[Mb-civic] Blood Runs Red, not Blue + Hypocrites and Liars (by Cindy Sheehan)

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/18/opinion/18herbert.html?incamp=article_
popular
Blood Runs Red, not Blue

New York Times,
August 18, 2005

By BOB HERBERT

You have to wonder whether reality ever comes knocking on George
W. Bush's door. If it did, would the president with the unsettling
demeanor of a boy king even bother to answer? Mr. Bush is the
commander in chief who launched a savage war in Iraq and now
spends his days happily riding his bicycle in Texas.

 This is eerie. Scary. Surreal.
The war is going badly and lives have been lost by the thousands,
but there is no real sense, either at the highest levels of government or
in the nation at large, that anything momentous is at stake. The
announcement on Sunday that five more American soldiers had been blown to
eternity by roadside bombs was treated by the press as a yawner. It got
very little attention.

You can turn on the television any evening and tune in to the bizarre
extended coverage of the search for Natalee Holloway, the Alabama teenager
who disappeared in Aruba in May. But we hear very little about the men and
women who have given up their lives in Iraq, or are living with horrific
injuries suffered in that conflict.

If only the war were more entertaining. Less of a downer. Perhaps
then we could meet the people who are suffering and dying in it.

For all the talk of supporting the troops, they are a low priority for
most Americans. If the nation really cared, the president would not be
frolicking at his ranch for the entire month of August. He'd be back in
Washington burning the midnight oil, trying to figure out how to get the
troops out of the terrible fix he put them in.

Instead, Mr. Bush is bicycling as soldiers and marines are dying.
Dozens have been killed since he went off on his vacation.

As for the rest of the nation, it's not doing much for the troops, either.
There was a time, long ago, when war required sacrifices that were shared
by most of the population. That's over.

I was in Jacksonville, Fla., a few days ago and watched in amusement
as a young woman emerged from a restaurant into 95-degree heat and
gleefully exclaimed, "All right, let's go shopping!" The war was the
furthest thing from her mind.

For the most part, the only people sacrificing for this war are the troops
and their families, and very few of them are coming from the privileged
economic classes. That's why it's so easy to keep the troops out of sight
and out of mind. And it's why, in the third year of a war started by the
richest nation on earth, we still get stories like the one in Sunday's
Times that began:

"For the second time since the Iraq war began, the Pentagon is
struggling to replace body armor that is failing to protect American
troops from the most lethal attacks by insurgents."

Scandalous incompetence? Appalling indifference? Try both.
Who cares? This is a war fought mostly by other people's children.
The loudest of the hawks are the least likely to send their sons or
daughters off to Iraq.

The president has never been clear about why we're in Iraq. There's
no plan, no strategy. In one of the many tragic echoes of Vietnam,
U.S. troops have been fighting hellacious battles to seize areas
controlled by insurgents, only to retreat and allow the insurgents to
return.

If Mr. Bush were willing to do something he has refused to do so far -
speak plainly and honestly to the American people about this war - he
might be able to explain why U.S. troops should continue with an effort
that is, in large part at least, benefiting Iraqi factions that are
murderous, corrupt and terminally hostile to women. If by some chance he
could make that case, the next appropriate step would be to ask all
Americans to do their part for the war effort.

College kids in the U.S. are playing video games and looking forward
to frat parties while their less fortunate peers are rattling around like
moving targets in Baghdad and Mosul, trying to dodge improvised explosive
devices and rocket-propelled grenades.

There is something very, very wrong with this picture.

If the war in Iraq is worth fighting - if it's a noble venture, as the
hawks insist it is - then it's worth fighting with the children of the
privileged classes. They should be added to the combat mix. If it's not
worth their blood, then we should bring the other troops home.

If Mr. Bush's war in Iraq is worth dying for, then the children of the
privileged should be doing some of the dying.

E-mail: bobherb at nytimes.com

-------

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0820-30.htm

Published on Saturday, August 20, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
Hypocrites and Liars
by Cindy Sheehan
 

The media are wrong. The people who have come out to Camp Casey 
to help coordinate the press and events with me are not putting words 
in my mouth, they are taking words out of my mouth. I have been 
known for sometime as a person who speaks the truth and speaks it 
strongly. I have always called a liar a liar and a hypocrite a hypocrite. 
Now I am urged to use softer language to appeal to a wider audience. 
Why do my friends at Camp Casey think they are there? Why did such 
a big movement occur from such a small action on August 6, 2005?

I haven't had much time to analyze the Camp Casey phenomena. I just 
read that I gave 250 interviews in less than a weeks time. I believe it. I 
would go to bed with a raw throat every night. I got pretty tired of 
answering some questions, like: 'What do you want to say to the 
President?' and 'Do you really think he will meet with you?' However, 
since my mom has been sick I have had a chance to step back and 
ponder the flood gates that I opened in Crawford, TX.

I just read an article posted today on LewRockwell.com by artist Robert 
Shetterly who painted my portrait. The article reminded me of 
something I said at the Veteran's for Peace Convention the night 
before I set out to Bush's ranch in my probable futile quest for the 
truth. This is what I said:

"I got an e-mail the other day and it said, 'Cindy if you didn't use so 
much profanity '. There's people on the fence that get offended.'

And you know what I said? 'You know what? You know what, god 
damn it? How in the world is anybody still sitting on that fence?'

"If you fall on the side that is pro-George and pro-war, you get your ass 
over to Iraq, and take the place of somebody who wants to come 
home. And if you fall on the side that is against this war and against 
George Bush, stand up and speak out."

This is what the Camp Casey miracle is all about. American citizens 
who oppose the war but never had a conduit for their disgust and 
dismay are dropping everything and traveling to Crawford to stand in 
solidarity with us who have made a commitment to sit outside of 
George's ranch for the duration of the miserable Texan August. If they 
can't come to Texas, they are attending vigils, writing letters to their 
elected officials and to their local newspapers; they are setting up 
Camp Casey branches in their hometowns; they are sending flowers, 
cards, letters, gifts, and donations here to us at Camp Casey. We are 
so grateful for all of the support, but I think pro-peace Americans are 
grateful for something to do, finally.

One thing I haven't noticed or become aware of though is an increased 
number of pro-war, pro-Bush people on the other side of the fence 
enlisting to go and fight George Bush's war for imperialism and 
insatiable greed. The pro-peace side has gotten off their apathetic 
butts to be warriors for peace and justice. Where are the pro-war 
people? Everyday at Camp Casey we have a couple of anti-peace 
people on the other side of the road holding up signs that remind me 
that 'Freedom isn't Free' but I don't see them putting their money 
where their mouths are. I don't think they are willing to pay even a 
small down payment for freedom by sacrificing their own blood or the 
flesh of their children. I still challenge them to go to Iraq and let another 
soldier come home. Perhaps a soldier that is on his/her third tour of 
duty, or one that has been stop-lossed after serving his/her country 
nobly and selflessly, only to be held hostage in Iraq by power mad 
hypocrites who have a long history of avoiding putting their own skin in 
the game.

Contrary to what the mainstream media thinks, I did not just fall off a 
pumpkin truck in Crawford, TX. on that scorchingly hot day two weeks 
ago. I have been writing, speaking, testifying in front of Congressional 
committees, lobbying Congress, and doing interviews for over a year 
now. I have been pretty well known in the progressive, peace 
community and I had many, many supporters before I left even left 
California. The people who supported me did so because they know 
that I uncompromisingly tell the truth about this war. I have stood up 
and said: 'My son died for NOTHING, and George Bush and his evil 
cabal and their reckless policies killed him. My son was sent to fight in 
a war that had no basis in reality and was killed for it.' I have never said 
'pretty please' or 'thank you.' I have never said anything wishy-washy 
like he uses 'Patriotic Rhetoric.' I say my son died for LIES. George 
Bush LIED to us and he knew he was LYING. The Downing Street 
Memos dated 23 July, 2002 prove that he knew that Saddam didn't 
have WMD's or any ties to Al Qaeda. I believe that George lied and he 
knew he was lying. He didn't use patriotic rhetoric. He lied and made 
us afraid of ghosts that weren't there. Now he is using patriotic rhetoric 
to keep the U.S. military presence in Iraq: Patriotic rhetoric that is 
based on greed and nothing else.

Now I am being vilified and dragged through the mud by the righties 
and so-called 'fair and balanced' mainstream media who are afraid of 
the truth and can't face someone who tells it by telling any truth of their 
own. Now they have to twist, distort, lie, and scrutinize anything I have 
ever said when they never scrutinize anything that George Bush said 
or is saying. Instead of asking George or Scotty McClellan if he will 
meet with me, why aren't they asking the questions they should have 
been asking all along: 'Why are our young people fighting, dying, and 
killing in Iraq? What is this noble cause you are sending our young 
people to Iraq for? What do you hope to accomplish there? Why did 
you tell us there were WMD's and ties to Al Qaeda when you knew 
there weren't? Why did you lie to us? Why did you lie to the American 
people? Why did you lie to the world? Why are our nation's children 
still in harm's way and dying everyday when we all know you lied? Why 
do you continually say we have to 'complete the mission' when you 
know damn well you have no idea what that mission is and you can 
change it at will like you change your cowboy shirts?'

Camp Casey has grown and prospered and survived all attacks and 
challenges because America is sick and tired of liars and hypocrites 
and we want the answers to the tough questions that I was the first to 
dare ask. THIS is George Bush's accountability moment and he is 
failing miserably. George Bush and his advisers seriously 
'misunderestimated' me when they thought they could intimidate me 
into leaving before I had the answers, or before the end of August. I 
can take anything they throw at me, or Camp Casey. If it shortens the 
war by a minute or saves one life, it is worth it. I think they seriously 
'misunderestimated' all mothers. I wonder if any of them had authentic 
mother-child relationships and if they are surprised that there are so 
many mothers in this country who are bear-like when it comes to 
wanting the truth and who want to make meaning of their child's 
needless and seemingly meaningless deaths?

The Camp Casey movement will not die until we have a genuine 
accounting of the truth and until our troops are brought home. Get 
used to it George, we are not going away.

###



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