Dear MoveOn member,
On April 4th last year, 24-year-old Army Specialist Casey Sheehan died in Iraq. This week, while President Bush vacations in Texas, Casey's mother, Cindy Sheehan, sits vigil outside the president's ranch. Cindy says that she won't leave until President Bush meets with her to discuss the war—even if it means spending all of August there.
Cindy Sheehan was not an anti-war activist, but the loss of her son and the mounting evidence of deception by the Bush administration pushed her to speak out. While Cindy camps roadside in Texas, dozens of other military moms are flying to Texas to join her. Her story is starting to grab national attention, but Cindy needs our support. We're asking moms (and dads, siblings, spouses and kids) from all across America to help send a message by signing our letter of support to Cindy. Will you sign?
http://political.moveon.org/meetwithcindy/To add to the pressure on President Bush, we'll publish the number of signers and the best comments in a full two-page spread in the newspaper nearest to Crawford. We want to be able to print that at least 200,000 people signed the letter to Cindy before the Friday print deadline.
Cindy simply wants to meet with the president to ask him to tell the truth about why her son died—and to stop using Casey's and other soldiers' deaths to justify continuing the war. But Cindy's reflections on the war are also a reminder to all of us about the importance of getting involved:
I shamefully and regretfully admit that before Casey was killed in Iraq I didn't publicly speak out against the war. I didn't shout out and say, "Stop. Stop this insane rush to an invasion that has no basis in reality. Don't invade a country based on cherry-picked intelligence and despicable scare tactics. You don't use our country's precious lifeblood unless its absolutely necessary to defend America." If I had broken the bonds of my slavery to silence sooner, would Casey still be alive? I don't know.
Cindy's story is starting to grab national and international attention, creating a public relations problem for the White House. If we can help Cindy capture the focus of the country for even a couple of days we will sear into the memory of the public the image of the grieving mother—a morally pure reminder of the ultimate reason to end the war: the lost sons and daughters of moms everywhere.
Cindy has appeared on ABC, CNN, and FOX, and yesterday the lead editorial in The New York Times entitled "One Mother in Crawford" noted that "many Americans are with her, at least figuratively, at that dusty roadside in Crawford, expecting better answers." With the White House press corps camped just a short distance away at Bush's ranch, our newspaper ad will help prod them to pay attention to her.
The more of us who sign on, the more impact we'll have. Please sign on now at:
http://political.moveon.org/meetwithcindy/?id=5886-3066685-i2jjS9PEhAys.LCcwkDfGA&t=4In her grief and bravery, Cindy has become a symbol for millions of Americans who demand better answers about the Iraq war. Though right-wing pundits have attacked her personally, her honesty is unimpeachable. Now more and more mothers (and fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, sons and daughters) are standing up with Cindy. Please join us, and together, we'll make sure that President Bush can't escape the reality of this war—even in Crawford, Texas.
Thanks for all you do.
–Tom, MoveOn moms Carrie, Marika, and Joan, and the entire MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Wednesday, August 10th, 2005
P.S. Help defray the cost of the print ads in Waco by making a contribution.
https://political.moveon.org/donate/meetwithcindy.html?id=5886-3066685-i2jjS9PEhAys.LCcwkDfGA&t=5"One Mother in Crawford" Editorial, The New York Times, August 9, 2005.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/09/opinion/09tue1.htmlVideo Testimonial by Cindy Sheehan from our friends at TrueMajority.
http://www.truemajority.org/GoldStar_web.movP.P.S. After you add your name to the letter to Cindy the next most important thing you can do is to tell Cindy's story to other people. Please let your friends, family and colleagues know about one mother's brave stand in Texas by forwarding this e-mail.
PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
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