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Speak for Yourself
By Cindy Sheehan
02/27/06 "ICH"
-- -While we were camping out in hot and humid
Crawford, Texas last August, trying to meet with George Bush and
trying to end the war, a right-wing organization called Move America
Forward (to oblivion?) started a bus tour called: Cindy, You Don't
Speak for Me.
Move America Forward does some nice things, like sending coffee to
our troops. It is unfortunate for the families of the almost 2300
killed troops that the organization doesn't send non-defective (
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7794557/bodyarmor ), GPS devices, or IED
jammers to save the lives of the troops that have been put in harm's
way for the politicians' lies and cowardice and corporate greed. I
think these things would be a little more useful than coffee.
Move America Forward has every right to exist and to express their
views. However, the organization claims to be "...a non-partisan,
not-for-profit organization committed to supporting America's
efforts to defeat terrorism and supporting the brave men and women
of our Armed Forces." When in all actuality MAF supports George
Bush's war of terror against the world and against America. And if
Move America Forward is non-partisan, then I am the darling of the
White House.
I truly don't believe that sending coffee to our troops and putting
yellow "Support our Troops" magnets on cars is supporting the
troops.
Coffee is good, I love coffee myself. I just don't understand how
sending our young and brave people off to die in a war that has been
proven over and over again to be based on lies is supporting the
troops. I don't understand how cutting the VA budget and closing VA
hospitals is supporting our veterans. I don't understand how
exposing our brave young people to depleted uranium, white
phosphorous and enhanced napalm is supporting them. I don't
understand how forcing our troops to use WMD's (and also
conventional weapons) against innocent fellow members of the human
race is supporting our troops.
Deborah Johns is a member of Move America Forward and as a mom who
has a son in the Marines, is a vocal critic of mine and has been
telling everyone that I don't speak for her for months. She in fact
is planning a new "Cindy doesn't speak for me" event in San Diego
where I will be speaking on February 27th at the Thomas Jefferson
Law School.
I have news for Deborah and for the rest of America and the world: I
never said I spoke for Deborah, or anyone else.
I speak for Cindy Sheehan. Only Cindy Sheehan.
I expect everyone else to speak for themselves. That is each and
every one of our duties and responsibilities as Americans and human
beings. I wish someone would show me anywhere that I said I ever
spoke for anyone but myself.
Whether Deborah likes it or not, I don't want her son to die in this
illegal and immoral war. With all my heart and soul, I do not want
her to become a Gold Star Mom: Whether one supports the murder and
mayhem (on both sides), or not, it is not a good thing. As a matter
of fact, it is an indescribably awful and disordered thing to bury a
child. I don't want anymore Gold Star Moms to be made by and for the
chickenhawks who cower behind their desks and send other people's
children off to fight their imaginary battles.
Deborah Johns blames "al Qaeda" for our military deaths (including
Casey Sheehan's) in Iraq!
http://www.tjslGOP.org/ Please, trust me,
if I did speak for Ms. Johns her opinions would be more informed.
Casey was killed on April 04, 2004 by Shi'ite militia loyal to
Moqtada al Sadr in Sadr City, Baghdad . Even George Bush says that
most of the killing in Iraq is done by "Saddamists and rejectionists"
and the terrorists are the "smallest" group: (Speech given by George
Bush in December, 2005 in Philadelphia). There was no al-Qaeda
operating in Iraq before the 2003 invasion by American forces.
Saddam had no ties to al-Qaeda. As a matter of fact, Osama bin Laden
is still on the loose somewhere.
However, Moqtada al-Sadr is another story. He fomented the
rebellions in Fallujah and Baghdad in April of 2004 that killed many
of our troops, including Casey and 11 others on the 4th. He is a
Shi'a cleric who is an Iraqi by birth and citizenship. He is the
leader of the Mahdi Army who killed Casey and so many other American
soldiers. He is one of the 82% of Iraqi citizens who want the US out
of Iraq and apparently one of the 49% who think that it is okay to
kill Americans (Recent British Military poll). I don't think it is
okay to kill Americans, for God's sake, Casey was killed. But I also
don't think that it's okay to kill Iraqis, either. The killing is
continuing because George Bush and his band of criminals invaded a
country that was no threat to the United States of America. Now the
war profiteering, warmongers are forcing our children to occupy a
country that is now (thanks to BushCo) in the middle of a very
bloody civil war. When is it going to stop?
I believe, along with thousands of members of such organizations as
Military Families Speak Out ( www.mfso.org), Veterans for Peace (
www.veteransforpeace.org ),
Iraq Veterans Against the War ( www.ivaw.net ), and Gold Star Families
for Peace ( www.gsfp.org ), that supporting the troops means bringing
them out of this mess alive, whole and healthy.
We peace groups are struggling so hard and so tirelessly so that our
brave young men and women walk off of the airplanes bringing them
home to their families and not be unloaded from the cargo area in a
cardboard box as Casey and so many others have been. Our brave
troops that have been killed meaninglessly and senselessly were
human beings who deserved to have wonderful, long, and productive
lives: not baggage, or cannon fodder for our homicidal, out of
control, misleaders.
Accusing the members of our peace organizations of not supporting
the troops is patently manipulative and ridiculously false: we are
the troops; we have children, spouses, and other relatives that are
troops. We love the troops. We support them as we are calling for
their immediate and safe withdrawal.
I encourage Deborah Johns and the others who have their own opinions
and their own voices to speak for themselves…and not advertise who
doesn't speak for them. I could list thousands…even millions of
people who don't speak for me, and whom I don't speak for, but that
is counter-productive.
Please speak for yourselves.
In these days of the stealing of our freedoms while telling us it
keeps us safe, please speak for yourself. In this dark hour of the
suppression of our civil rights, please speak for yourself. In these
inconceivable and horrifying times of our leaders committing crimes
against humanity and inhumane torture, please speak for yourself.
If you speak for peace and justice, please speak louder and more
often.
Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan who was
killed in Iraq on April 04, 2004; Founder and President of Gold Star
Families for Peace ( www.GSFP.org
) and author of Not One More Mother's Child. Cindy is also the very
proud mother of Carly, Andy, and Janey Sheehan who hold down the
fort in Vacaville, California.
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