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HONORING CINDY SHEEHAN
by Steve Morse
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President of Gold Star Families for Peace, Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, California, kneels with a cross bearing the name of her son Casey who died serving in Iraq in 2004, at her anti-war protest camp near the ranch owned by U.S. President George W. Bush in Crawford, Texas August 15, 2005.
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Photo: Jason Reed
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It was August 5th, Thursday dinner time at the Veterans for Peace Convention in Dallas, and we were in the big tent enjoying the Texas-style barbecue. It was the first day of the convention, and I had been appreciating the energy, thinking, commitment and integrity of the hundreds of us there. Yet, I was a little concerned that the convention had been promoted as reaching out to North Texas, a very different type of area from San Francisco or Boston, and was wondering how we were going to make that promise concrete. Certainly, it was clear that there were a fair number of activists from North Texas and Austin who were there because it was close, and because VFP had reached out to their area. Yet, I was concerned that because we were on an isolated college campus, we were not visible to the people in the region. As I was thinking such thoughts, Cindy Sheehan walks by and greets me.
Well, what I was concerned about got resolved beyond my wildest dreams by Cindy’s action in Crawford and the action of the thousands, millions, who have supported her. Talk about not seeing that one coming! Cindy spoke to the whole convention on Friday, and said she was going to Crawford the following day to try to talk to George W, and would stay outside his brush ranchette until she was able to talk to him about what her son Casey had died for. Dave Cline, national VFP president, used a military metaphor by saying that the “company” would continue its mission of carrying out the convention, but that a “platoon” would go on a side mission with Cindy to Crawford. 40 people from the convention went to Crawford on Saturday on the Impeachment Bus.
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Cindy Sheehan, flanked by members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Hart Viges(L) and Charles Anderson(R), speaks during a press conference at her makeshift camp near the ranch of US President George W. Bush in Crawford.
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Photo: Mandel Ngan
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Cindy’s power comes from many sources. She’s a grieving mom who understands the public relevance of her grieving and her grief. She seems to make a human connection with everyone she meets - I felt that both in talking personally with her, and in speaking on a panel with her. She understands her own power and the power of other “ordinary people” to frame the issues and to make change. She treats everyday people with respect and is not cowed by anyone with a title. Some people wear their anger in a way that maintains their sense of being marginalized, but Cindy uses her anger quite differently: it is a complement to the love she shows for people everywhere who are suffering from war. Cindy has been tireless in promoting that love, and in not hiding her contempt for those who would sacrifice other people’s sons and daughters in imperial war.
Cindy contacted us on the GI Rights Hotline, asking for advice concerning a few different young people who had contacted her and Gold Star Families for Peace. They were trying to withdraw from the Delayed Entry Program, something which they were able to do, because it’s easy once you realize you can actually do it. I could sense, even from her e-mails, Cindy’s concern with the well-being of everyone involved.
CCCO’s other main program, along with the GI Rights Hotline, is counter-recruitment. Cindy’s action is a direct challenge to military recruitment. Do young adults really want to join a military whose commander-in-chief takes weeks of vacation with plenty of time on his hands, yet is unwilling or unable to explain to a Gold Star mom, who has arrived on his doorstep, what the cause was for which her son died?
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Nooshin Razani, middle with microphone, gives a testimony on the life of her brother Omead who was killed while serving in Iraq during a rally in honor of Cindy Sheehan in downtown San Francisco on Friday, Aug. 12, 2005. Steve Morse of CCCO, far right, can be seen holding a sign in support of Cindy Sheehan.
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Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez
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Read more about Cindy Sheehan by visiting the websites below:
Gold Star Families for Peace
Meet With Cindy
The Lone Star Iconoclast
Truthout
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