‘Round the bend

October 6th, 2006

It’s now been over two months since we’ve had a post from Riverbend, our award-winning blogger at Baghdad Burning — her last post, on August 5th, is titled Summer of Goodbye’s. We can only hope she’s joined the estimated 250,000 Iraqi’s that have fled the country. She derives her nickname from this quote at the top of her blog:

… I’ll meet you ’round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend…

Two months. That’s how long Senator John Warner [Big Dog in the pack of three that momentarily challenged Dub's gut of habeas corpus, and just back from a tour] says we should give Iraq to shape up or we’ll have to “rethink” a situation that is “drifting sideways.” He used the “course” word … he said we’ll need to change it.

Two months. How many more dead will that be, I wonder.

Condi Rice, back from a suprise trip into Iraq to goose the Prime Minister into getting past the “polical inaction” [read that blood fued] of his current cabinet, says there’s signs of progress, and that Dubby isn’t in Denial. Yes — progress. Things were so smooth for Ms. Rice that she had to abandon her spiffy jet and sneak in via cargo plane, then load on to chopper from the airport to the Green Zone, since that road is STILL not safe for living things. The ‘copter was forced to circle airspace for about forty minutes due to incoming fire. Then, meeting with Iraq’s President, the electricity cut out … as it does daily … and they finished their discussion in the dark.

In the dark. Yes — things are peachy in Iraq.

And denial IS a river in Egypt … the one we’re rafting down with nut cakes like House Intelligence Committee chairman Peter Hoekstra, who’s still insisting that U.S. intelligence agencies scour Iraq for WMD. And with Leader Dearest, of course, to whom this entire Iraqi escapade is simply a “comma” — a historical vignette that will take up no space or time — and something, no doubt, to move on from … perhaps hopping the border into Iran. He, Uncle Dick and Pappy are in the Norfolk area today, to commission a ship named after G.H.W.B. Gotta hurry to get that puppy deployed, doublequick — perhaps it’s destined to accompany the strike group.

Here’s a collection about occupation and the civil war today, conveniently covered by the smoke and fury of Congressional hijinks — a piece on the inadequate support given to our returning soldiers that is tip of the iceberg — then two by Cindy Sheehan, including an interview where she discusses her Camp Casey Peace Institute project.

To get you started, one of my favorite cartoonists and a Pulitzer winner –

Ann Telnaes ‘toon
http://www.gocomics.com/anntelnaes/2006/09/26/

Meanwhile, Light and protection to those in danger, today, and to Riverbend … wherever she may be.

Jude

While All Eyes Are On Foley, Iraq Is Rapidly Deteriorating
Jamie Holly
Wednesday, October 4th, 2006
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/10/04/while-all-eyes-are-on-foley-iraq-is-rapidly-deteriorating/

So far we have lost 19 soldiers in Iraq this month, and today is only the fourth day of the month. Just today, the Iraqi government had to pull a brigade of around 700 policemen that have possible ties to death squads. Things are going down hill very fast in Iraq, and Michael Ware was on the Situation Room and gave a very dismal view of what is going on.

Video - WMV

Video - QT

Ware (via Duncan):

“Listen, Wolf, this is the way to put it in a nutshell. If the U.S. Continues its policy and operations as they are now, the situation will worsen and the enemies of the U.S., Principally al Qaeda and Iran will continue to strengthen. There’s a number of options that are presented to Washington at the moment. They are the do this or they don’t do this. They either need to get serious about the battle here on the ground. Physically against al Qaeda or in the insurgency. And commit the troops that the commanders need. Or they need to look for alternative solutions. At the end of the day, what they are fighting is potential by most of this country to be consumed bay shia led government with other parts of the government left as western al Qaeda desert training camps and facilities. To avoid that, something radical has to be done. It’s the consensus. So Colin Powell is right. Staying the course will only further strengthen America’s enemies, Wolf?”

Remember the Republican motto - “Stay the Course” ++

Death Squads In Iraqi Hospitals
CBS
Oct. 4, 2006
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/04/eveningnews/main2064668.shtml

BAGHDAD, An assembly line of rotting corpses lined up for burial at Sandy Desert Cemetery is what civil war in Iraq looks like close up.

The bodies are only a fraction of the unidentified bodies sent from Baghdad every few days for mass burial in the southern Shiite city of Kerbala, CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reports.

They come from the main morgue that’s overflowing, relatives too terrified to claim their dead because most are from Iraq’s Sunni minority, murdered by Shiite death squads.

And the morgue itself is believed to be controlled by the same Shiite militia blamed for many of the killings: the Mahdi Army, founded and led by anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The takeover began after the last election in December when Sadr’s political faction was given control of the Ministry of Health. The U.S. military has documented how Sadr’s Mahdi Army has turned morgues and hospitals into places where death squads operate freely.

Reporter’s Notebook

The chilling details are spelled out in an intelligence report seen by CBS News. Among some of the details of the report are:

Hospitals have become command and control centers for the Mahdi Army militia.

Sunni patients are being murdered; some are dragged from their beds.

The militia is keeping hostages inside some hospitals, where they are tortured and executed.

They’re using ambulances to transport hostages and illegal weapons, and even to help their fighters escape from U.S. forces.

Iraq’s Health Minister, Ali al-Shameri, is a devoted follower of Moqtada al-Sadr. He disputes the report’s claims.

“I am ready now, and in the future, to receive investigation teams and journalists to get into any place they want and see whether the Madhi Army are there or not,” the Health Minister says. “They will find only doctors, nurses, pharmacy staff and labs and they would find nothing else.”

But a hospital worker says Mahdi Army spies are everywhere, and would only talk with both face and voice masked.

“A man was bringing his murdered brother to the morgue. They asked him if he knew who the killers were and he said ‘yes.’ They shot him right there,” she says.

More than 80 percent of the original doctors and staff where she works are gone, replaced by Shia supporters of the Mahdi Army.

“It’s going to get worse because there is no control and no accountability,” the hospital worker adds. “No one can stop them. They are terrified… No one will be safe. There will be destruction. Complete destruction is what we are watching with our own eyes, and it’s getting worse.”

In burial, the victims of Iraq’s sectarian slaughter still have no names, only a number on an anonymous grave marker. And with neither the Iraqi government nor the U.S. willing to act, the numbers keep climbing. ++

Iraq’s universities and schools near collapse as teachers and pupils flee
Peter Beaumont in Baghdad, Guardian
Thursday October 5, 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329593191-103550,00.html

Iraq’s school and university system is in danger of collapse in large areas of the country as pupils and teachers take flight in the face of threats of violence.

Professors and parents have told the Guardian they no longer feel safe to attend their educational institutions. In some schools and colleges, up to half the staff have fled abroad, resigned or applied to go on prolonged vacation, and class sizes have also dropped by up to half in the areas that are the worst affected.

Professionals in higher education, particularly those teaching the sciences and in health, have been targeted for assassination. Universities from Basra in the south to Kirkuk and Mosul in the north have been infiltrated by militia organisations, while the same militias from Islamic organisations regularly intimidate female students at the school and university gates for failing to wear the hijab.

Women teachers have been ordered by their ministry to adopt Islamic codes of clothing and behaviour.

“The militias from all sides are in the universities. Classes are not happening because of the chaos, and colleagues are fleeing if they can,” said Professor Saad Jawad, a lecturer in political science at Baghdad University.

“The situation is becoming completely unbearable. I decided to stay where many other professors have left. But I think it will reach the point where I will have to decide.

“A large number have simply left the country, while others have applied to go on prolonged sick leave. We are using MA and PhD students to fill in the gaps.”

Wadh Nadhmi, who also teaches politics in Baghdad, said: “What has been happening with the murders of professors involved in the sciences is that a lot of those involved in medicine, biology, maths have fled. The people who have got the money are sending their children abroad to study. A lot - my daughter is one of them - are deciding to finish their higher education in Egypt.”

It is not only in Baghdad that the universities are beginning to suffer from the security situation. In Mosul, too, professors complain of a system now approaching utter disarray.

Mohammed U, a 60-year-old science professor who asked for his full name not to be disclosed, spoke to the Guardian after returning from the funeral of a colleague, a law professor and head of the law faculty, who died in an explosion.

“Education here is a complete shambles. Professors are leaving, and the situation - the closed roads and bridges - means that both students and teachers find it difficult to get in for classes. In some departments in my institute attendance is down to a third. In others we have instances of no students turning up at all.

“Students are really struggling. To get them through at all, we have had to lower academic levels. We have to go easy on them. The whole system is becoming rapidly degraded.”

The situation is reflected in many of Iraq’s schools. “Education in my area is collapsing,” said a teacher from a high school in Amariya, who quit four months ago.

Children can’t get to school because of road blocks. The parents of others have simply withdrawn them from the school because of the fear of kidnapping.

“If children have to travel by car, we are much less likely to see them. When I left, we had 50% attendance. We see parents when they come in to ask for the children to have a ‘vacation’, and they admit they are too scared to let them come.

“Between September 8 and 28 two members of the staff were murdered. The staff was supposed to be 42. Now there are only 20.”

It is hardest of all on young Iraqis, most of whom are desperate for an education. Ala Mohammed, a high school student from Zafaraniya, had hoped to go to university this year. But her college is in Adhamiya, a neighbourhood notorious for violence, so she has been forced to ask for a deferral.

“The journey is too long and too unsafe. I don’t know whether I will be going to college or stay jailed at home.” ++

62 Dead, Dozens Wounded as Rice Visits;
Warner: Iraq going Sideways;
Mahdi Army makes Hospitals Bases
Friday, October 06, 2006
http://www.juancole.com/

Senator John Warner says that Iraq is “drifting sideways” and that many communities do not have potable water. He is one of the few American politicians I have heard talking about the lack of services in much of the country, which has provoked numerous demonstrations that are seldom reported in the US press.

But with all due respect, the direction in which Iraq is going is “south,” not “sideways.”

Rice made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Thursday. (They all have to be surprise visits because otherwise she would be killed while there. As it was, her landing was delayed by mortar fire at the airport). She kept to the new State Department line that the problem in Iraq is the indecision of the Iraqi government. Uh, the US abolished their army and destroyed all their tanks and won’t give them new ones. So how is that the fault of the Iraqi government?

Reuters reported 61 killed or announced dead on Thursday in political violence. Major incidents:

BAGHDAD - A total of 30 bodies, most of them shot and tortured, were found in different districts of Baghdad during the past 24 hours, a source in the Interior Ministry said.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed two people and wounded eight in Hurriya district in northwestern Baghdad, a source in the Interior Ministry said. The target of the explosion was not clear.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb wounded 20 labourers as it exploded near a crowd of men waiting for day jobs in central Baghdad’s Tayaran square, a source in the Interior Ministry said.

RAMADI - Four people were killed and six wounded in clashes between insurgents and U.S. forces in the insurgent stronghold city of Ramadi, 110 km (68 miles) west of Baghdad, Doctor Ahmed al-Rawi, head of Anbar health directorate said.’

A Danish soldier was killed in south Iraq during an operation to stop the constant mortar fire against the British and Danish military in Basra province. Presumably the attacks are coming from nationalist Shiites, maybe Mahdi Army or Fadhila’s militia or a splinter group of the one or the other.

There has been a sharp upturn in violence against Iraq’s Christians.

Lara Logan of CBS News does a truly courageous report on the way that the Mahdi Army is using its control of the Ministry of Health to turn hospitals into militia bases. Her sources allege that militiamen snuff out Sunni patients and keep political prisoners in the basements. She reveals that many Sunni families are afraid to come to the Sadrist-controlled morgue to pick up the bodies of loved ones, because they will be asked for their address and could face reprisals. The bodies are therefore piling up and then going into mass, anonymous graves.

Al-Qaeda views America’s involvement in Iraq as just great for its longterm growth.

The rate at which the security situation in Iraq is declining can be guessed from this candid report by ABC’s Terry McCarthy.

Excerpts:

‘ . . . After six weeks away from Iraq and returning to Baghdad, I find the city appears much worse than when I left. Last week, according to a U.S. military spokesman, Baghdad experienced more attacks from car bombs and improvised explosive devices than at any other time this year. In the last five days, 14 U.S. soldiers have died in Baghdad, numbers that haven’t been seen in the city since the 2003 invasion. ABC’s local Iraqi staff tell us there are an increasing number of neighborhoods they no longer dare to visit. . .

For ordinary Iraqis, life has become ever more difficult. Many women are now afraid to leave their homes to go shopping, children are kept indoors to play, men sleep with guns next to their beds — if they can sleep at all. The physical violence is horrific, but even more widespread is the psychological damage . . .

The U.S. military said the situation in Baghdad would probably get worse before it gets better, and Iraqi citizens wonder how long they can stay alive before their lives improve. ‘

McCarthy suggests that the spike in US military deaths in the city has coincided with a push into Shiite areas, which probably means they are getting hit by Mahdi Army or splinters thereof.

Nobody seems to remember that the US military fought the Mahdi Army in April-May 2004 in Baghdad, and supposedly got them to lay down their arms, and took back from them all the police stations in East Baghdad / Sadr City that they had taken over. That was how Cindy Sheehan’s son got killed. So how many times do we have to watch this same movie? What makes anyone think it will take this time if it did not in 2004?

[open link to finish article]

Suicide Concerns for Iraq Veterans
10/4/06
http://www.whec.com/index.asp?template=item&story_id=20347
[thanks, Annie]

They say that freedom is not free, and we learned that a Finger Lakes family is paying a personal price for the war in Iraq. Post traumatic stress disorder is taking its toll on yet another generation of veterans returning home from the war zone, and a major concern is suicide.

Cpl. Michael Hobart, U.S. Army Reserve, reported to Ft. Drum last fall after serving 11 months in Iraq as part of the 146th Quartermaster Corps. He visited his family for a few days, and then returned to Ft. Drum. “On October 17th, he went to formation. He left formation and went and bought a shotgun, drove off base and shot himself,” said Tricia Hobart, the soldier’s wife.

Mrs. Hobart says her husband didn’t want to talk about anything he saw or did. “Me and my daughters noticed he was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. He wasn’t acting like himself whatsoever. He was treating us differently. He closed up. He would sit and stare. He did not act like himself at all. He wasn’t happy with the way things were going over in Iraq. He was no longer proud of what he had done or seen.”

Mrs. Hobart says it’s still difficult to talk about it, but Wednesday, she told her husband’s tragic story to The Finger Lakes Veterans Advisory Council meeting at the V.A. hospital. Gene Simes, a twice wounded Marine in Vietnam, is leading a dedicated veterans group called “Operation Firing For Effect” — to fight for more V.A. services in Canandaigua. “What they see in a war changes things. You might be there without an injury, without a scar. Wherever they’re at in a combat situation, that leaves a scar in their brain,” said Simes.

The veterans group says there needs to be a better transition from being a military person to civilian life, and veterans’ families need to be better informed. “Who better than the families who live with these veterans who see them day in and day out to maybe see signs that there’s a problem here, or perhaps the veterans won’t acknowledge it,” said Sam Casella, Committee Chairman.

Mrs. Hobart didn’t get anything from the department of defense telling her what psychological services were available that might have helped her husband. “I know they get a piece of paper and they ask you ‘are you suicidal? Yes or no. Do you have suicide thoughts? Yes or no.’ That’s not enough. They need to talk to them. They need to understand what they’ve been through. They need to inform, the families what their husbands or wives or sons or daughters have gone through, and what they can do to help them get the help they need,” said Hobart.

Mrs. Hobart says returning veterans need to know they’re not alone with what they’re feeling. She hopes her story will help prevent this from happening to other families. ++

Commas for Profit
Cindy Sheehan
Mon, 09/25/2006
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/429

Our “compassionate conservative” misleader was on CNN with Wolf Blitzer and he had the following to say about the heartache and pain that he has caused the world since his illegal and immoral occupation of Iraq began.

BLITZER: Let’s move on and talk a little bit about Iraq. Because this is a huge, huge issue, as you know, for the American public, a lot of concern that perhaps they are on the verge of a civil war-if not already a civil war-We see these horrible bodies showing up, tortured, mutilation. The Shia and the Sunni, the Iranians apparently having a negative role. Of course, al Qaeda in Iraq is still operating.

BUSH: Yes, you see - you see it on TV, and that’s the power of an enemy that is willing to kill innocent people. But there’s also an unbelievable will and resiliency by the Iraqi people…. Admittedly, it seems like a decade ago. I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iraq, it will look like just a comma because there is - my point is, there’s a strong will for democracy.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

That is 125 commas.

With 2701 of our children killed and over 20,000 injured, I would have to type 182 lines filled with commas. Then, if we take in to account the low figure of 100,000 innocent Iraqis killed, I would need pages of commas.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said that: “Nothing is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” I believe that anyone who still supports George and his war of terror on the world have to be going out of their way to ignore the facts, or are profiting some way from this occupation: politically or financially.

I want George and the conscientiously stupid people who avoid evidence like the plague to know that my son was not a comma. Casey was not a cardboard figure, or the one dimensional figure of his widely printed boot camp picture when his cheeks were still chubby from good and plentiful food.

Casey was three dimensional and had hopes and dreams. He wanted to finish college and teach elementary school. He wanted to marry and have babies. I wanted him to marry and have babies. I wanted to hold his children and spoil them and love them like a grandmother should.

Casey loved his brother Andy and his sisters Carly and Janey. He loved our dogs Buster and Chewy and our cats Emily and Molly. Casey watched professional “wrestling” on TV and called it: “male soap operas.” He collected toys and we have many boxes of unopened action figures and other collectibles in a storage now.

Casey breathed air, drank water, ate food and everything else that all other human beings do. Above all, he loved God and wanted to serve God his entire life as a Permanent Deacon in the Catholic Church. He also bled and died like a human when he was shot in the back of the head.

Conservatively, the “commas” that the Bush Regime has killed by their lies would fill many pages, but in reality, the once breathing human beings are filling thousands upon thousands of graves and lying under tons of rubble.

I am sorry that the leader of our once great nation is so callous towards the people whose lives he has destroyed. If one agrees with President Chavez of Venezuela, or not, it is inherently evident in our country and the world that we should agree with him when he says democracy is not imposed by “bombs and Marines.” Democracy rises from the people. Great Britain did not go to war with our forebears to impose democracy, but to stop it.

Killing innocent people, torture, draining our treasury, stealing elections, spying on American citizens without due process, leaving the people of the Gulf States hanging on their roofs for their dear lives, etc, do not bestow democracy and the people harmed should not be reduced to punctuation marks.

My son and the others will not go down in history as “commas” but as more victims of the war machine…and I hope as the last victims of wars for profit. How can George keep a straight face when he talks about the enemy being willing to “kill innocent people?” When has BushCo every shied away from murdering innocents?

George Bush* will be an asterisk in history.

*Impeached, removed from office, imprisoned for crimes against humanity.

The sooner the better. ++

Cindy Sheehan and Her Theology of Peace
BuzzFlash
Thu, 10/05/2006
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/interviews/038

Cindy Sheehan’s new book, Peace Mom, A Mother’s Journey Through Heartache to Activism, is the story of how a regular mom became the Peace Mom. Cindy recently spoke with BuzzFlash about her book, her recent hospital visit, her goals for the Camp Casey Peace Institute and her efforts to create a more peaceful planet.

Our first interview with Cindy was in October, 2004. BuzzFlash regularly posts her commentaries and supports her mission of peace.
* * *

BuzzFlash: Cindy, thank you for speaking with us.

Cindy Sheehan: Of course.

BuzzFlash: How are you doing? Are you fully recovered from your recent hospital stay?

Cindy Sheehan: Oh, no, not at all. I have to be really careful not to get overtired or overdo it.

BuzzFlash: Can we talk about what happened?

Cindy Sheehan: Okay. It’d be nice to clear it up, so maybe the right wing will stop saying I had an abortion. [laughter]

BuzzFlash: I hadn’t heard that one.

Cindy Sheehan: They’re very confused. There are these blogs, and they’re dedicated to just hating me, you know, and telling lies about me. And one of them is called “Sweetness & Light.” They’re very confused because they thought that I was a lesbian, and that Tiffany - who’s my assistant - was my traveling lover because, they say, “Why does she need an assistant when she never does any work?” So then, when I started having these female problems, they became convinced I had an abortion. But, they can’t figure it out, because they thought I was a lesbian. So the logic is just stunning. The leaps of logic are sometimes entertaining to follow, but confusing.

The truth about what happened to me - I have been bleeding very severely. I went to the Seattle Veterans for Peace convention [in August 2006]. I had to go lay down because I was so sick. And I started to feel like I was floating away.

BuzzFlash: Wow.

Cindy Sheehan: So a friend called, and I explained to him what my symptoms were. And he said, “Why aren’t you in the hospital?” And I said, “I don’t know - because I’m here.” And so he hung up and called my sister. And my sister called the people that I was with in Seattle. They took me to the emergency room and I was severely anemic from all the bleeding. But, they didn’t give me any blood transfusions and they let me go. And I went back to Texas the next day. I mean, in Seattle they gave me some fluids because I was really dehydrated too, and then they let me go. By the time I got to Waco, Texas, I went to get checked by a doctor. I had to go to the emergency room. And I had lost over half my blood volume.

BuzzFlash: Half?

Cindy Sheehan: Yeah, I had lost five pints of blood. And they had to give me two blood transfusions. And they did a minor gynecological procedure, hoping to stem my blood flow. It didn’t work. So, about ten days later, I had to have a hysterectomy. They found out that it was something called adenomyosis, when your uterine lining grows into your uterine wall. That’s what was causing the heavy bleeding, and it never could have been diagnosed unless I had a hysterectomy. So I almost died in Seattle. I almost bled to death right there. And after my two surgeries, I got a post-operative infection, and I ended up back in the hospital in California for two days.

BuzzFlash: What a journey.

Cindy Sheehan: So it’s been really, well — I’m sure I didn’t recover well from the infection because I have been fasting for almost forty days.

BuzzFlash: I was going to ask about that.

Cindy Sheehan: After my first operation, I never slowed down or took any time to rest or reenergize myself. So, I was just really run down.

BuzzFlash: Sometimes the body does that for you.

Cindy Sheehan: Yeah.

BuzzFlash: It tells you it’s time to take a break. You’re on the mend?

Cindy Sheehan: Well, I’m feeling much stronger. The pain has all but vanished. The infection has cleared up. I just get tired really easy, so I just have to be really careful, especially with this book tour.

BuzzFlash: Yeah, I bet.

Cindy Sheehan: Because I’m going to be really busy for the next three weeks or so.

BuzzFlash: I want to ask you about Bush. On September 26, George Bush was on CNN and he dismissed all the deaths in Iraq as “just a comma.”

Cindy Sheehan: Right.

BuzzFlash: We posted your response on BuzzFlash. But, in all of your efforts to meet with Bush, and the work you’ve done to bring peace and to try and end his illegal wars, have you had any insight into how a single man could show such painfully deep ignorance of, and such callousness toward other human lives?

Cindy Sheehan: Well, I think it’s partly because of how he’s been raised. I mean, look at his mother. Look at the horribly callous things she’s said.

BuzzFlash: Yeah, with Katrina.

Cindy Sheehan: Yes, Katrina. And then when she said why should she bother her beautiful mind with the images of the flag-draped coffins. That’s a horribly callous thing. Obviously, George Bush is out of contact with reality. And he was raised in a household where you didn’t really care about anybody but yourself. And it seems like everything that the Bushes do is to try to enrich their family. And I just think he was raised to - he doesn’t know the meaning of compassion. My friend, Justin Frank, wrote that book, Bush on the Couch. And, you know, he’s convinced that George Bush is a sociopath, and me too, because he can — he just totally doesn’t know how to act.

BuzzFlash: Let’s talk about your book: Peace Mom, A Mother’s Journey Through Heartache to Activism. Before Casey’s death in April of 2004, you were a typical, average mother of four from Califoria.

Cindy Sheehan: Uh-huh.

BuzzFlash: And you’ve had some fairly catastrophic changes in your life in the last two and a half years.

Cindy Sheehan: Right.

BuzzFlash: Can you talk about Cindy the mom? Not the activist, but just that part of you that was there in 2004 that — and just this sort of transformation to who you are now.

Cindy Sheehan: Well, before our Casey was killed, I was the kind of mom that did everything for her kids. I did their laundry. I packed their lunches. I would try to straighten their rooms up a little bit. I mean, go to every game, concert, play. I mean, anything that the kids were involved in, I was involved with them. I was a Girl Scout leader, a Boy Scout leader, a youth group leader. You know, I was president of the band booster club. I’m raising money every week for the band because my two younger children were in band: Janey played the violin and Andy played the tuba. My job for eight years was a youth minister, and my kids were all involved in the youth ministry. And I think my whole life was defined by being a mother, and being a good mother. And, you know, being a good mother because I loved my children, but also trying to be the mother that society wanted me to be too, you know? And now since Casey died, I am not the mother that’s there all the time, that does their laundry, that cooks their meals and tucks them in, and kisses their boo-boos, you know? I’ve found a path and a life’s purpose that is still for my kids, and supported by my kids, but also separate. It’s a path separate from them that separates us physically but, just like Casey — nothing could ever separate me emotionally from Casey. And nothing can ever separate our hearts. And even though I’m not always in the same place as my kids geographically, our hearts are always connected. I feel like I’m trying to make the world better for them; make the world better for their children, but also the world’s children too, not just my children.

BuzzFlash: That catalyst that was the meeting with Bush - can you describe that for me? And how that changed your perceptions?

Cindy Sheehan: Well, it didn’t really change my perceptions of the war. We never agreed with the war. We never agreed; never voted for George Bush. You know, we never supported him. I mean, even though I wasn’t a political activist or any kind of activist, I was — I’ve always been a liberal Democrat. You know, that’s not a dirty word or anything that I’m ashamed of.

BuzzFlash: Agreed.

Cindy Sheehan: So we never supported him, and it never — the meeting with him didn’t change how I felt. The actual meeting with him didn’t change any way that I believed. But at the end of the meeting, I asked George Bush why did Casey die, why did Casey have to die? And he said, he believes that everybody deserves to be free, and freedom and democracy, and blah-blah-blah. And I also asked him, “We’re not Republicans. We didn’t vote for you in 2000, and we’re not going to vote for you in 2004. So why were we invited here?” And he said, “Well, Mom, it’s not about politics.” And for some strange reason, I believed him.

And so at the Republican National Convention a few months later, after we met him, he actually stood up and said, “You know, I meet with the families of the fallen. I feel their pain. And they tell me, ‘You know, Mr. President, we’re praying for you. You know, Mr. President, don’t let our loved ones die in vain.’”

And then I just thought: “Wow, you know, this was about politics. So you never go to a funeral. You never say the numbers of killed out loud. You don’t acknowledge them in your press conferences. But you can get up and say that you meet with the families.” And he just met with us based on politics.

So I just thought: well, you know, if it’s about politics for you, then it’s about politics for me. And that’s when I got involved in the 2004 Presidential elections — not working for John Kerry, but working against George Bush.

BuzzFlash: When you wrote the book, did it help you understand the journey that you went through?

Cindy Sheehan: Well, you know, I write a lot.

BuzzFlash: Yes. And we’re grateful for it.

Cindy Sheehan: I’m a very prolific writer. I can’t seem to stop writing. And I do think it has really clarified the writing. And having to research for the writing, and stuff like that, has really clarified my theology of peace — thinking that we just can’t be anti-war. We have to be pro-peace. And when our troops come home from this mistake of an occupation, we have to continue the struggle for peace, because the war machine always wants — they want perpetual war so they can make money. And we the people finally have to put a stop to that. We can only do it by being peace activists, and not anti-war activists. I always get asked that question: “Do you think your activism or your writing is helping you heal?” I can’t really answer it because it’s just what I’m doing.

It seems to help me because I feel emotionally stronger every day, especially since Camp Casey last year. I feel that when Casey was first killed, probably for at least the first year or so, my kids were having to comfort me, and worry about me. And now I feel like, from Camp Casey, I’m in a place where I’m strong enough that I can attend to their grief, and help them with their grief.

BuzzFlash: How does this book fit in with your other two books, Not One More Mother’s Child and Dear President Bush. Does it fill in a hole?

Cindy Sheehan: Well, I definitely feel that it does kind of fill in some holes about my struggle, because usually when I write, it’s not explaining my daily life or my process at all. And this new book is a narrative that explains my process and some things that happened at Camp Casey or happened in my life that haven’t been reported on. And just to clarify things — misconceptions that people have. My other two books were basically collections of essays that I have written, and my blogs from Camp Casey, and interviews I have done, and things like that. So this is just some more personal, in-depth look at my journey since Casey was killed.

BuzzFlash: What do you hope will come from the Camp Casey Peace Institute?

Cindy Sheehan: What we were talking about a little bit earlier — that finally in the 21st Century, countries stop using killing and violence to solve problems, especially imaginary problems. I hope that we are a confrontation and a thorn in the side of the war profiteers. I hope to be able to educate families about how our children are always used in war to line the pockets of the war profiteers — rarely if ever used to defend our country. That’s why I call the Department of Defense the War Department — because it’s not about defending our country. To educate people about how our families and our communities are losing money and jobs and our children because of the insane and immoral amount of money we spend on the War Department. And just to be a presence of peace; and not just peace on earth, but peace in families, peace in our hearts. I know it’s like a really big task that we’re taking on, but I am hoping that we’re going to have Camp Casey Peace Institutes all over the country. And we’re also opening up Camp Casey in Crawford to soldiers at Fort Hood, if they just want to come out for the weekend and just, you know, get away from base.
BuzzFlash: A refuge.

Cindy Sheehan: Yeah, a kind of refuge. A haven for soldiers. I’m hoping to always have a full-time mom there to pamper the soldiers — you know, to do their laundry, cook for them. I’m hoping to have a full-time vet there to be able to talk to the soldiers and relate with them — have counseling available, and have resources to help soldiers get out of the military, or get out of going to Iraq if they don’t want to. But even if the soldiers support the war and think that the mission is good, I want them to have someplace where they can just come and hang out, because so many of them are so far from home.

And I’m hoping that spreads to other large military institutions. And that’s just another way of being in the face of the war machine — to have programs of peace near a presence of war and violence. Ultimately war and violence come from hatred and fear, and that’s something that we have to — all of us — have to combat in this country, is hatred and fear.

BuzzFlash: You recently wrote a column titled “Celebrating Irrelevancy,” which was a response to a Waco Tribune article claiming the larger peace movement had made you irrelevant. Your response was, “Great. That was my point.”

Cindy Sheehan: Uh-huh.

BuzzFlash: Do you feel that the peace movement has taken flight per se — taken off to a certain degree where you could — without your body telling you to do so — take a rest and allow yourself some time to rejuvenate?

Cindy Sheehan: Well, actually they didn’t say I was irrelevant to the peace movement. They said I was irrelevant to the anti-war movement. And I make a clear distinction between them.

You know, we had an anti-war movement in Vietnam, and when the war was over, the movement died. And I’m hoping that I will still be relevant to the peace movement, not just now during the regime of George Bush and during the occupation of Iraq, but afterwards, through the Camp Casey Peace Institute, to really advocate for true and lasting peace. And I believe that last year, when I went out to Camp Casey, I was one of the only people publicly saying war is illegal and immoral; publicly saying words like genocide, and calling George Bush a terrorist; and saying, “What’s the difference between flying planes into buildings or dropping bombs on buildings from airplanes?” And now I feel like I’m in the middle of a large crowd, and the majority of Americans are on my side.

Irrelevancy can be a good thing. But, I don’t think that anybody besides the Waco Tribune finds me irrelevant, since I’m still being attacked by the right, and I’m still being invited all over the world to participate in the peace movement.

BuzzFlash: You’re still important.

Cindy Sheehan: Yeah, well, and then I don’t want to say so much as important. But, I think we’re all relevant and important to the peace movement, and we all have to buy into this notion that killing is wrong and violence is wrong if we want our world to survive.

BuzzFlash: How are Andy, Janey and Carly doing?

Cindy Sheehan: They’re doing okay. I talked to the girls already today. The girls and I rented a house together, and we live pretty close to Andy and his Dad. So whenever I’m in California, I’m close to them — of course, the girls live with me. I was living about an hour away from them, so it’s much nicer to be closer to them.

And, you know, they’re doing their thing, going to school, working. I dedicated my book to them, because I am just in awe of their strength and their integrity. So, you know, I think we’re going to be okay, because we have to be okay.

BuzzFlash: What’s the next step?

Cindy Sheehan: Well, I’m on this book tour until October 17th. And then we have two tour buses donated for our use for the Gold Star Families for Peace. And we’re going to — we haven’t really announced this yet, because we’re still working on the details. But, we can surely talk about it in this interview. We’re going to start in San Francisco, and we’re going to go across the country and end up in Washington, D.C. on election day. We’re going to have rallies along the way. We’re starting on October 22nd. It’s called the “You’re Evicted - Get Out of Our House” Tour.

My premise for the senators who are up for reelection, and the House members who are up for reelection, is that if you’re not representing your constituents — and we know that if 60% to 65% of America disagrees with George Bush and his war of terror — that transcends all demographics. We’re telling them to get out of our house, whether it’s the House of Representatives or the Senate: “You’re going to be fired and we want you out of our house.”

But, George Bush is not up for reelection. If the Democrats don’t take the House back, he’s going to be in office until 2009. So, our premise on George Bush is that he was never elected in 2000 and 2004, you know, through shenanigans and voter suppression and all kinds of problems that other people have documented very well. He is illegitimately in power.

So, I don’t think that we have to talk about an impeachment. We talk about eviction because he shouldn’t be in the White House.

And I want to gather people along the way. I want people to meet us in Washington, D.C. on November 7th. And I want to storm the White House and just say: “You’re defiling our house. We want you out of there.”

I don’t think that he’s going to see us and pack up his belongings and leave right away. But I believe — and, you know, whether I believe it or not, it’s true — that governments govern only with the consent of those people that they govern. And I know that the majority of Americans withdraw their consent for George Bush to govern them. But how are they going to know if we don’t get out in the streets and show them? I think we need to take to the streets and show the people who are illegitimately in power that we know they’re illegitimate, that we don’t agree with them.

And we not only have to show George Bush and our country, but we have to show the world, because the world is losing hope with America. And we have to get out, literally by the millions, to give the world back their hope that America will come to its senses.

BuzzFlash: That’s great. Thank you so much, Cindy.

Cindy Sheehan: It was great talking to you.

UPDATE:

Apologies to Gov. Warner for using his first name, Mark, instead of John Warners in the original post — bygones!

What’s right and good doesn’t come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it - as if the cause depends on you, because it does. Allow yourself that conceit - to believe that the flame of Democracy will never go out as long as there’s one candle in your hand.
~ Bill Moyers

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Entry Filed under: Political Waves