Karl Rove eats "pros" like this for breakfast.
Posted on 08/06/2005 5:15:28 PM PDT by markomalley
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - The angry mother of a fallen U.S. soldier staged a protest near President Bush's ranch Saturday, demanding an accounting from Bush of how he has conducted the war in Iraq.
Supported by more than 50 demonstrators who chanted, "W. killed her son!" Cindy Sheehan told reporters: "I want to ask the president, 'Why did you kill my son? What did my son die for?'" Sheehan, 48, didn't get to see Bush, but did talk about 45 minutes with national security adviser Steve Hadley and deputy White House chief of staff Joe Hagin, who went out to hear her concerns.
Appreciative of their attention, yet undaunted, Sheehan said she planned to continue her roadside vigil, except for a few breaks, until she gets to talk to Bush. Her son, Casey, 24, was killed in Sadr City, Iraq, on April 4, 2004. He was an Army specialist, a Humvee mechanic.
"They (the advisers) said we are in Iraq because they believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, that the world's a better place with Saddam gone and that we're making the world a safer place with what we're doing over there," Sheehan said in a telephone interview after the meeting.
"They were very respectful. They were nice men. I told them Iraq was not a threat to the United States and that now people are dead for nothing. I told them I wouldn't leave until I talked to George Bush."
She said Hagin told her, "I want to assure you that he (Bush) really does care."
"And I said if he does care, why doesn't he come out and talk to me."
Sheehan arrived in Crawford aboard a bus painted red, white and blue and emblazoned with the words, "Impeachment Tour." Sheehan, from Vacaville, Calif., had been attending a Veterans for Peace convention in Dallas.
The bus, trailed by about 20 cars of protesters and reporters, drove at about 15 mph toward Bush's ranch. After several miles, they parked the vehicles and began to march, in stifling heat, farther down the narrow country road.
Flanked by miles of pasture, Sheehan spoke with reporters while clutching two photographs, one of her son in uniform, and the other, a baby picture, when he was seven months old.
She said she decided to come to Crawford a few days ago after Bush said that fallen U.S. troops had died for a noble cause and that the mission must be completed.
"I want to ask the president, `Why did you kill my son? What did my son die for?" she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "Last week, you said my son died for a noble cause' and I want to ask him what that noble cause is?"
White House spokesman Trent Duffy said response that Bush also wants the troops to return home safely.
"Many of the hundreds of families the president has met with know their loved one died for a noble cause and that the best way to honor their sacrifice is to complete the mission," Duffy said.
"It is a message the president has heard time and again from those he has met with and comforted. Like all Americans, he wants the troops home as soon as possible."
The group marched about a half-mile before local law enforcement officials stopped them at a bend in the road, still four to five miles from the ranch's entrance. Capt. Kenneth Vanek of the McLennan County Sheriff's Office said the group was stopped because some marchers ignored instructions to walk in the ditch beside the road, not on the road.
"If they won't cooperate, we won't," Vanek said.
Sheehan, 48, didn't get to see Bush, but did talk about 45 minutes with national security adviser Steve Hadley and deputy White House chief of staff Joe Hagin, who went out to hear her concerns.
Vacaville: bedroom community just outside of Travis AFB California.
From other posts in this thread, her son seems to have been a man of character & I'm sure she had something to do with it. She credit for her part in raising him. That said, her current actions are crass & ugly.
Maybe someone should tell this pathetic excuse for a mother that Ritter likes to burger little girls at Burger King.
Obviously, I'M the one that needs to clean the glasses! Thanks, and I have to agree that they should have just ignored her and let her sweat it out in the sun.
Karl Rove eats "pros" like this for breakfast.
I can understand this woman if her son was drafted into the service. However, he joined and that was his decision and unfortunatley he was killed.
Knock it off.
" why not equate that with the mothers who have lost sons to murder?" I would pray that mother's who lose sons to murder have no conflict because they know that their child was a victim.
"Mothers of pedophiles and this mother have what in common??"
Until reading markomalley's #135 post, it sounded like she had ALWAYS been anti-military (in addition to being anti-Bush!)
If that had been the case, having her son enlist in the military, meant to her that he was entering a lifestyle she despised. Having him die in the performance of that duty, could have pushed her into an insane, tormented state. Similar to what it would be for a parent whose child died doing something the parent deeply felt was despicable.
As #135 pointed out, however, she may have been exploited into these new-found anti-war feelings. Either way, I wish she had the comfort of pride in her son's service, the solace of knowing he was in an honorable profession, and the company and support of his comrades.
Why do you think she loved her son? I don't think she did, or does love him. I doubt she has ever cared a whit for her son, she probably regrets not aborting him.
Now I am developing an obsessive hatred for this woman. Much the same feeling as she has for her own son.
You know, I can give these people some latitude, but when they get totally stupid like this lady did, I lose sympathy.
To keep asking a stupid question like "why did you kill my son..." He no more killed her son than I did.
By the way, did the draft return without my knowledge, or was her son there voluntarily?
No argument with what you're saying. But as I said above, I've got to have some degree of compassion if she snapped as a result of grief for her son. Sorry, but I can't hate as bad as a socialist/liberal/democrat. Not my way.
"I told him I would take him to Canada. I told him I would run over him with a car, anything to get him not to go to that immoral war."
Cindy Sheehan
******
Dear George and Dick
by Cindy Sheehan
snip
I have wanted to write this letter for over a year.
We know the intelligence leading to the war was "dead" wrong and gleaned from a known liar (your administration likes liars...familiarity, and all), so I have a question for you...
Why are Americans and Iraqis still dying every day?
Then, George and Dick...you both go around spewing the lying filth that "freedom is on the march in Iraq." Well, I have a challenge for both of you: if you believe in freedom so much in Iraq...then send your own children over there to fight and perhaps die in the occupation without the proper training, equipment, food, water, supplies, armor, or protection. If you aren't willing to send your own children to die for this most grievous bull-crap, THEN BRING THE REST OF OUR CHILDREN HOME...NOW!!! The definition of a just war is one that you are willing to have your own children die for. Apply the definition. Then send your own children if you believe this aggression is just...if not THEN BRING THE REST OF OUR CHILDREN HOME...NOW!!!
http://tinyurl.com/d5avn
******
AMY GOODMAN: Cindy, what were your feelings when your son Casey went to Iraq? Are they the same as now? And what were Casey's feelings about the invasion and occupation?
CINDY SHEEHAN: Right. Our family was against it from the beginning. Casey was against it, but he felt it was his duty to go because he was in the Army. And he felt that he had to go to protect his buddies, to be there for his buddies, to be support, and they are brainwashed into thinking that even if they don't agree with the mission, they're brainwashed into just blindly following it. I begged Casey not to go. I told him I would take him to Canada. I told him I would run over him with a car, anything to get him not to go to that immoral war. And he said, “Mom, I wish I didn't have to, but I have to go.”
Her son was a member of our VOLUNTEER army, wasn't he?
Cindy Sheehan
"We're watching you very carefully and we're going to do everything in our power to have you impeached for misleading the American people," she said, quoting a letter she sent to the White House. "Beating a political stake in your black heart will be the fulfillment of my life ... ," she said, as the audience of 200 people cheered.
Google "Mom, Who Lost Son In Iraq, Talks About 'Disgusting' White House meeting with Bush" and hundreds of links come up.
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