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Cindy Sheehan (born circa 1957) is an American peace activist and the mother of US Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, who was killed in action at age 24 in Sadr City, Iraq, on April 4 2004, just five days after arriving in the country for duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Cindy Sheehan is one of nine founding members of Gold Star Families for Peace, a group that campaigns to bring US troops home from Iraq.
She gained national attention in early August 2005 when she traveled with about 50 people to the Prairie Chapel Ranch belonging to President George W. Bush just outside Crawford, Texas during the President's vacation there, to demand a meeting and an explanation of the "noble cause" for which her son died.
She has been called "the Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement" by her supporters
Chronology
Son Killed
4 April 2004 Casey Sheehan killed in action.
On the Road to Peace
18 June 2004 Cindy Sheehan talks with President George W. Bush at Fort Lewis near Seattle, Washington.
22 December 2004 Cindy Sheehan responds to Time magazine's choice for "Man of the Year".
January 2005 Gold Star Families for Peace is founded.
19 March 2005 Cindy Sheehan speaks to three thousand people who had converged on Fayetteville, North Carolina to mark two years of war and occupation in Iraq.
16 June 2005 U.S. Congressman John Conyers, Jr. presides a hearing or forum on the so-called Downing Street memo in a basement room in the Capitol where Cindy Sheehan among others testifies.
The Vigil Begins
4 August 2005 Bush starts his five week vacation.
4 August 2005 Bush delivers a speech in Grapevine, Texas, in which he said that the sacrifices of U.S. troops were "made in a noble cause" and reiterated that he will not set a timetable for withdrawal.
5 August In a speech given at the 20th annual convention of Veterans for Peace in Dallas, Sheehan calls Bush a "lying bastard" and a "maniac," and states that she hopes he is tried for war crimes. She also claims that she refuses to pay taxes for the year 2004.
6 August 2005 Cindy Sheehan starts her vigil. She makes a makeshift camp in a ditch by the side of the road leading to the Prairie Chapel Ranch near Crawford, Texas and announces her intention to stay (sleeping in a pup tent at nights) until she is granted a face-to-face meeting with Bush.
6 August 2005 National security adviser Stephen Hadley and deputy White House chief of staff Joe Hagin meet briefly with Cindy Sheehan. Sheehan later calls the meeting "pointless."
8 August 2005 Cindy Sheehan states that she has been informed that beginning Thursday, 10 August 2005 she and her companions will be considered a threat to national security and will be arrested. Later there was a retraction of the story by the Daily Kos. Sheehan's camp is first referred to in the media as "Camp Casey."
9 August 2005 Democrat congressmen request that Bush meet with Sheehan and the other relatives of fallen soldiers. The congressmen call on Bush to ensure that no one will be arrested for having a peaceful demonstration.
10 August 2005 Bush holds a press conference, which mentions Cindy Sheehan's right to her view.
11 August 2005 Cindy Sheehan writes an open letter to President Bush in response to his press conference statement. In this open letter, she demands to know the "noble cause" behind the war in Iraq, as well as the reason why, if the cause is so noble, Bush's daughters are not volunteering in the war effort.
12 August 2005 Gold Star Families for Peace releases a TV commercial featuring Cindy Sheehan, broadcast on Crawford and Waco cable channels near Bush's ranch.
12 August 2005 Camp Casey protest draws hundreds of supporters, with a constant presence of just over 100..
12 August 2005 Bush's motorcade passes within 100 feet of Sheehan's roadside encampment en route to a nearby ranch to attend a fundraising barbecue expected to raise US$2 million for the Republican National Committee; Sheehan holds a sign reading "Why do you make time for donors and not for me?"
Week 2
13 August 2005 Cindy Sheehan makes front page news in the Washington Post.
13 August 2005 More than 250 people (up from 150 in a similar protest the evening before) stage a Pro-Bush counter protest across the road from Sheehan's group.
Background
Political activism
Sheehan is one of the nine founding members of Gold Star Families for Peace, an activist organization that seeks to end the occupation of Iraq and provide support for families of fallen soldiers. As of August 2005, at least sixty-three other relatives of fallen soldiers are listed as members. Their current demands include:
- 1) We want our loved ones sacrifices to be honored by bringing our nation's sons and daughters home from the travesty that is Iraq IMMEDIATELY, since this war is based on horrendous lies and deceptions. Just because our children are dead, why would we want any more families to suffer the same pain and devastation that we are.
- 2) We would like for him to explain this "noble cause" to us and ask him why Jenna and Barbara are not in harm's way, if the cause is so noble.
- 3) If George is not ready to send the twins, then he should bring our troops home immediately. We will demand a speedy withdrawal.
MoveOn.org announced on 10 August 2005 that it is gathering signatures and comments to place in a two-page newspaper spread in a Sunday newspaper local to Crawford in support of her and her efforts. Tom Matzzie of MoveOn says the following:
- "In her grief and bravery, Cindy has become a symbol for millions of Americans who demand better answers about the Iraq war. Though right-wing pundits have attacked her personally, her honesty is unimpeachable. Now more and more mothers (and fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, sons and daughters) are standing up with Cindy. Please join us, and together, we'll make sure that President Bush can't escape the reality of this war—even in Crawford, Texas."
Supporters point out that the Crawford protest highlights the Bush administration's belief in selective violence and the claim that the President is not responsible for the deaths of those he commands Meet With Cindy from MoveOn.org.
On the week of 8 August 2005 several other groups were reported traveling to Texas to join the protest. Sherry Bohlen, field director of the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), is one person traveling to Crawford, and says this of the protest:
- "We'll be sleeping in a tent in the ditch along the roadside (the only place that the authorities will allow us to be). I spoke with Cindy by phone again yesterday. She said that local authorities have told her that if we're still there by Thursday we'll be arrested as "national security risks"... She could well be the Rosa Parks of the movement against the Iraq War. Just as Rosa refused to leave the bus, Cindy is refusing to leave the roadside. She's the spark that is igniting the anti-war movement."
PDA lists several other groups who are publicly supporting Sheehan, including Progressive Democrats of America:
- Clergy and Laity Concerned About Iraq
- Code Pink
- The Hip Hop Caucus
- Military Families Speak Out
- United For Peace and Justice
Reaction from the Bush Administration
On 6 August 2005, Sheehan met with two high-level Bush administration officials, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and deputy White House Chief of Staff Joe Hagin. According to the New York Times (August 6, 2005) the meeting lasted 45 minutes. The Times also reported that Ms. Sheehan told the two officials she appreciated their meeting with her.
There had been reports, disseminated by Ms Sheehan, that the police had threatened to arrest all protesters on site on Thursday, August 11th, 2005 when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condolezza Rice would be at the president's nearby ranch. However, no arrests in connection with the protest occurred. President George W. Bush did speak to reporters at his ranch saying:
- "I sympathize with Mrs. Sheehan," Bush said. "She feels strongly about her position, and she has every right in the world to say what she believes. This is America. She has a right to her position, and I thought long and hard about her position. I've heard her position from others, which is: Get out of Iraq now. And it would be a mistake for the security of this country and the ability to lay the foundations for peace in the long run if we were to do so."
Ms Sheehan later issued a statement, which among other things outlined the purpose of the protest .
Comments on the Israeli-Arab conflict
Along with criticizing the Bush Administration and the War in Iraq, Sheehan has been quite vocal in her attacks on Israel and so-called neoconservatives. In a letter, written on 14 March 2005, Sheehan claims that her son died, "for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel." Sheehan further comments that her son joined the armed forces to "protect America, not Israel."
Sheehan has also said that in order to stop terrorism, Israel must get "out of Palestine.".
These comments have led to accusations of anti-Semitism.
Congress
At least sixteen Democrat congressmembers signed a letter on 9 August 2005 asking that Bush meet with Sheehan and the other relatives of fallen soldiers, as well as calling on Bush to ensure that no one will be arrested for having a peaceful demonstration.
Criticism
Sheehan has been criticised by Matt Drudge, Michelle Malkin, Bill O'Reilly and other conservative commentators.
On 7 August 2005, Internet blogger Matt Drudge charged that Sheehan had "flip-flopped' (changed her opinion) about her meeting with President Bush: "... has dramatically changed her account about what happened when she met the commander-in-chief last summer!". Drudge quoted part of a 24 June 2004 interview with Sheehan published in the Vacaville Reporter newspaper, which took place after the meeting. In it, Sheehan appeared to praise Bush: "I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis...I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith." An examination of the same interview shows, however, that Sheehan is also quoted as saying "We haven't been happy with the way the war has been handled...The president has changed his reasons for being over there every time a reason is proven false or an objective reached."
Sheehan is also reported to have stated prior to the meeting, "We support the military, but not the war in Iraq." 18 days after the meeting with Bush, Cindy Sheehan and her daughter are listed on a news release from Military Families Speak Out as willing to speak with reporters about their opposition to the war.
Drudge has also printed a report headlined "FAMILY OF FALLEN SOLDIER PLEADS: PLEASE STOP, CINDY!". The report is based on an email sent by Cherie Quartarolo, Casey's paternal aunt; the letter is signed "Casey Sheehan's grandparents, aunts, uncles and numerous cousins." The letter was also read out by Rush Limbaugh on his radio show. Dede Miller, identified by a New York Times reporter as Casey's aunt, said that Quartarolo does not speak for her, that she could not be more against the war and would join Sheehan at Crawford if she could. None of the other persons listed as signatories in the letter have made a public statement confirming or denying their support for its content.
Sheehan rejected this criticism in an interview with Salon.com , "They didn't even know Casey. They didn't spend any time with him in his life, and now they're using his death for political reasons, I think". Sheehan also claimed the support of "My immediate family, Casey's dad and my three children and my sister, we're all on the same page. And I really think that some of my husband's siblings are with us too."
On 9 August 2005 Bill O'Reilly on his Fox News television show criticized Sheehan as a victim of "far left elements" who are exploiting her for their own purposes. The next day O'Reilly criticized Sheehan for refusing to appear on his show and repeated his claim about "far left elements".
The New York Sun featured an editorial entitled ""Cindy Sheehan's Crowd" on 11 August 2005 where "she has put herself in league with some extreme groups and individuals."
The American Spectator described Sheehan as "co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, an organization that seeks to impeach George W. Bush and apparently to convince the U.S. government to surrender to Muslim terrorists."
Quotes
"Thank God for the Internet, or we wouldn't know anything, and we would already be a fascist state."
"You tell me the truth. You tell me that my son died for oil. You tell me that my son died to make your friends rich. You tell me my son died to spread the cancer of Pax Americana, imperialism in the Middle East. You tell me that, you don't tell me my son died for freedom and democracy."
"It has been two days since your dishonest campaign stole another election… but you all were way more subtle this time than in 2000, weren’t you?" (An open letter to George W. Bush, Nov. 4th, 2004)
"We’re not letting them intimidate us. If we get killed out here, know that the Secret Service killed us."
"I don't believe his phony excuses for the war. I want him to tell me why my son died. If he gave the real answer, people in this country would be outraged — if he told people it was to make his buddies rich, that it was about oil."
“9/11 was Pearl Harbor for the neo-conservatives’ agenda.”
"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."
"My first born was killed violently for a neo-con agenda that only benefits a very chosen few in this world."
“George Bush and his neo-conservatives killed my son.”
"Is there yet an American who can not clearly see that Dick Cheney...will say whatever he thinks is required to ultimately cause wealth and power to move to himself and to his friends?... need I defile this holy place with words like 'Haliburton' and 'Kellog, Brown & Root' and 'torture' and 'US weapons industry'?"
"Is there anyone in America who cannot yet see that Donald Runsfeld is a liar... that he, as with Hitler and Stalin... will say anything so long as he thinks it will help shape the world to his own liking? Is there even one, sane adult among us who cannot see that Donald Rumsfeld is a threat to our nation's security and to peace on our beloved earth?"
"As soft-spoken and sincere-sounding as Paul Wolfowitz is, is there yet any sane adult in this country who's skin does not crawl when this murderous liar opens his mouth and speaks? Am I the only person in this room who clearly sees that Paul Wolfowitz is a threat to our nation's security...and to peace on our beloved earth?"
"Our country has been overtaken by murderous thugs...gangsters who lust after fortunes and power; never caring that their addictions are at the expense of our loved ones, and the blood of innocent people near and far."
"We've watched these thugs parade themselves before the whole world as if they are courageous advocates for Christian moral values...and for the spread of democracy."
"The US government is now ruled by murderous hypocrites...criminals who should be arrested, charged appropriately, confined behind bars."
"In their secret hiding places, while celebrating newly won fortunes with their fellow brass, these men must surely congratulate themselves with orgies of carnal pleasure as they mock the dwindling multitudes who are yet so blind as to mistake them for God's devoted servants."
"Every member of Bush's executive branch (past and present) and every member of Congress who voted to give George the authority to invade Iraq have innocent blood on their hands. For the next State of the Union address, maybe the hypocrites in Congress should shamefacedly display blood-soaked hands, instead of proudly wriggling fingers stained with ink to symbolize sham Iraqi elections."
"Then we have this lying bastard, George Bush..."
"So anyway that filth-spewer and warmonger, George Bush was speaking..."
"We can't let somebody rise to the top who will pardon these war criminals. Because they need to go to prison for what they've done in this world. We can't have a pardon. They need to pay for what they've done."
"Another thing that I'm doing is - - my son was killed in 2004, so I'm not paying my taxes for 2004. If I get a letter from the IRS, I'm gonna say, you know what, this war is illegal; this is why this war is illegal. This war is immoral; this is why this war is immoral. You killed my son for this. I don't owe you anything. And if I live to be a million, I won't owe you a penny."
"And I want them to come after me, because unlike what you've been doing with the war resistance, I want to put this frickin' war on trial. And I want to say, "You give me my son, and I'll pay your taxes."
"You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine and you'll stop the terrorism."
"When I was growing up, it was Communists'. Now it's Terrorists'. So you always have to have somebody to fight and be afraid of, so the war machine can build more bombs, guns, and bullets and everything."
“The biggest terrorist is George W. Bush.”
"I DEFINITELY think that we should support war resisters in the military."
"I know several people who are being court-martialed, and they need support--they need monetary support, they need our moral support, and they need to know that we’re with them... We need to encourage more people to do this."
"Why does Terry Schiavo deserve to live more than my son, Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan?"
External links
- Video
- Gold Star Families for Peace
- Democracy Now interview - 12 August 2005
- Democracy Now interview - 21 March 2005
- Democracy Now interview - 21 January 2005
- Interviews
- Buzzflash interview with Cindy Sheehan - 7 October 2004
- The Reporter - Bush, Sheehans share moments - 24 June 2004
- News articles about Cindy Sheehan
- Cindy Sheehan's Pitched Battle - In a Tent Near Bush's Ranch, Antiwar Mother of Dead Soldier Gains Visibility Michael A. Fletcher, Washington Post 13 August 2005, Page A01
- Guardian Unlimited - Bereaved mother camps outside Bush ranch
- US Newswire - More to Join Sheehan
- CNN - Soldier's mom digs in near Bush ranch - 7 August 2005
- NY Times - Of the Many Deaths in Iraq, One Mother's Loss Becomes a Problem for the President 8 August 2005
- NY Times - Mother Takes Protest to Bush's Ranch 7 August 2005
- Criticism and Support
- Michelle Malkin's Coverage of the Story
- Cindy Sheehan - Programmer's Wiki
- Drudge Report takes anti-war mom out of context
- Conservative Catholic blogger accuses Sheehan of being liberal mouthpiece
- Right Equals Might Article criticizing Sheehan
- MeetWithCindy.org
- Crawford Peace House
- Media Matters - Cindy Sheehan "changed her story on Bush"? Tracking a lie through the conservative media
- Post Cards For Cindy
- Food Not Bombs
- Peace In Pink Shoes
- Articles by Cindy Sheehan
- An Open Letter to George W. Bush by Cindy Sheehan, 4 November 2004
- Rewarding Incompetence by Cindy Sheehan - Whose Son Died in Iraq - Responds to Time Magazine's Choice for "Man of the Year", 22 December 2004
- Guest column for Buzzflash by Cindy Sheehan - 24 January 2005
- Casey's Story Cindy Sheehan t r u t h o u t | Perspective 8 April 2005
Reference
- The Vacaville Reporter, June 24, 2005, Bush, Sheehans share moments, David Henson