Anti-war mom Cindy Sheehan gives up
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/28/sheehan/
Anti-war mom Cindy Sheehan gives up her protest
POSTED: 10:55 p.m. EDT, May 28, 2007
Story Highlights Sheehan: My son "did indeed die for nothing"
She is upset that Democrats and anti-war politicians can't end Iraq war
She is exhausted by the personal, financial and emotional toll
"I am going to take whatever I have left and go home," she wrote
Adjust font size:
(CNN) -- Cindy Sheehan, the California mother who became an anti-war leader after her son was killed in Iraq, declared Monday she was walking away from the peace movement.
She said her son died "for nothing."
Sheehan achieved national attention when she camped outside President Bush's home in Crawford, Texas, throughout August 2005 to demand a meeting with the president over her son's death.
While Bush ignored her, the vigil made her one of the most prominent figures among opponents of the war.
But in a Web diary posted to the liberal online community Daily Kos on Monday, Sheehan said she was exhausted by the personal, financial and emotional toll of the past two years.
She wrote that she is disillusioned by the failure of Democratic politicians to bring the unpopular war to an end and tired of a peace movement she said "often puts personal egos above peace and human life."
Casey Sheehan, a 24-year-old Army specialist, was killed in an April 2004 battle in Baghdad. His death prompted his mother to found Gold Star Families for Peace.
But in Monday's 1,200-word letter, titled, "Good Riddance Attention fatlady," Sheehan announced that her son "did indeed die for nothing."
"I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful," she wrote. "Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives.
"It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years, and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most."
Cindy Sheehan's sister, DeDe Miller, told CNN that the group would continue working for humanitarian causes, but drop its involvement in the anti-war movement. As for her sister's letter, Miller said, "She cried for quite a bit after writing it."
Sheehan warned that the United States was becoming "a fascist corporate wasteland," and that onetime allies among Bush's Democratic opposition turned on her when she began trying to hold them accountable for bringing the 4-year-old war to a close.
In the meantime, she said her antiwar activism had cost her her marriage, that she had put the survivor's benefits paid for her son's death and all her speaking and book fees into the cause and that she now owed extensive medical bills.
"I am going to take whatever I have left and go home," she wrote. "I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost.
"I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble."
Anti-war mom Cindy Sheehan gives up her protest
POSTED: 10:55 p.m. EDT, May 28, 2007
Story Highlights Sheehan: My son "did indeed die for nothing"
She is upset that Democrats and anti-war politicians can't end Iraq war
She is exhausted by the personal, financial and emotional toll
"I am going to take whatever I have left and go home," she wrote
Adjust font size:
(CNN) -- Cindy Sheehan, the California mother who became an anti-war leader after her son was killed in Iraq, declared Monday she was walking away from the peace movement.
She said her son died "for nothing."
Sheehan achieved national attention when she camped outside President Bush's home in Crawford, Texas, throughout August 2005 to demand a meeting with the president over her son's death.
While Bush ignored her, the vigil made her one of the most prominent figures among opponents of the war.
But in a Web diary posted to the liberal online community Daily Kos on Monday, Sheehan said she was exhausted by the personal, financial and emotional toll of the past two years.
She wrote that she is disillusioned by the failure of Democratic politicians to bring the unpopular war to an end and tired of a peace movement she said "often puts personal egos above peace and human life."
Casey Sheehan, a 24-year-old Army specialist, was killed in an April 2004 battle in Baghdad. His death prompted his mother to found Gold Star Families for Peace.
But in Monday's 1,200-word letter, titled, "Good Riddance Attention fatlady," Sheehan announced that her son "did indeed die for nothing."
"I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful," she wrote. "Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives.
"It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years, and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most."
Cindy Sheehan's sister, DeDe Miller, told CNN that the group would continue working for humanitarian causes, but drop its involvement in the anti-war movement. As for her sister's letter, Miller said, "She cried for quite a bit after writing it."
Sheehan warned that the United States was becoming "a fascist corporate wasteland," and that onetime allies among Bush's Democratic opposition turned on her when she began trying to hold them accountable for bringing the 4-year-old war to a close.
In the meantime, she said her antiwar activism had cost her her marriage, that she had put the survivor's benefits paid for her son's death and all her speaking and book fees into the cause and that she now owed extensive medical bills.
"I am going to take whatever I have left and go home," she wrote. "I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost.
"I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble."
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thank god 0 -
...she's a puke, good riddance...garbage belongs in the burn barrel not on the news...[;)] 
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quote:...she's a puke, good riddance...garbage belongs in the burn barrel not on the news...
She lost her son to war. God forbid any of us ever have to find out what that is like. That doesn't mean I support anything she has done over the last few years. But she has the right to protest. One thing she said that I totally agree with:
quote:"Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives.
I just pray she can regain some semblance of normalcy to her life and her other children can now regain the mom they lost when Casey died.0 -
No, Cindy Sheehan, my daughter died for nothing. She was murdered May 4, 2007 at the hands of a sick psychopath.
Your son, Casey, died for our beloved country; by his choice. And I think he would be ashamed of your antics and glad you finally sat down and shut your big,unpatriotic mouth.0 -
WOOT WOOT! 0 -
quote:Originally posted by gipsynurse
No, Cindy Sheehan, my daughter died for nothing. She was murdered May 4, 2007 at the hands of a sick psychopath.
Your son, Casey, died for our beloved country; by his choice. And I think he would be ashamed of your antics and glad you finally sat down and shut your big,unpatriotic mouth.
Well spoken! That is a big difference!
I pray that God will bless you and ease your pain from the loss of your daughter. I cannot imagine the grief you must feel![:(][:0][:0]0 -
God bless you Gipsynurse.
Your analysis is correct. Cindy Sheehan's son VOLUNTERED to join the service just as my son did. As I posted else where on the forums, my son requested that in the event of his death we honor his memory by continuing to support our troops that bravely serve.
I pray that your daughter's murderer pays the ultimate price for his senseless deed.0 -
gipsynurse - Glad to see you again. And with good thoughts. I think you know how we all feel about your tragedy.
It is apparent that the Sheehan women lost her mind when her Son was killed. I am not certain that I wouldn't go crazy, also.
She lost her husband, her money, and her health. SHE made the decisions that were the cause of these events.
I pity her.
Doug0 -
How many of you believe in Karma?
Let's hope that all of you who are gleeful about her giving up don't have kids over in Iraq. You may feel VERY DIFFERENTLY if you did.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Jgreen
How many of you believe in Karma?
Let's hope that all of you who are gleeful about her giving up don't have kids over in Iraq. You may feel VERY DIFFERENTLY if you did.
There is a big difference in having a fear about the possible death of a child and the disgrace that Cindy S. has brought upon herself and her nation. Her snuggling up with Chavez and Jessie Jackson turned me against her and showed her true colors.
I can and do have compassion for her having lost a son and can see how that could shake you to the core. But her turn into the socialist progressive movement and her embracing the commie docturine and promoting that agenda was too much for me.
I too think, as does her husband, that she has lost her marbles and is very misguided.[:(][:(]0 -
Cindy- Everyone is famous for 15 minutes. Time's up. 0 -
quote:Let's hope that all of you who are gleeful about her giving up don't have kids over in Iraq. You may feel VERY DIFFERENTLY if you did.
I have a son serving in Iraq, in one of the more hazardous assignments available, AND I think poor Ms. Sheehan is wrong. She dishonored her son's sacrifice by saying he died for nothing. She should grieve for her son, miss her son, weep over his grave, and honor his memory, instead of using her loss to further a political agenda. I feel for her, but she focused all her energy in the wrong direction. Maybe now that she has given up, she can get on with her life.
Ask my ex-wife and she will tell you the same thing.
NO U.S. SERVICE MAN EVER DIED FOR NOTHING!!!0 -
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Doug0 -
Rush Limbaugh predicted that Sheehan was was nothing more than a pawn in the liberal (democrats) efforts to derail anything Bush & the GOP were doing. And that if they regained power, they would quickly aboandon her and her cause.
While I don't agree w/much of what Sheehan has done, I have some pity for her.
For losing her son. And for being a duped political pawn.
But I think she has learned, and is a good example of a lesson we all will learn.
Politicians in our country care only about what the people can do for THEM. Not what's right or what they can do for the country.
In that sense we are all being duped. The illegal immigration issue is proof positive that our Govt. doesn't care about the will of the people.0 -
he voluntered not knowing some idiot was gonna order him to go to irag to settle an old score . his mistake 0 -
She wrote that she is disillusioned by the failure of Democratic politicians to bring the unpopular war to an end and tired of a peace movement she said "often puts personal egos above peace and human life
Took her long enuff to figger that part out. And no, Mrs. Sheehan, your some did not die for nothing. He dies doing what a soldier is supposed to do.0 -
Believe me, i don't agree with 100% of what she has been saying or doing. But at least she is/was doing something to try and end this.
I have a buddy that I used to joke was the oldest private in the Army. He joined just before 9/11, and unfortunatly, had to do it because his life was a mess, and he needed the discipline from the military.
Now, he was a tank mechanic, and he wasn't in the first wave of troops that went over, becuase of the problems we had with Turkey about using their country as a staging area.
Eventually, he did go over, and he tells me a story about going on a patrol, and seeing a mural with the Iraqi air force dropping bombs on a big star of David and Israel. My buddy's seargant knows he's Jewish, and he gives him a grenade to destroy the wall.
But that got me to thinking, are these people worthy of the spilling of American blood? Why should we die so that these people should live? Why is it that American women are good enough to fight there, but have to walk covered and burka'd everyplace else?
I'm far from a pacifist. Indeed, if we go to war, I believe that war should be total. But we don't do that. We dance around this and that, and blah blah blah, is it really worth it?
Long story short, I guess it depends on how you look at it. Does a soldier die for nothing? Every one fights for his brother in arms. That is certainly something. But Bigger picture, he wouldn't have to die fighting for his brother in arms if we weren't fighting for the freedom of Iraq or whatever reason sounds good today. That, my friends, is dying for nothing.0 -
Sounds like she's pretty alone now. Her handlers have moved on now that the Presidential elections are starting. I bet "Cindy Sheehan's manager/handler/assistant" looks pretty good on a resume for Mrs. Clinton, O'bama, and John Edwards. They've used her and moved on. She kept a few democrat organizers employed between election cycles. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by Jgreen
How many of you believe in Karma?
Let's hope that all of you who are gleeful about her giving up don't have kids over in Iraq. You may feel VERY DIFFERENTLY if you did.
My brother and I have both deployed and returned in the last 18 months. They don't feel that way.0 -
Everyone is going to die sooner or later. So the risk someone runs is giving-up the remainder of the life that they would have had in exchange for some cause. For a mother to say that her child died for nothing is to discredit her child's values and in so doing, herself. 0 -
What some of you people have said about that poor woman is a crime, How many wars do our politicians have to start,before Our poor son's and daughters stop dieing for them??????
I am a Korean veteran and was brain washed, but I out grew it, when are some of you all going to do the same?0 -
She'll be institutionalized in 6 months. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by Jgreen
How many of you believe in Karma?
Let's hope that all of you who are gleeful about her giving up don't have kids over in Iraq. You may feel VERY DIFFERENTLY if you did.
Her karma would have her burning in hell.0 -
Just remember folks our Constitution gives us the right to free speech whether it is right or wrong. If she believes the way she does, so be it. This Country was founded the same way. She did wake up a few though.. Now the polls say 75% of Americans are against the War. 0 -
Evidently you have forgotten 9/11.
There are people over there who want to destroy us.
Freeing Iraq from Saddam wasn't the primary focus of our actions.
The war in Iraq is a part of the larger picture, "war on terror".
Saddam had caused enough trouble to justify overthrowing him. But the intent wasn't so much to help the Iraqi people, as to hopefully turn Iraq into a stabilizing ally in the mid-east.
But Bush: A. Failed to honestly explain and sell the war. B. Failed to anticipate the Iraqi division of religious tribes. And fear of doing anything to make targets of themselves.
Of course the Extremist from all over the region have flocked to Iraq to attempt to prevent the plan from succeding. Just as they threatened to do last week in Lebanon.
The upside: We are fighting Islamic extremist IN THE MID-EAST. Not here. And recent reports indicate that they have overplayed their hand. And that due to their excessive brutality and disregard for local civilian life, the population of Iraq is now beginning to turn on them and finally starting in larger numbers to help us. Not because they like us. But because they dislike the extremists more.
We are reportedly killing extremist at a ratio of 20 to 1 American killed.
It may be along time before we achieve final victory. But regardless of the lefts "doom & gloom" forecasts, we ARE winning. And it will have been worthwhile if we stay and finish the job.0 -
quote:Originally posted by dheffley
quote:Originally posted by Jgreen
How many of you believe in Karma?
Let's hope that all of you who are gleeful about her giving up don't have kids over in Iraq. You may feel VERY DIFFERENTLY if you did.
Her karma would have her burning in hell.
my karma ran over her dogma0 -
quote:Originally posted by turtles11756
he voluntered not knowing some idiot was gonna order him to go to irag to settle an old score . his mistake
He enlisted in May 2000. He reenlisted knowing his unit would go to Iraq. He was killed in action after volunteering for a Quick Reaction Force to rescue American troops.
Whatever you think of his mother, don't try to degrade or embellish his actions or motives. It is helpful to know what you are talking about before you start talking.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Fatstrat
Evidently you have forgotten 9/11.
There are people over there who want to destroy us.
Freeing Iraq from Saddam wasn't the primary focus of our actions.
The war in Iraq is a part of the larger picture, "war on terror".
Saddam had caused enough trouble to justify overthrowing him. But the intent wasn't so much to help the Iraqi people, as to hopefully turn Iraq into a stabilizing ally in the mid-east.
But Bush: A. Failed to honestly explain and sell the war. B. Failed to anticipate the Iraqi division of religious tribes. And fear of doing anything to make targets of themselves.
Of course the Extremist from all over the region have flocked to Iraq to attempt to prevent the plan from succeding. Just as they threatened to do last week in Lebanon.
The upside: We are fighting Islamic extremist IN THE MID-EAST. Not here. And recent reports indicate that they have overplayed their hand. And that due to their excessive brutality and disregard for local civilian life, the population of Iraq is now beginning to turn on them and finally starting in larger numbers to help us. Not because they like us. But because they dislike the extremists more.
We are reportedly killing extremist at a ratio of 20 to 1 American killed.
It may be along time before we achieve final victory. But regardless of the lefts "doom & gloom" forecasts, we ARE winning. And it will have been worthwhile if we stay and finish the job.
VERY VERY WELL SAID TO A POINT!
I do not believe Bush lied about anything! He only stated what he believed from what he was told from his inteligence experts!0 -
I didn't mean to imply that Bush lied. Even on the issue of illegal immigration. Despite knowing his base's expectations, he has ben very honest in his views.
But I don't think he was exactly forthright in his explaination and selling of his stratigy.
He didn't really lie. But he didn't tell the whole truth either.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Fatstrat
Rush Limbaugh predicted that Sheehan was was nothing more than a pawn in the liberal (democrats) efforts to derail anything Bush & the GOP were doing. And that if they regained power, they would quickly aboandon her and her cause.
While I don't agree w/much of what Sheehan has done, I have some pity for her.
For losing her son. And for being a duped political pawn.
But I think she has learned, and is a good example of a lesson we all will learn.
Politicians in our country care only about what the people can do for THEM. Not what's right or what they can do for the country.
In that sense we are all being duped. The illegal immigration issue is proof positive that our Govt. doesn't care about the will of the people.
You are wise beyond your years! I agree completely![^]0
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