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Hi y'all. We got home last night from spending 3 nights in the ditch helping to prepare for the weekends influx, taking pictures, giving massages, talking with people and sweating. I'd like to share a couple of impressions about Camp Casey and explain my "don't iconize Cindy" statement.
Camp Casey is HOT! Deodorant melts, but you can then rub the outside of the stick in your pits. If there is any way you can manage to go, even for a day, it is well worth it. I met so many caring, compassionate, generous, peaceful people focusing on the goal of ending the war in Iraq. It was amazing. This protest has been so grassroots, and is being done by such an ego-less group of people.
Drink water, walk slowly, be patient and peaceful. The opposite of fear is peace. Red gatorade tastes better than the yellow, in my opinion. There are a lot of wonderful people there. Tinfoil hats are fun to make (fri evening activity by dylangarcia and mrs.d.g., DUer/spouse and Cindy's lawyers).
I got to meet several DUers, had my DU name tiny on my name tag, figuring it would make sense to other DUers which muserider picked up on: I met dylangarcia, muserider, dancing bear and brainshrub which was great. DG sounds like TommyLeeJones, must be from the same area of the USA to sound so much alike. MR and DB seemed exactly like they are here, nice calm gentle articulate people. Brainshrub was also exactly like he is here, but I'd call him more antsy than calm. Thank you so much to him for generously sharing his laptop with my son to send photos to newspapers. He really really appreciated it.
Camping at Camp Casey was quite challenging and I would recommend it highly. Middle aged women do sleep in uneven sloped ditches with cars driving by 1 ft from the tent and they worry with the realization that if 1 car were to vere off the road, someone would be run over and quite possibly dead. So do babies, kids, young adults, older adults, vets, stinging ants (think wasps in tiny ant form), BIG wolf spiders, crickets.
I saw Cindy briefly, didn't get a chance to introduce myself and was a bit disturbed by the media circus but had a realization there that surprised me. I went to support Cindy, to support this movement to get accounting for the lies that got us in Iraq, to end the Iraq occupation. I found something a bit different.
This is NOT about Cindy. She is the galvanizing force, the face of the accountability movement but it is about ALL OF US asking for accountability and ending the war. Cindy wrote on her blog today that she is aware of people making her into an icon and this is wrong. We all need to stand and ask the administration "why", tell them we need answers and they need to get help getting out of Iraq. We can rally around Cindy, but should not worship her. We can respect her and look at her for inspiration, but we must each continue on, individually, in groups, each of us. Inspiration, role model, but not iconize.
Lastly, I can understand why people in the military do not desert, but stick it out and even enlist rather than deserting their friends in danger. It was difficult to leave Sat morning, worrying about what the weekend would bring for the protesters. They were prepared, including prepared for tear gas and bullets in case the counterprotestors got violent, but still I worried and was glad to get home and find that no one got hurt. Leaving people you care about in danger is difficult.
I am sorry for our military people who must face the dangers they face in Iraq and elsewhere due to this administrations lies and I will continue to work to help them.
Peace to you all
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