For Some, a Loss in Iraq Turns Into Antiwar Activism

[Rose Siding]

VACAVILLE, Calif. -- Five minutes after President Bush began his State of the Union address, Cindy Sheehan clicked off her television set.
...
But that night, live, in her living room, so close to her son's photos and medals on the foyer wall -- no. It was too much to hear the cheering for the man who had sent him to Iraq on the premise that Saddam Hussein stockpiled weapons of mass destruction. Casey Sheehan, a former Eagle Scout and altar boy who had joined the Army hoping to serve as a chaplain's assistant, was killed at age 24 in a war he wasn't sure why he was fighting. And more soldiers like him were dying every day. Where was the outrage?

Cindy Sheehan found it where she always does: in other families who have lost a loved one in a war they neither believe in nor want to believe will continue, without end, with the nation's acquiescence.

They call themselves Gold Star Families for Peace....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42498-2005Feb21.html

[kodi]

1. coffins in every hamlet is what pushed the anti-war movement of the 60s

until even small towns began to have coffins arrive regularly at the train depot people will not care.

[saigon68]

8. coffins in every hamlet COUPLED WITH Draft Cards in Every Wallet 1969)

As long as the average person has 3 square meals and a warm place to sleep, ----

Nothing of substance will grow so stop these maniacs.

Around 30,000 deaths, an economy in shambles and a MSM that finally awakes and opposes the Chimp

Thats what it will take.

[coloradodem2005]

2. Where does it end?

Have we not learned a damned thing? Not one goddamned thing? It wasn't even 40 years ago that Vietnam occurred. I feel for this woman. I think her son wasn't sure how he felt about the war nor how she felt. But I am getting really angry. But we haven't learned a damned thing.

[IowaGuy]

14. Some of us did learn.....

* was not one that did....for obvious reasons.

[coloradodem2005]

16. I know that some have learned.

But it's not only Bush. I don't expect anything great from him. But I am talking about us as a country in general. It just doesn't seem like we have learned as a country.

[coloradodem2005]

17. I know that some have learned.

But it's not only Bush. I don't expect anything great from him. But I am talking about us as a country in general. It just doesn't seem like we have learned as a country.

[LynnTheDem]

3. Pat & Cindy Sheehan; The Never-Ending Pain

We have tried to be quiet and not let it bother us when people from our community publicly offer their opinions on our family's tragedy. They write about how they disagree with us exercising our First Amendment rights and our responsibilities as Americans, that when we see a wrong that we speak out about it and try to right it.
We cannot be quiet anymore. We need to respond to a recent letter to the editor ("Baffled by attitude on Bush, war," The Reporter, Feb. 16).

First, if the writer is so "baffled" by our attitudes, why doesn't she just call us? Our phone number is in the book. Then we could explain it to her personally.

Second, it has been proven over and over again that this war was based on lies and betrayals by our government. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. There was no connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. We were told that the oil revenue would pay for the war - $200 billion in our tax dollars later.

Our son, Casey, was told that he would be welcomed to Iraq with flowers and chocolates as a liberator. Two weeks after he arrived he was welcomed by bullets and rocket-propelled grenade as an occupier.

more at link;

http://thereporter.com/search/ci_2579272

[countmyvote4real]

4. Oh man, that was a painful read.

First of all, I must say that their son, Casey, is a hero to volunteer to defend this nation in the first place. To do it under the ** administration is another thing, but it’s not like the MSM was providing any alternative truth. God bless him and his family left behind.

I agree with their sentiments that his death will be much more noble if we get the hell out of there. “Oops, my bad.” Is an understatement, but it is the wise thing to do. And so it’s no wonder that the invasion based on a false threat (lie) came under this administration. And this administration will never pull us out until their supporters’ oil contracts are secure. That’s the real truth. They are money grubbing bastards and now they want to purposefully bankrupt the Social Security program.

And why is that? Well, they reduced the taxes on the richest taxpayers and gave a pittance of that reduction to everybody else. And now they want to make that permanent. In order to do that, they have to dismantle (rob) the current social security program established by FDR.

For what? (See above)

Anyway, the best way to pay tribute to Casey and all the men and women like him that lost their lives in the misguided attempt to marry a manufactured threat with a re-election campaign (that was a powerful mouthful)…Well, the best way is to vote against any Republicans up for re-election.

That doesn’t mean that you have to vote Democrat. They have their problems, too. However, you should consider the dynamics of your precinct/district and decide if the values you want will be exemplified or compromised by your candidate of choice.

Hello to false Democrats.

[LynnTheDem]

5. Casey was stationed here at Ft Hood

I was lucky; my husband made it back.


Support the troops? Then DON'T SEND THEM TO DIE FOR LIES.

[leftchick]

10. such brave people...

I sure hope many more come forward...about 1500 more.. :(

Military Fatalities: By Time Period

Period US UK Other* Total Avg Days
4 46 0 1 47 2.04 23
3 579 26 27 632 2.93 216
2 717 27 58 802 1.89 424
1 140 33 0 173 4.02 43
Total 1482 86 86 1654 2.34 706

To View Period Details Click The Period Number
Time Periods Defined
Latest Fatality: Feb 21, 2005


Military Fatalities: By Month
Period US UK Other* Total Avg Days
2-2005 42 0 1 43 1.95 22

[SoCalDem]

6. That's how the VietNam protests got started.

People losing sons/fathers/husbands.. and the ones who FEARED losing them..

Wars are always "personal" in the end..

[Barkley]

7. Thank-you Rose for posting this article

I am so joyful when I hear that family members of vets are
taking action towards peace.

Gold Star Families for Peace actions are meaningful and are saving lives.

How inspiring!

Thanks again Rose!

[TheLastMohican]

9. Her son VOLUNTEERED for the Army

As long as there is a volunteer army, the general public will care less about how many coffins were shipped to Dover last night.
The Draft might change things a bit, but with volunteer army it is up to those being butchered whether to go or not. They made their choice.

[Tempest]

15. He didn't volunteer to die for a lie

If the soldiers were told before the war they were being lied to and Iraq was no threat, how many do you think would have agreed to go?

I'm willing to bet less than 5%.


They didn't make their choice, it was made for them. And it was a lie.

[Mad_Dem_X]

21. Thank you!!!

They were LIED TO, just like the rest of us were. If they had been told the truth from the start, very few of them would have wanted to go to Iraq.

[Tempest]

24. John Kerry said it best

"How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

- John Kerry, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971


Only in this case, it's Iraq and it's a lie, not a mistake.

[Cooley Hurd]

11. I cannot think of a group of people more deserving of the term...

..."patriots."

Can you imagine what it must be like for these poor families, after losing someone to this insane conflict, to then be confronted by pro-war ninnies calling them "traitors?"

Lila Lipscomb immediately comes to mind...:(

[xchrom]

12. life in america today.

reading this made me feel so strange.

since i was a viet nam war protestor -- the similarities between iraq and nam are obvious -- but the differences are enormous.

the lack of wmd's and the threat that saddam posed to the u.s. wasn't a secret. and yet that boy died for a conflict that the u.s called necessary for our defence.

the msm complicity in bushco's plan for the u.s. is astounding -- and sheehan's are living proof of the box we now all inhabit.

i am struck by the enormity of what we are all fighting here.
and i'm left feeling that something absurd{not trying to be funny at all} has happened to us all -- and that we have in part helped it happen.

[anarchy1999]

13. Well, we have helped.. Remember "Democracy is not a Spectator Sport"

and it is still supposed to be "we the people", so yes, when it is all said and done, "we" played a role and "we" are responsible. How did we let this happen?

[Auntie Bush]

19. "How did we let this happen?" Just like the Germans did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PATRICK]

22. That particular generation

so as not to insult ALL Germans was under tremendous stress and vulnerability from massive defeat and war reparations added to a great depression, a missing generation of men, and a constant sniping revanche by the military and industrial while the left was left to deal with the hopeless situation. In other words, what exactly is OUR excuse for not being held to account more than than those Germans. Too much affluence and condescension to RW capitalist triumphalism? Too much shrugging off the dirty politics and decline of the national forums and political life?

Such a shameless pathetic abdication is well matched by the absurdly buffoonish villains, weaker, dumber, more cowardly and perhaps less sane than the Nazis. And have they really scratched Jews off the hit list because of Wolfowitz and Sharon? Their current generation of leadership is perhaps even more the fool but in this sinking boat we will all pay the ultimate price.

Such a situation cries out for the shame of the weediest Bush enthroned.

[BeFree]

20. How did we let this happen?

America bacame a lynch-mob, that's how.

9/11 was the crime which incited the lynch-mob.

Anybody who gets in the way of the lynch-mob is in danger of becoming an object of the mob.

[anarchy1999]

25. Not a lynch-mob. Just GHWBush and old cronies in control and

following the Neo-Con plan along with the "Grand Chessboard", courtesy of good old "Ziggie B." and "Ollie N.", together.

True Patriots, one and all! Not.

Remember Smedley Butler and Ike, they both warned of the "military/industrial complex".

Go read Howard Zinn.

Corporatism = Facism

[tabasco]

26. Exactly. Stupid people with a need for revenge.

Half of America allowed themselves to be deluded into believing Iraq had something to do with 9-11. Even if they accept that fact, they still figure "all them ay-rabs are the same anyway." It doesn't matter to these vile people that our soldiers are dying for nothing.

The revenge I wanted was justice. Finding OBL is what I wanted. I wanted OBL and al-qaeda destroyed. But the oil barons had other plans and the simple-minded freepers went along with the scam. Freepers like to watch war on teevee. It makes them proud to be Americans to watch us humiliate a defenseless country.

But military recruiting is down. When are the freepers going to enlist??

[reprobate]

23. The MSM complicity is not astounding if you realise one thing

The MSM IS the power structure in this country. It's power is that of truth, and the power of replacing truth with their own version, for their own purposes. Rove and Co would be powerless without them, and next to unstoppable with them.

[Mark E. Smith]

18. The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution In Iraq

...is the name of the organization won the recent election there.

And for that we suffered 13,000 casualties and spent a third of a trillion dollars.

Bush is criminally incompetent.