Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
TruthOut - Aug 20, 2005
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082005X.shtml
Hypocrites and Liars
By Cindy Sheehan
The media are wrong. The people who have come out to Camp Casey
to help coordinate the press and events with me are not putting
words in my mouth, they are taking words out of my mouth. I have
been known for sometime as a person who speaks the truth and speaks
it strongly. I have always called a liar a liar and a hypocrite a
hypocrite. Now I am urged to use softer language to appeal to a
wider audience. Why do my friends at Camp Casey think they are
there? Why did such a big movement occur from such a small action
on August 6, 2005?
I haven't had much time to analyze the Camp Casey phenomena. I
just read that I gave 250 interviews in less than a week's time. I
believe it. I would go to bed with a raw throat every night. I got
pretty tired of answering some questions, like: "What do you want
to say to the President?" and "Do you really think he will meet
with you?" However, since my mom has been sick I have had a chance
to step back and ponder the flood gates that I opened in Crawford,
Tx.
I just read an article posted today on LewRockwell.com by
artist Robert Shetterly who painted my portrait. The article
reminded me of something I said at the Veteran's for Peace
Convention the night before I set out to Bush's ranch in my
probable futile quest for the truth. This is what I said:
I got an email the other day and it said, "Cindy if you didn't use
so much profanity ... there's people on the fence that get
offended.
And you know what I said? "You know what? You know what, god damn
it? How in the world is anybody still sitting on that fence?
If you fall on the side that is pro-George and pro-war, you get
your ass over to Iraq, and take the place of somebody who wants to
come home. And if you fall on the side that is against this war and
against George Bush, stand up and speak out.
This is what the Camp Casey miracle is all about. American
citizens who oppose the war but never had a conduit for their
disgust and dismay are dropping everything and traveling to
Crawford to stand in solidarity with us who have made a commitment
to sit outside of George's ranch for the duration of the miserable
Texan August. If they can't come to Texas, they are attending
vigils, writing letters to their elected officials and to their
local newspapers; they are setting up Camp Casey branches in their
hometowns; they are sending flowers, cards, letters, gifts, and
donations here to us at Camp Casey. We are so grateful for all of
the support, but I think pro-peace Americans are grateful for
something to do, finally.
One thing I haven't noticed or become aware of though is an
increased number of pro-war, pro-Bush people on the other side of
the fence enlisting to go and fight George Bush's war for
imperialism and insatiable greed. The pro-peace side has gotten off
their apathetic butts to be warriors for peace and justice. Where
are the pro-war people? Everyday at Camp Casey we have a couple of
anti-peace people on the other side of the road holding up signs
that remind me that "Freedom isn't Free" but I don't see them
putting their money where their mouths are. I don't think they are
willing to pay even a small down payment for freedom by sacrificing
their own blood or the flesh of their children. I still challenge
them to go to Iraq and let another soldier come home. Perhaps a
soldier that is on his/her third tour of duty, or one that has been
stop-lossed after serving his/her country nobly and selflessly,
only to be held hostage in Iraq by power mad hypocrites who have a
long history of avoiding putting their own skin in the game.
Contrary to what the main stream media thinks, I did not just
fall off a pumpkin truck in Crawford, Tx. on that scorchingly hot
day two weeks ago. I have been writing, speaking, testifying in
front of Congressional committees, lobbying Congress, and doing
interviews for over a year now. I have been pretty well known in
the progressive, peace community and I had many, many supporters
before I even left California. The people who supported me did so
because they know that I uncompromisingly tell the truth about this
war. I have stood up and said: "My son died for NOTHING, and George
Bush and his evil cabal and their reckless policies killed him. My
son was sent to fight in a war that had no basis in reality and was
killed for it." I have never said "pretty please" or "thank you." I
have never said anything wishy-washy like he uses "Patriotic
Rhetoric." I say my son died for LIES. George Bush LIED to us and
he knew he was LYING. The Downing Street Memos dated 23 July, 2002
prove that he knew that Saddam didn't have WMD's or any ties to Al
Qaeda. I believe that George lied and he knew he was lying. He
didn't use patriotic rhetoric. He lied and made us afraid of ghosts
that weren't there. Now he is using patriotic rhetoric to keep the
US military presence in Iraq: Patriotic rhetoric that is based on
greed and nothing else.
Now I am being vilified and dragged through the mud by the
righties and so-called "fair and balanced" main stream media who
are afraid of the truth and can't face someone who tells it by
telling any truth of their own. Now they have to twist, distort,
lie, and scrutinize anything I have ever said when they never
scrutinize anything that George Bush said or is saying. Instead of
asking George or Scotty McClellan if he will meet with me, why
aren't they asking the questions they should have been asking all
along: "Why are our young people fighting, dying, and killing in
Iraq? What is this noble cause you are sending our young people to
Iraq for? What do you hope to accomplish there? Why did you tell us
there were WMD's and ties to Al Qaeda when you knew there weren't?
Why did you lie to us? Why did you lie to the American people? Why
did you lie to the world? Why are our nation's children still in
harm's way and dying everyday when we all know you lied? Why do you
continually say we have to "complete the mission" when you know
damn well you have no idea what that mission is and you can change
it at will like you change your cowboy shirts?"
Camp Casey has grown and prospered and survived all attacks and
challenges because America is sick and tired of liars and
hypocrites and we want the answers to the tough questions that I
was the first to dare ask. THIS is George Bush's accountability
moment and he is failing ... miserably. George Bush and his
advisers seriously "misunderestimated" me when they thought they
could intimidate me into leaving before I had the answers, or
before the end of August. I can take anything they throw at me, or
Camp Casey. If it shortens the war by a minute or saves one life,
it is worth it. I think they seriously "misunderestimated" all
mothers. I wonder if any of them had authentic mother-child
relationships and if they are surprised that there are so many
mothers in this country who are bear-like when it comes to wanting
the truth and who want to make meaning of their child's needless
and seemingly meaningless deaths?
The Camp Casey movement will not die until we have a genuine
accounting of the truth and until our troops are brought home. Get
used to it George, we are not going away.
*
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