Mother who lost her son responds to Time magazine's choice

[G_j]

Rewarding Incompetence

by Cindy Sheehan, TomPaine.com Exclusive

A mother who lost her son in Iraq responds to Time magazine's choice for "Man of the Year."

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/rewarding_incompetence.php

Cindy Sheehan lives in California.

Dear Time Editors:

My son, Spc. Casey Sheehan was killed in Iraq on 04/04/04. This has been an extraordinary couple of weeks of "slaps in the faces" to us families of fallen heroes.

First, the Secretary of Defense—Donald Rumsfeld—admits to the world something that we as military families already know: The United States was not prepared for nor had any plan for the assault on Iraq. Our children were sent to fight an ill-conceived and badly prosecuted war. Our troops were sent with the wrong type of training, bad equipment, inferior protection and thin supply lines. Our children have been killed and we have made the ultimate sacrifice for this fiasco of a war, then we find out this week that Rumsfeld doesn't even have the courtesy or compassion to sign the "death letters"—as they are so callously called. Besides the upcoming holidays and the fact we miss our children desperately, what else can go wrong this holiday season?

Well let's see. Oh yes. George W. Bush awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to three more architects of the quagmire that is Iraq. Thousands of people are dead and Bremer, Tenet and Franks are given our country's highest civilian award. What's next?

To top everything off—after it has been proven that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, there were no ties between Saddam and 9/11 and over 1,300 brave young people in this country are dead and Iraq lies in ruins— what does Time Magazine do? Names George W. Bush as its "Man of the Year." The person who betrayed this country into a needless war and whom I hold ultimately responsible for my son's death and who was questionably elected, again, to a second term, is honored this way by your magazine.

..more..

[roguevalley]

1. I would stand outside the white house with a picture of my kid

around my neck and chains on my feet. Something. I feel soooooo badly for this woman and the others.

[soup]

6. Incredible strength.

This woman. I can't even begin to imagine the pain and what it would take to even get out of bed in the morning, let alone do what she's doing.

The name sounded familiar, so I searched and sure enough, found this from October of this year:



Protesters shadow Bush at fundraiser

The president displays his warm side at the St. Petersburg dinner event. Outside, protesters are hot.

By LAUREN BAYNE ANDERSON, CURTIS KRUEGER and JAMIE THOMPSON
Published October 23, 2004

ST. PETERSBURG - Inside the waterfront mansion on Brightwaters Boulevard, President Bush talked about his life experiences as guests dined on steak and salmon.

Outside, about 75 protesters angrily denounced Bush's policies, blamed him for the Iraq war and held up signs that said, "Fire the Liar" and "Bush policies violate Jesus' teachings." One woman was arrested.

>snip<
Also among the protesters was Cindy Sheehan, whose son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, 24, was killed in Iraq when his convoy was ambushed.

She held up a sign, "Bush lied my baby died" with a large picture of her son in uniform. She tried unsuccessfully to crash the fundraiser with a fellow demonstrator.

Using her son's life insurance money, Sheehan, a California native, has traveled around the country protesting Bush and the war. She also has appeared in anti-Bush television ads.

"The pain just grows every day, it doesn't get any better, especially with new reports that Iraq wasn't connected with Sept. 11," Sheehan said through tears. "What angers me is that the president uses their sense of duty and their sense of loyalty to their buddies and exploits it."
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/10/23/Decision2004/Protesters_shadow_Bus.shtml

[Goathead]

2. Why did Franks get a civilian medal?

Wasn't he a General in the military in Iraq?

[corbett]

10. The Military Doesn't Reward Incompetence

Given Franks' incompetent leadership during Iraqi Freedom, there was no was Rummy could order a citation for him.

[Not_Giving_Up]

3. Good for her!

You tell 'em mama!!

[purduejake]

4. I agree with most of what she has to say...

but I don't think Time was honoring him. Lots of monsters have won the Person of the Year award more than once, and it was for their impact on the world- not their good deeds.

[Borgnine]

7. Not anymore.

The perception is that Person of the Year is a good thing. Remember, they were going to have Osama as Person of the Year in 2001 before public outcry made them change it to Rudy.

[trotsky]

9. Dang, Borgnine.

Great minds, huh? ;-)

[purduejake]

11. Yea, but didn't Hitler and Stalin make it?

[trotsky]

14. Yeah, that's the point.

Time has sold out - they used to be willing to use the "for better or worse" angle - but not any longer.

[Raiden]

13. Right!

Osama should have been the man of the year in 2000. He defined that year, for the worst, but he did define it. Guiliani and Bush both have explioted 9/11 for PR. Where would Guiliani be now if 9/11 hadn't happened? "America's Mayor" my ass...

[G_j]

17. that is true

and perception is everything. Certainly Time knows this.

[trotsky]

8. Yeah but Time and the general populace

now view it as a "positive" thing. That's why they wimped out in 2001 and named Rudy instead of the person who really DID, for better or worse, change the world that year.

[LSparkle]

5. That gave me vicarious relief ...

She said everything that's been on my mind better than I could have. *sigh*

[Raiden]

12. The Time magazine article was disgusting!!

It was a fuckin' love fest. "Bush's strong and resolute leadership..." ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING.

They also mentioned Dean's scream and Kerry's quote "I actually voted for the 87 billion, before I voted against it..." They just can't let it die...

there was an article called "Grading the President" with sections called "Trumanesque, in his audacity" which draws comparisons to Korea and Iraq (absolutely laughable), and "Sagely Reading America's Mood." One word I would never use to describe * or Rove is 'sage.'



I'd advise you not to even look at this weeks Time if you really don't want to be pissed! Truly a slap in the face to the families and loved ones of those lost in Iraq.

[G_j]

16. I wasn't planning on reading it but

thanks for the warning. It sounds almost criminal.

[TexasChick]

15. You wanna know the real disgusting thing is...Smirking Chimp will not lose

one wink of shut eye over this. He will never sacrifice his own mischievous daughters for the cause either. This disgusting pig of a man (if that's what you can call him) has never had to sacrifice anything in his life. He will just not give a crap and quite disgustingly, he's probably ask her if she knew anybody else willing to sign up and "defend the country".