Hypocrites And
Liars
By Cindy Sheehan
Crawford, Texas
31 August, 2005
Green
Left Weekly
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 analyse 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, Texas.
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 Veterans
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, goddamn it? How in the world
is anybody still sitting on that fence? If you fall on the side that
is pro-George [Bush] 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 travelling 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 mainstream media thinks, I did not just fall off a pumpkin truck
in Crawford 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 left 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 or 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 July 23, 2002, prove that he knew
that Saddam [Hussein] didn't have WMDs 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 mainstream 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 scrutinise anything I have ever
said when they never scrutinise 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 WMDs 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.
[Reprinted from
<http//www.buzzflash.com>.
To learn more about Cindy Sheehan visit <http://www.meetwithcindy.com>
or about Gold Star Families for Peace, visit < http://www.gsfp.org.]