Anti-War
Cindy Sheehan has been subjected to an unwarranted backlash by right-wing pundits because of her antiwar protests and some explosive statements she made about President Bush. Perhaps Sheehan, while mourning the death of her son, Casey, a U.S. soldier who died in the Iraq war, lashed out at the president, and decided to take her antiwar message to Crawford, Texas, after doing some fact checking on her emotional state. If so, these are likely some of the circumstances that drove her:
While searching the 600 or so sites identified by United States intelligence and Iraqi officials as places where the country's biological weapons may have been hidden, which was President Bush’s rationale for starting the war, to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, not a single speck of anthrax or other WMD has been uncovered since the war started more than two years ago.
While searching the 600 or so sites identified by United States intelligence and Iraqi officials as places where the country's biological weapons may have been hidden, which was President Bush’s rationale for starting the war, to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, not a single speck of anthrax or other WMD has been uncovered since the war started more than two years ago.
Dennis Kucinich, along with fellow Democrat Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) and Republicans Walter Jones (R-NC) and Ron Paul (R-TX), introduced the first bi-partisan bill calling for an exit strategy from Iraq (H.J.Res. 55). Around this bill and other Iraq withdrawal efforts Republicans are quietly meeting behind closed doors and progressive Democrats have formed the “Out of Iraq Caucus” to push for an exit strategy. Rep. Kucinich is leading the Congress to a real consideration of an exit strategy from Iraq.
Dennis Kucinch has most recently become well known to Americans as an anti-war, progressive Democratic presidential candidate in 2004 who emphasized worker rights, civil rights and human rights in his campaign. But, he has a long history of electoral success beginning when he was elected to the Cleveland City Council at 23 years old and Mayor of Cleveland at 31 – at the time the youngest Big City Mayor. He is currently serving his fifth term as a Member of Congress.
Dennis Kucinch has most recently become well known to Americans as an anti-war, progressive Democratic presidential candidate in 2004 who emphasized worker rights, civil rights and human rights in his campaign. But, he has a long history of electoral success beginning when he was elected to the Cleveland City Council at 23 years old and Mayor of Cleveland at 31 – at the time the youngest Big City Mayor. He is currently serving his fifth term as a Member of Congress.
On the 20th day, when the Rovian hordes of paid-for
astroturf political operatives and uncritical Fourth
Reich fanatics descended on Crawford, Texas, Cindy Sheehan used the "f" word.
I finally figured out George Bush's New reason for staying in Iraq. This reason has also been co-opted by the Move America Forward (forward to what: Fascism?) and the poor mothers who would be honored if their sons were killed in George Bush's war for greed and power," Sheehan wrote.
Sheehan's correct in recognizing that hardcore Bush supporters would gladly sacrifice their children to curry favor with the chickenhawk fuehrer, and they'd probably be willing to accept Hitler-style "Bunny Medals" to produce new warriors for the New World Order.
If fascism prospers, none dare call it fascism. Bush's response to the genuine grassroots criticism of the war is to also use the "f" word in the form of his upright middle finger.
I finally figured out George Bush's New reason for staying in Iraq. This reason has also been co-opted by the Move America Forward (forward to what: Fascism?) and the poor mothers who would be honored if their sons were killed in George Bush's war for greed and power," Sheehan wrote.
Sheehan's correct in recognizing that hardcore Bush supporters would gladly sacrifice their children to curry favor with the chickenhawk fuehrer, and they'd probably be willing to accept Hitler-style "Bunny Medals" to produce new warriors for the New World Order.
If fascism prospers, none dare call it fascism. Bush's response to the genuine grassroots criticism of the war is to also use the "f" word in the form of his upright middle finger.
In the "old days" of the U.S. peace movement, when many people focused on
the threat of a global nuclear "exchange" an organization called
Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) postulated what would happen if
a major American city was actually blasted by an atomic bomb.
The doctors described utterly horrific scenarios extending far beyond the numbers of dead and severely wounded. In plain words they described what the few survivors would experience: a landscape that not only had sustained unimaginable casualties, but which had also suffered the destruction of its transportation and health care infrastructure. No ambulances would arrive with lights and sirens to whisk away the suffering. Doctors, nurses, blood plasma, pain killers, antibiotics, bandages - all would be destroyed along with the hospitals and highways.
The doctors described utterly horrific scenarios extending far beyond the numbers of dead and severely wounded. In plain words they described what the few survivors would experience: a landscape that not only had sustained unimaginable casualties, but which had also suffered the destruction of its transportation and health care infrastructure. No ambulances would arrive with lights and sirens to whisk away the suffering. Doctors, nurses, blood plasma, pain killers, antibiotics, bandages - all would be destroyed along with the hospitals and highways.
The National Council of Churches USA is asking persons of faith to honor the men and women who have fallen in the Iraq war with a nation-wide pealing of bells Sunday.
Faithful America, the NCC's Web-based community of 100,000 faith-inspired activists across the country, is calling for a weekly nation-wide tolling of bells to extend the profoundly spiritual tone of the vigil of Gold Star mothers outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Tex. The President's five-week vacation in Crawford ends next week.
The use of bells to symbolize national support for U.S. troops and their families was suggested by consumer activist and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader whose organization Democracy Rising is working to stop the war, passed the idea along to NCC General Secretary Bob Edgar.
August 24 is the last Sunday Mr. Bush will be in Crawford, and Gold Star Families will join activist Cindy Sheehan in a prayer service outside the ranch. Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq, has attracted worldwide attention by camping outside the Bush ranch.
Faithful America, the NCC's Web-based community of 100,000 faith-inspired activists across the country, is calling for a weekly nation-wide tolling of bells to extend the profoundly spiritual tone of the vigil of Gold Star mothers outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Tex. The President's five-week vacation in Crawford ends next week.
The use of bells to symbolize national support for U.S. troops and their families was suggested by consumer activist and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader whose organization Democracy Rising is working to stop the war, passed the idea along to NCC General Secretary Bob Edgar.
August 24 is the last Sunday Mr. Bush will be in Crawford, and Gold Star Families will join activist Cindy Sheehan in a prayer service outside the ranch. Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq, has attracted worldwide attention by camping outside the Bush ranch.
Every year, right around the anniversary of 9/11 the Bush administration spins the public about the reasons 1,864 American soldiers have died fighting for a lie in Iraq. And every year, it’s just as crucial that the media tell the public the truth about the reasons the war was started.
So here goes.
The disinformation campaign the White House launched last weekend should leave no doubt that the war in Iraq was hatched well before 9/11 and is part of a broader strategy to remake the entire Middle East into a so-called Pax Americana, a blueprint drafted by hardcore neoconservatives years ago that called for overthrowing Middle East dictators and installing U.S. approved governments in the region.
It’s entirely likely that the administration will attempt to sell Congress and the public another war in the near future, the next likely target being Iran. How else should we interpret the following statement Bush made in Idaho Monday, during a speech he made to Veterans of Foreign Wars?
“The third part of our strategy in the war on terror is to spread the hope of freedom across the broader Middle East,” Bush said.
So here goes.
The disinformation campaign the White House launched last weekend should leave no doubt that the war in Iraq was hatched well before 9/11 and is part of a broader strategy to remake the entire Middle East into a so-called Pax Americana, a blueprint drafted by hardcore neoconservatives years ago that called for overthrowing Middle East dictators and installing U.S. approved governments in the region.
It’s entirely likely that the administration will attempt to sell Congress and the public another war in the near future, the next likely target being Iran. How else should we interpret the following statement Bush made in Idaho Monday, during a speech he made to Veterans of Foreign Wars?
“The third part of our strategy in the war on terror is to spread the hope of freedom across the broader Middle East,” Bush said.
President Bush has successfully avoided making the war in Iraq personal. Americans are denied photos of the returning caskets, the injured enter Walter Reed Medical Center in the dark of night so no one can see, the president attends no funerals but only appears in front of select audiences who are chosen to cheer him on. This summer that began to change with Cindy Sheehan – her encampment during the president's vacation began to personalize the impact of the war. Now, joined by other mothers and fathers – more faces come before Americans of families affected by the war. In the article below, Ralph Nader suggests another way to keep the 'Texas heat' on the president when he returns to work after his greater than one-month vacation – churches and other religious institutions should chime a bell each day for each of the fallen soldiers and add one for the Iraqi casualities. This will result in Americans realizing that every day there is death because of the U.S. occupation.
Tom Hayden is an anti-war activist who most recently was the lead author of “The Peoples Petition for Iraqi Peace.” He was a leader of the student, civil rights and anti-war movements in the Sixties, and the environmental and anti-nuclear movements in the Seventies. He served in the California Assembly from 1982-1992. He is currently a professor at Occidental College and social science adviser for Animo public schools: Venice, Inglewood, Lennox, South Central and Boyle Heights, California. He is the author of nine books, including “The Lost Gospel of the Earth,” “The Whole World Was Watching” and “Irish Hunger.” The New York Times cited his 1988 book, “Reunion,” as one of the best 200 of the year.
“Some people are trying to paint her as one crazy woman against the war, and she’s not. A lot of people feel like her and want to know what the noble cause is,” said Karen Meredith, referring to Cindy Sheehan.
Meredith should know. Her son, Ken Ballard, was killed in Iraq. And she’s going to Crawford, Texas this weekend.
However, the 51 year-old mother, whose only child was killed by small arms fire in Najaf, May 30, 2004, is making the trip from Mountain View California for somewhat different reasons than what prompted Sheehan to camp out near George Bush’s vacation home and wait for an answer.
“Personally, I don’t want to meet with the President. I don’t think there’s anything he could tell me,” Meredith said. “One of the reasons I’m going is because there’s a whole other story going on besides Cindy. I don’t want to take anything away from her,” but wants to keep the focus on the larger question of the war in Iraq.
Meredith should know. Her son, Ken Ballard, was killed in Iraq. And she’s going to Crawford, Texas this weekend.
However, the 51 year-old mother, whose only child was killed by small arms fire in Najaf, May 30, 2004, is making the trip from Mountain View California for somewhat different reasons than what prompted Sheehan to camp out near George Bush’s vacation home and wait for an answer.
“Personally, I don’t want to meet with the President. I don’t think there’s anything he could tell me,” Meredith said. “One of the reasons I’m going is because there’s a whole other story going on besides Cindy. I don’t want to take anything away from her,” but wants to keep the focus on the larger question of the war in Iraq.
Nationally, it was clearly a phenomenon when several truckers called into a radio show on Sirius Satellite to say that they were interrupting trips through central parts of the USA to head to Crawford, Texas. One even reported live as he experienced a (friendly) reception by the local sheriff, who helped him find a place to park his rig. Locally here in Oregon, it's not unusual to see cars with signs taped to their rear windows - printed in inch-high letters on an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper - that say variations on: "We're With Cindy!" or "Answer Her Questions!"
Ambassador Joe Wilson represented a political threat to Bush by credibly exposing part of Bush's lie and its methodology, and so Wilson had to be taken out by destroying his wife's career. Cindy Sheehan now represents a similar political threat, and for this job right-wing hate radio, Drudge, and extremist bloggers have zeroed in on her. Meanwhile, thousands of patriotic Americans, tired of being lied to by the Bush regime, are heading to Crawford, or visiting www.meetwithcindy.com or www.crawfordpeacehouse.org.
Ambassador Joe Wilson represented a political threat to Bush by credibly exposing part of Bush's lie and its methodology, and so Wilson had to be taken out by destroying his wife's career. Cindy Sheehan now represents a similar political threat, and for this job right-wing hate radio, Drudge, and extremist bloggers have zeroed in on her. Meanwhile, thousands of patriotic Americans, tired of being lied to by the Bush regime, are heading to Crawford, or visiting www.meetwithcindy.com or www.crawfordpeacehouse.org.