There will be no grandchildren and there will be no family trees. There will be no Thanksgiving parties and no Johnnies coming home. Even coffins will not come home. Only Death.
Gentlemen, it is difficult, nearly impossible for an honest, hardworking American to consider that the real enemies of his and his children are not jihadists, criminals, alternative way people, liberals, communists or anyone else like that but the bloody vampires- in- charge. It is quiet a shock. But it is true. Step- by- step they sucked their teeth into your neck releasing poison, so that you don’t feel pain and at last they got to the vein- they are ready to consume your children. Listen to Condi, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Bush, Rove, Chertoff, PNAC. The drumbeat of war is afoot. But this is not the drumbeat of glory. It is the drumbeat of Death. Death to our children. Death to our hopes. Death to our families. Death to everything what makes the life worth living. Death to us.
It is a duty of a father to defend his family and children from the evil force that wants to destroy them. I urge you all to open your eyes and see who threatens your families. I urge you to come out as you all can and sweep the garbage off the beautiful land of ours. I urge you not to allow the War to be unleashed. I urge all the fathers to send letters to their Representatives in Congress and in those letters to state that they hold those people personally responsible for the welfare and lives of our children. I urge all the fathers to explain what will they do if those Reps and Senators do not do their job and let the madmen lead us into War. I ask all the fathers to hold those bastards accountable. Isn't it a shame that now a lonely woman, Cindy Sheehan does our job? Shame on us!
God bless you all, dear fathers of America at the moment of the greatest challenge we are facing- the challenge of saving our kids. God bless your children and your families. May they live long and prosper.
Read this, though if you don't believe me. It is
published by right-wing conservatives who have no
reason to love liberals.
http://www.antiwar.com/mcgovern/?articleid=8510
And for goodness sake- get your kid a passport.
Mark Sashine
by
Mark Sashine (72 articles, 19 quicklinks, 269 diaries, 4101 comments [131 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, May 11, 2006 at 8:14:28 AM
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