Some of what she said below.... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18919775?GT1=9951 "Sheehan resigns as Iraq war protest leader Mother of fallen soldier drained by biting criticism, partisan politics FORT WORTH, Texas - Cindy Sheehan, the soldier’s mother who galvanized an anti-war movement with her monthlong protest outside President Bush’s ranch, says she’s done being the public face of the movement. “I’ve been wondering why I’m killing myself and wondering why the Democrats caved in to George Bush,” Sheehan told The Associated Press by phone Tuesday while driving from her property in Crawford to the airport, where she planned to return to her native California." ... "In what she described as a “resignation letter,” Sheehan wrote in her online diary on the “Daily Kos” blog: “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.”" ... "‘Heartbreaking conclusions’ On Memorial Day, she came to some “heartbreaking conclusions,” she wrote. When she had first taken on Bush, Sheehan was a darling of the liberal left. “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,” she wrote. “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,'” the diary says. Sheehan criticized “blind party loyalty” as a danger, no matter which side it involved, and said the current two-party system is “corrupt” and “rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland.” Harsh national assessment Sheehan said she had sacrificed a 29-year marriage and endured threats to put all her energy into stopping the war. What she found, she wrote, was a movement “that often puts personal egos above peace and human life.” But she said the most devastating conclusion she had reached “was that Casey did indeed die for nothing ... killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think.” “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,” she wrote. “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.” " Very, very, VERY true...... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
She's as ugly as a fence post, it's no wonder no one cared about her or her stupid protects. Her son must be rolling over in his grave in shame and disgust. Baron Max
So you judge her by her appearance. What about her words? Are they significant at all? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! What's your IQ? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I'm sure he enjoyed the pointless war. Right? Baron... have your children ever died in a pointless war?
Yes, actually. Anyone that I consider ugly, I don't listen to. What words?? She's too ugly to listen to, so I've never heard any words that she/it might have spoken through her/it's ugly teeth. 24. He volunteered for the US Army. If he didn't understand what he was doing, then he not only has an ugly mother, but he's stupid, too ...just like his ugly mother. I'd be proud if a son of mine were to volunteer and fight in America's wars. Baron Max
I judge Sheehan by her words, and she struck me as more than a little prone to unhelpful hyperbole. Worse, still, she was prone to off-putting and offensive hyperbole. She was, imo, not a good spokesperson for the anti-war movement as a result. Calling Bush the "world's biggest terrorist" or "that lying bastard," saying that the administration was leaving people on roofs to die in New Orleans and claiming that the war in Iraq is conducted for oil and for the benefit of Israel isn't going to sway anyone. She's not quite the crazed antisemite some commentators attempt to paint her as, but she is not rhetorically sophisticated enough to stand as a credible leader of the antiwar movement.
She's the mother of a fallen soldier though. She has first-hand personal experience on the consequences of war. That's her greatest asset I would say. And she wouldn't have done what she did if she hadn't had that experience.
Why one need to put the truth in the likable wrapper distorting its essense? Oh, I've forgot, that's what is politics about. But she never pretended to be a politician.
She did her son the ultimate dishonor by going out and fighting/denouncing the very cause he considered wortyh enough to give his life, all the while using his death as a shield to criticism and a magnet to publicity. The world is a better place with her quiet and out of the spotlight.
Nope. But I have a loved one who served in, which is close enough. And I know he'd be sickened if he died and I used him to get my face in papers.
Most Americans don't have sons/daughters blown to pieces. I even don't expect them to be able of imagining themselves under carpet bombing, napalm or a missile attack. They have A-bomb, largest military, they "own the world", it's all about "security" of their fat arses. As long as "owning" doesn't affect their paychecks (actually, it does) and they can live as though nothing happens (except running to Home Depot for duct tape), who cares - "Support our troops. Zeig Heil!"
Ms Sheehan performed a much-needed service, and I hope that posterity gives her the credit she deserves.
That is certainly true, and that is the qualification (along with her passion) that got her into a position of prominence, but if the goal is to be a persuasive advocate against the war, that's where she falls short. We're all sorry for her loss, but that loss and her passionate opposition really make her better suited to fill a different role than the "public face of the anti-war movement. She should limit herself to speaking about her loss and her hopes that no other mother has to experience the same thing in the future (even though that is an appeal to emotion, but emotions are real things and her loss and the emotional trauma is a real "cost" of war, thus relevant) and less personally insulting Bush (hich is merely launching ad hominems) and she certainly should *not* presume to say things like: First, because (my personal pet peeve, therefore more importantly Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!), people who die do not become "angels." More seriously, because she cannot possibly presume to speak for the dead, let alone presume that dead soldiers change their views on politics to match hers (since most servicemen support the war, as I understand it). IMO, she makes the anti-war movement look silly, despite some very solid arguments in its favor.
It may not be popular, but it's all true. Bush's actions killed more innocent people for political ends (rather than defense) than all the Al Quida attacks. He did leave people to die in N.O.. The war is at least partially about the oil and perhaps in a minor way about Israel (or at least those righties aligned with the most radical right in Israel).
