A Bereaved Mother's Crawford Vigil

[steve2470]

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1093012,00.html?cnn=yes

By HILARY HYLTON/CRAWFORD, TEXAS



Posted Thursday, Aug. 11, 2005

Wednesday's rains are gone, now, and Cindy Sheehan, who's been ensconced outside President Bush's ranch since last weekend protesting what she calls the needless death of her son in Iraq, shades her eyes as she sits on the roadside along Prairie Chapel Ranch Road. She's doing two interviews simultaneously, one on her cell phone and another with a reporter on the scene. Sheehan is surrounded by some 60 supporters and a small roadside field of white crosses. Signs saying "Jesus Wept," "Bush: Meet with Cindy" and "Iraq = Arabic for Vietnam" line the country road, along with bongo drums and small lean-tos for shade.

The protestors are supplied with large jugs of water and iced tea by a volunteer shuttle service based at the Crawford Peace House, in this tiny Texas town some 20 miles south of Waco. Tracy Sivacek, the 40-year-old wife of an Army Apache helicopter pilot, delivers water to Sheehan's busy outpost. Sivacek left behind her husband and disabled five-year-old son on Monday and drove nonstop from Fort Rucker, Alabama to Crawford, pausing only to sleep in a Waffle House parking lot. Her husband served one tour in Iraq and, she says, he has not been handling the adjustment back home well. Despite his reservations, she felt she had to support Sheehan's anti-war protest.

"It's not unfair for us to ask questions,' Sivacek says, adding she'd been concerned about the war even before her husband was posted to Iraq. "(War) is just too much for any person," she says. In addition to the pressure of raising a disabled child, Sivacek says her uncle, a Vietnam veteran, had committed suicide in June of this year, compounding her fears about America's fighting forces and military spouses.

Sivacek's concerns about the war led her to start posting on antiwar web logs, though up til now she had never even joined any protests. As she watches law enforcement officers drive by periodically to ensure protestors remain in a designated area about two miles from the Bush ranch, Sivacek says she's become more confident now that she's met up with some of her virtual friends. She intends to stay at the protest site at least until Saturday — or until she and her fellow protestors are arrested or run off.

<snip>

[michael098762001]

1. My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel.

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/bullyard/msg/7f523b1a73be1a36?hl=en

My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel.

bullyard > Fw: Nightline Tonight Mon., March 14, 2005

Fixed font - Proportional font
Tersch Mar 18, 6:33 pm show options

Cindy,


Skeeter asked me to send our your letter to Nightline. I did already
and believe you got a copy, as below. I added your name to the bull
yard list, along with Judge P on the stuff I send out. John Hibbs
wrote how to sign up for bullyard even without ever sending it
anything. He is back and may write you again. I notice he wrote you
with great sympathy. He, along with you and about three others in the
Band, I would really love to meet personally. I, like Skeeter who
sends me about 10 emails (mostly cartoons) may be sending TOO much, as
I think I tend to do.


Keep up your good efforts, and have a good weekend. I hope to learn
more about you: where you live, your family, work etc. Time will
tell.


Tony

----- Original Message -----
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail] ; [e-mail]


Cc: [e-mail] ; [e-mail] ; [e-mail] ;
[e-mail] ; [e-mail] ; [e-mail] ;
[e-mail] ; [e-mail] ; [e-mail] ;
[e-mail]
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2005 10:41 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: Nightline Tonight Mon., March 14, 2005


That was my son's unit. He was killed on that day 04/04/04. Here is
a letter that I wrote to NightLine about the broadcast:
Love


Cindy Sheehan


March 15, 2005


To Whom it May Concern:


Imagine my distress when I turned Night Line on last night and I was
confronted with the gory details of my son's murder in Sadr City,
Baghdad, Iraq on 04/04/04. Imagine, also, my sorrow and rage at the
side of the story that you presented to the American public.


I was on the Night Line Townhall Meeting in Washington, DC on
01/27/05. After I spoke (which I think was a fluke), Ted Koppel
dismissed me as being "emotional." First of all, how can I approach
this discussion without emotions, MY SON WAS KILLED, AND KILLED FOR
LIES? Second of all, that show was not fair and balanced and I think
the conclusion "Should we stay" was foregone.


The show last night was also not fair and balanced. To see all the
wives being interviewed who had not lost their husbands and to hear
what "hard work" it is to be left behind when their husbands are at
war. How hard to you think it is to have a child killed in an illegal
and immoral war? In this "wonderful" group of families left behind, we
had exactly ONE of the wives call us..she is Diane Rose who was my
son's Colonel, Frank Rose's wife. The last time we heard from Diane
was in October and we feel we have been left behind by anyone
connected to the 2-5 Cavalry. Is support only given if your loved one
stays alive? One wife was quoted as saying that Sundays were the
hardest for the families left behind. My son was killed on Palm Sunday
last year..how does anybody think Sundays are for my family?


A distraught father who lost his son was shown telling how much his
life was so adversely affected. Why wasn't a mother (like me) who has
been an outspoken critic of this war and of the President's policies
interviewed for this piece? Why wasn't I given a chance to talk about
04/04/04 and the series of lies, mistakes and miscalculations that led
to my precious oldest child's death??


General Chiarelli was quoted as saying that 04/04/04 was a "wake up"
call to the 2-5 Cavalry. If he thinks it was a "wake up" call, let me
tell you how having 3 Army officers come to my door on 04/04/04 and
tell me that my darling son was KIA. I have learned so many details of
that day and of my son's experience in Iraq.


The very first thing that went wrong happened in November at Ft
Irwin, California...the 2-5 Cavalry went for desert training. They
received open desert warfare training and my son was killed in an
urban guerilla attack, which he hadn't been trained for. Also, he was
wearing an inadequate helmet and a Vietnam era flak jacket. Casey was
stationed in a very dangerous place, like the General said: FOB War
Eagle. I have subsequently learned that the soldiers of the 2-5 Cav
who were stationed outside of Baghdad had Kevlar body armor. I have
also found out that Casey slept in the back of his Humvee for the last
2 weeks of his life because there wasn't any room on post for him to
have a cot. How tired and overworked was he before he went into that
battle on 04/04/04?


In addition, my son was killed after L. Paul Bremer inflamed the
Shi'a by taking away their tv station and newspapers. The Abu Ghraib
scandal was about to break in America...but it was well known by the
Iraqi people that their citizens were being tortured and defiled in
the prisons. My son was a sitting duck by the time 04/04/04 rolled
around.


The very worst thing of all, is that my son was sent to rescue some
fellow soldiers trapped in an ambush in the back of a LMTV..which is
basically an open air trailer. It would be the equivalent of driving
through Dallas on 11/22/63 in a Convertible. The troops stationed at
FOB War Eagle were sent ahead of their tanks and Bradleys!!! They had
to go into battle in the back of LMTV's and non-armored Humvees. This
is just proof to me that our troops are as important to their leaders
as bullets are. It is a small miracle that only 7 of them were killed
in the ambush. Luckily for the rest of the moms, it was dark. After my
son's murder, there was an article in Stars and Stripes that quoted
one of Casey's superior officers as saying. "04 April taught us a
lesson. We won't send soldiers to battle without their armor any
more." How do you think that made me feel? It was like "OOOPS, your
dear son was killed. Life happens. Oh well, you live and learn." The
General was also quoted as saying that the insurgency "surprised"
them. Why? Has there ever been an invasion/occupation of a sovereign
country that hasn't been resisted? Anyone with half a brain and an
even rudimentary understanding of history would know that all
occupations are resisted. The Pentagon and the Army brass did not plan
adequately for an occupation.


Then Gen. Chiarelli said the thing that upset me the most. He said
that the loss of life was terrible, but at least Iraqis had elections
on 01/30/05. With the continuuing insurgency and with Iraqis and
Americans losing their lives everyday there, how can he be proud of
that? I may remind you and the General, that Iraqi elections was not
the reason that our President and his Neo-Con war mongers invaded Iraq
with our precious human resources. I will give the two reasons given
for the invaseion here: Saddam had WMD's and he was an imminent threat
to America. Saddam could have WMD's on our shores within 45 minutes.
Condoleeza Rice used fear as a factor when she said: Don't let the
smoking gun be a mushroom cloud. Rumsfeld and Colin Powell pointed out
to us where the weapons were on a map.


The second reason that America was given before the invasion was
that Saddam was the biggest sponsor of world terrorism and he
supported Osama Bin Laden! Oh really??? The hijackers were
predominantly Saudi Arabian as was Osama (who is still at large, by
the way). The theory that Saddam had anything to do with 9/11 was
disproven by the 9/11 commission's report. A huge factor in Americans
believing all this bull is that our media..the Fourth Estate didn't do
any research and expose the lies for what they were: justifications
for invading a country that posed no imminent or long-term threat to
America.


One reason that the President DID NOT give for the invasion and
occupation of Iraq was so that Iraqis could have elections. As a
matter of fact, that was Ayatollah Ali al Sistani's idea..not Bush's.
If the president in his lying and betraying in the lead up and rush to
this insane invasion had told the world that we were going over there
to give Iraqi's elections, would we the people have gone along with
the invasion? Would we as compassionate Americans have thought that it
would have been worth billions and billions of dollars; hundreds of
our amazing children dead; tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi women
and children dead: a country lying in ruins? I don't think so. I
certainly didn't raise my son to be an outstanding citizen of the
world to go and die so some people could have ink-stained fingers!!!
If anyone reading this has children, would you think it was worth it??
Instead of some Congress leaders showing ink-stained fingers at the
SOTU address they should have held up blood soaked hands.


Am I emotional? Yes, my first born was murdered. Am I angry? Yes, he
was killed for lies and for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel.
My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel. Am I stupid?
No, I know full-well that my son, my family, this nation, and this
world were betrayed by a George Bush who was influenced by the neo-con
PNAC agenda after 9/11. We were told that we were attacked on 9/11
because the terrorists hate our freedoms and democracy...not for the
real reason, becuase the Arab-Muslims who attacked us hate our
middle-eastern foreign policy. That hasn't changed since America
invaded and occupied Iraq...in fact it has gotten worse.


It would be so amazing if your show would put me, or another parent
who lost their child on who disagrees with the war and this
administration: to have just an entire show..without presenting the
false side of the debate. That would take a lot of courage and
integrity. I hope your program will exhibit these qualities.


I also think that Mr. Koppel owes me an apology for the rude way I
was treated on his show. After I expressed myself about the war being
based on lies and that the troops should be brought home immediately
because the war was based on lies, I was not thanked for my comments,
or my son's sacrifice. He just said to keep the discussion away from
emotions. Then, the wife of a soldier who was killed was allowed to
speak and she praised the policies of this deplorable and despicable
administration, and she was thanked and praised by the panel.


Also, another aspect that Mr. Koppel refused to acknowledge was when
a man walked up to a microphone and asked Richard Perle to explain
PNAC..he was rudely ignored.


I am so glad the First Cavalry came home from this senseless and
needless war based on the imaginations of Neo-Cons and fought with
ignorance and arrogance by the Commander in Chief and the Pentagon. I
am thrilled for the mothers whose children didn't come home under the
cover of darkness in flag-draped boxes like my son did. I am sure that
some of Casey's buddies were able to walk off the plane because of his
sacrifice. I am just so deeply sorry that my son's blood had to be
their leaders' lesson in how to occupy a country and fight an
insurgency. My son is dead forever and my joy has been robbed from me
for the rest of my life.


Your show needs to show both sides of this debate and stop being a
propanda tool for this administration. This is my challenge to you
from a true patriot who wants the lies exposed.


Love and Peace!!!
Cindy Sheehan
Mother of Hero: Spc Casey Austin Sheehan KIA 04/04/04
Casey's Peace Page
Co-Founder of Gold Star Families For Peace
http://www.gsfp.org/