|
They Are Not Numbers
By Cindy Sheehan
10/22/05
-- -- I received this email the other day. I have removed the names:
Dear Ms. Sheehan ~ I wasn't sure how else to contact
you, so am sending this thru the gsfp website. I just want to thank you for posting your essay entitled, "A Peaceful Day."
My cousin, "brave soldier," 30, originally of Indiana, was one of the five U.S. soldiers killed on Saturday, October
15th – Iraq's "peaceful day." He is survived by his wife, his two children, his parents, his sister, our grandma, his
aunt, his two uncles and his two cousins. We are currently awaiting confirmation per dna identification.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10713.htm
Over 600 held under terror act at Labour conference : Anti-Iraq war protesters, anti-Blairite OAPs and conference delegates were
all detained by police under legislation that was designed to combat violent fanatics and bombers - even though none of them
was suspected of terrorist links
Student Anti_war
Student who was Maced By Police is Now Banned from Campus!: At approximately
1pm on Sept 30, Sgt. Richard H. Wheeler and State Trooper Vasquez delivered a notice to Charles T. Peterson at the doorstep
of his home in Springfield, MA. http://www.traprockpeace.org/counter_recruitment/
| |
|
PITTSBURGH POLICE ATTACK NON-VIOLENT PROTESTORS WITH TASERS, PEPPER SPRAY
AND K-9 UNITS. Solidarity is urged. (Click below for press release, pictures, and video).
photos / video
_____________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release August 21, 2005
Contact: David Meieran, 412-996-4986
Nathan
Shaffer, 412-720-9276
PITTSBURGH POLICE ATTACK NON-VIOLENT PROTESTORS WITH TASERS,
PEPPER SPRAY AND K-9 UNITS
Counter-Recruitment
Demonstration Ends in Five Arrests and Two Hospitalizations
Pittsburgh, PA – The Pittsburgh Police Department
displayed an excessive use of
force at a demonstration yesterday outside a military recruitment station
located near
the University of Pittsburgh. Five were arrested, two were
hospitalized and several others received injuries as a result
of police
unwarranted use of Tasers, pepper spray, retracting batons and K-9 units. Two
others were issued citations
when they complained about police misconduct.
Yesterday's protest marks the first time in the city's history that police
used
Tasers on demonstrators. Dramatic Indymedia video shows police dragging a young
woman off the sidewalk and Tasering
her mercilessly as she lay on the street
screaming—and this after she was pepper-sprayed directly in the face. The
video
clearly demonstrates that she posed no threat to the police or anyone else when
she was Tasered, marking a clear
violation of the city's official guidelines
for the use of these controversial weapons. The activist was taken to UPMC
Presbyterian
Hospital for treatment and remains in police custody.
Police also used K-9 units to chase away protestors on the sidewalk.
A 68-year
old grandmother was bitten from behind by a police dog and then arrested and
placed in an unventilated police
van in the hot sun where she remained for 45
minutes before she, too, was finally taken to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital for
treatment.
In
addition, police pepper sprayed a four year-old girl, toppled a man with
Multiple Sclerosis in his motorized wheel chair
and clubbed a number of
protestors with retracting metal batons.
At the time of the police attacks activists were
peacefully assembled on the
sidewalk in front of the recruiting station, which had opted to remain closed
for the day
in response to yesterday's call for non-violent direct action by
Pittsburgh Organizing Group (POG). It marked the second
time this month that
POG had pre-emptively shut down military recruitment at that station, which is
the headquarters
for military recruitment in the city. (For more information
Pittsburgh Organizing Group's counter-recruitment campaign,
visit
www.OrganizePittsburgh.org .)
POG is alarmed by yesterday's events. In the past two years, more than 150
people
have been killed by Tasers. Amnesty International, the ACLU and other
groups have called for a moratorium on their use.
In response to a public
outcry to police abuse of Tasers, a number of cities have imposed restrictions
on Taser use,
cancelled orders or pulled them from circulation. The
manufacturer, Taser International, is facing multiple lawsuits.
POG
is demanding an official investigation into the police conduct at
yesterday's demonstration and an immediate halt to the
use of Tasers by the
Pittsburgh Police Department. Copies of video documentation of yesterday's
police abuses can be
obtained by calling David or Nathan at the numbers listed
above or by emailing pog@mutualaid.org. |
http://www.campusantiwar.net/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=90&Itemid=2
Camp Casey Memorial Stolen The Camp Casey Memorial on Prairie Chapel
Road was removed by thieves earlier today. Not a single item is left at the memorial site.
Memorial to those Killed In Action Has Been Desecrated at "Camp
Casey"
A Bush follower showed his true face and colors.
By
Ward Reilly
08/24/05 "Baltimore Chronicle" -- -- In the late 60's and early 70's, the Nixon regime went
to great lengths to spread rumors and lies about the returning troops being spat-upon by protestors, claiming that the soldiers
were treated like criminals when they returned from Viet Nam.
Almost every one of those claims were discredited, and
not a single case has been actually documented, but today the dis-honoring of the KIA from Iraq has come full circle. Today
it was a common Republican thug who really did do the "spitting."
We can’t tell you how inspiring it has been to be by Cindy’s side and see this movement blossom. CODEPINK
will be here until Cindy gets her meeting with Bush, or leaves at the end of August. Meanwhile, we’re planning for the
big march and events in Washington DC, September 24 - 26
The tide is turning and now more than ever we have to force those behind
the gates of the White House to see the writing on the wall. We must get out of Iraq NOW. Join with tens of thousands of other
activists who know the time for us is NOW. Be with us in this historic moment as we march on the White House and deliver your
reasons for ending the Iraq war to BUSH (visit onemillionreasons.org to sign-up with your reason today!). Mark
your calendars, reserve your tickets, and get your pink gear ready!
Cindy's Crawford: Camp Casey Continues to Grow Despite Sheehan's Absence
Hundreds of supporters converged on Camp Casey
outside Bush’s Crawford estate this weekend. Although Cindy Sheehan had to leave temporarily to care for her ailing
mother, other military families delivered a letter to the gates of the presidential property.
Despite the temporary departure of Cindy Sheehan to care for her ailing
mother, the antiwar vigil outside President Bush’s estate in Crawford is continuing to grow. Hundreds gathered on Saturday
night to hear musician Steve Earle perform at Camp Casey. Legendary folk singer Joan Baez also held a concert Sunday evening.
Military families, veterans and other supporters are coming from around the country - as far away as Alaska, California and
Massachusetts - to support Cindy’s efforts.
US TV station rejects anti-war ad "A Utah television station is refusing
to air an anti-war ad featuring Cindy Sheehan, whose son's death in Iraq prompted a vigil outside President George Bush's
Texas ranch.
The ad began airing on other area stations on Saturday,
two days before Bush was scheduled to speak in Salt Lake City to the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
However, a national sales representative for KTVX, a local ABC affiliate, rejected the ad in an e-mail to media buyers,
writing that it was an "inappropriate commercial advertisement for Salt Lake City".
|
The legacy of "Johnny K" Full Story
Fallen Philly soldier revealed the ugly truth about IraqBy AttytoodLast week, we wrote about the unspeakably sad story of Gennaro Pellegrini
Jr. -- Philly cop, welterweight boxer, and National Guardsman. The
31-year-old's life was hitting full stride when he received a fateful phone call ordering him to serve in Iraq, just two weeks
before his hitch was supposed to end. Pellegrini was quite unhappy, but he went -- and he paid with his life, along with three
of his Pennsylvania National Guard colleagues who were killed in a ruthless ambush near the Iraqi town of Beiji.
|
Why Casey Sheehan Was Killed by Aaron Glantz
Since President Bush won’t meet with Cindy Sheehan
to explain why her son Casey died in Iraq, I thought I would put forward the information I have. Like Army Specialist Casey
Sheehan, I was in Baghdad’s Sadr City on April 4, 2004.
I was there as an unembedded journalist. Unlike Casey Sheehan,
I wasn’t killed.
I had traveled to Sadr City to cover the Bush Administration’s
undemocratic attack on the movement of Shi’ite cleric Muqtada Sadr. It didn’t matter that the cleric had millions
of followers or that he was scion to an important political family with a history of standing up to tyranny. (His father was
killed by Saddam’s regime for fomenting revolution in 1999. His uncle, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr, was killed
for leading an insurrection against Ba’ath rule in 1980.) | | No-Win War The Aftermath
By Charley Reese
08/19/05
-- -- I heard a lecture by an Army psychologist who contended that after 90 days of combat, the casualty rate was 98 percent.
Those not wounded physically were wounded psychologically. The other 2 percent were psychopaths.
Petition for Cindy - from MoveOn.org
MoveOn is taking out
an ad in President Bush's local newspaper in support of Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who is camped
outside Bush's ranch in Texas asking for a meeting with the president. They'll publish the number of signers and the best
comments in a full two-page spread in the newspaper nearest to Crawford (The Waco Tribune Herald) while Cindy holds her vigil.
Can you sign and spread the word before the 3:00 PM Friday print deadline?
http://political.moveon.org/meetwithcindy/
|
An Honor To Stand Up Against War
By Harvey H. Reading
This is for you who might otherwise be visibly protesting the unjustifiable
and immoral war that your government wages on the people of Iraq, and those of the Muslim faith in general. For you who hesitate
for fear of being compared with the untruthfully labeled "spitters" and "traitors" who protested the Vietnam war, from its
beginnings in 1945untilitsend.You should be proud to carry on a great tradition of protest that stretches back to the founding
of our country. And, let me tell you, we need a massive, proud, long-lasting reassertion of the peace movement right now ...
before the ruling criminals steal every last bit of our freedom.
|
Gold Star & Military Families Arrive in Crawford, Texas: Call on President Bush to Meet with Cindy Sheehan and All of the
Families, and to Bring Troops Home Now
C'Mon Dubya, Talk to the Lady : Can there still be any question that President Bush is a coward?
Is there still any question that not only is Bush a coward, but that he doesn't give two shakes about the thousands of men
and women he has sent off to die, be mutilated, or be psychologically traumatized?
|
A grieving mother waits for an answer
By Margaret Carlson
08/11/05 "Los Angeles Times" -- -- I DIDN'T THINK Cindy Sheehan, the mother waiting on that
dusty Texas road for a chance to ask President Bush why her son died in Iraq, was having much effect.
Then I saw her
being "Swift-boated" like John Kerry, whose medals and Purple Hearts were all a mistake.
Sheehan, word went out, is
a flip-flopper. She'd once accepted the condolences of the president and there was an article in her local paper, which quickly
found its way to reporters, to prove it. In it, Sheehan was quoted as saying that Bush wanted "freedom for the Iraqis," felt
"some pain for our loss" and that he was "a man of faith." All true, and not at all at odds with what she's saying now, which
is that the war is not a "noble" cause, as Bush would have it, and that no one else's child should die in it. |
Peace vigil by U.S. soldier's mom draws notice
CTV.ca News Staff
A protest by a grieving mother camped out near U.S. President
George Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas is gaining steam.
About 50 people have pitched their tents in muddy ditches,
have hung anti-war banners and are showing their support for Cindy Sheehan, who lost her oldest son Casey in Iraq.
Casey, 24, joined the Army in 2000. He was killed in Sadr City
five days after he arrived in Iraq last year.
Sheehan has been camping out along the winding road near Bush's
ranch since Saturday.
She says she wants to talk to the president and is vowing to
remain put until his Texas vacation ends later this month.
Kristinn Taylor, co-leader of the Washington, D.C., chapter
of FreeRepublic.com, said Sheehan's protest is hurting the morale of American soldiers.
3 Videos At CTV Sie As Well
By Kate Randall
11 August 2005
To date, 1,843 US troops have been killed in the Iraq war.
Cindy Sheehan, the mother of one of these soldiers, has put a public face on the suffering of the families left behind by
the deaths of these men and women. Her personal cause has also brought to light the anger of growing numbers of Americans
over the war, and their contempt for George W. Bush.
The treatment Cindy Sheehan has received from the Bush administration
since she lost her son is characteristic of the disrespect his administration has shown to the thousands of families whose
sons, daughters, mothers and fathers, have been killed and maimed in the war. Bush has refused to meet publicly with the bereaved
family members, or attend the funerals of the soldiers killed. He has instead held private meetings with the families, closed
to the press.
The Arctic Beacon
The Last Frontier of Truth
While Bush Vacations, Innocent People Die!
On the front lines in Crawford TX
Authorities Getting Ready To Throw Anti-War Protestors From Bush Ranch For TrespassingCindy Sheehan, who lost her son in
Iraq last year, won't leave Crawford TX until she's arrested or personally meets with Bush. No trespassing signs are now going
up near to the location where the group of about 50 anti-war protestors are camped out near the President's ranch while he
vacations. In the event Sheehan and the group are told to leave, they have obtained legal counsel to protect their free speech
rights.
By Greg Szymanski
August 10, 2005 Angry Mothers and Trembling Grizzlies: The Sheehan Effect
by Dr. Teresa Whitehurst "Sheehan has been involved
in protests against Bush since last year. She founded Gold Star Families for Peace...She said she decided to seek another
audience with Bush when she heard his comments about the war last week, after a spike in American deaths. The fallen men and
women "died in a noble cause," Bush said Wednesday. "Their families can know that we will honor their loved ones' sacrifice
by completing the mission."
"Sheehan said she wants to tell Bush not to use her son's death as a reason
to continue the war, and to ask "why (Bush's twin daughters) Jenna and Barbara and the other children of the architects of
this disastrous war are not in harm's way, if the cause is so noble." ArmyTimes.com, August 8, 2005
For some, Cindy Sheehan's lonely journey through the shock and sorrow of
her son Casey's death in Iraq is of no interest. What, they ask, is the big deal? One soldier killed, one mother grieving
– so what? Mothers have no business meddling in the manly business of war, or expressing inconvenient, disloyal, unpatriotic feelings like grief or
anger. Get over it, critics command, and think about "the mission" instead, a mission that "we should see through" so that
other people can't make fun of us for "cutting and running."
Instead of focusing on one poor misguided woman, or on how many more Americans
and innocent Iraqi families will be killed in this war, we're told to think about how great it will be when other people admire
us for killing every terrorist and future terrorist in the whole wide world. Instead of thinking about the new fundamentalist
Islamic "democracy" that Bush's war has ushered in for the poor girls and women of Iraq, think about "the good news" way,
way down the road when they get used to wearing the burqa and live happily ever after. In short, Americans should focus on
"the big picture."
But for mothers – even those who've tried valiantly to believe the
president when he exclaims that the war on Iraq is a "noble cause" – there IS no big picture. For mothers of slain soldiers,
there are only little pictures: their lost child smiling at 10 months in his high chair; riding his first bike without training
wheels; opening Christmas presents (Hot Wheels, Transformers, or GI Joe); and making silly faces for the camera.
The little picture encompasses all those times when parents stay up all
night with their sick children, or protect them from bullies, or wipe away their tears after a friend's rejection. It's not
just the happy times that mothers remember, it's the multitude of little moments, little pictures in a parent's mind, of time
and love invested in one's offspring. When this enormous investment is squandered by reckless military adventures that zip
kids into body bags, parents are owed great compensation. And they are owed the truth.
Do George and Laura Bush ever imagine how it would feel if all they had
left of their beloved child was, as Cindy Sheehan has, a few snapshots and an abyss of sorrow in their hearts? Must they suppress
their natural compassion in order to convince themselves of their own administration's spin – that it's "worth it" when
American kids die far away from home for reasons that have consistently turned out to be false?
Do the Bushes feel the earth tremble beneath their feet at the mere thought
that thousands of parents of slain soldiers are beginning to ask questions, to see the folly for which their children died…to
find their voice?Cindy remembers the little picture, which is why George has been hiding from her. She is his worst nightmare,
for she is not just Cindy Sheehan, mother of Casey. She is Every Mother. And, no matter how uncomfortable it gets, she's not
going to dishonor her son by saying, "Well okay, if you say so, I guess this war was worth my boy's life."
Support Our Wars or Else
What does it really mean to "honor" a soldier's death…and life? To
say that he or she willingly died "to end terrorism" (impossible), or "make Iraq a democracy" (ditto)? Unless they were suicidal
when they enlisted (I know one boy who was), dying in Iraq is not the soldier's "sacrifice" because by definition, a sacrifice
is something that we choose and willingly make. Most young people never imagined when they enlisted – often for reasons their recruiters understood but their parents didn't, such as finding a sense of belonging, or escaping bad neighborhoods or dead-end
jobs, or finding a way to afford college some day – that they'd be dead within a matter of months.
To swallow ridiculous, ever-changing reasons for the futile war that has
killed over 1800 idealistic youths with their whole lives ahead of them is to take the easy, socially acceptable way out.
Pro-war pundits and politicians constantly threaten parents with social disapproval and even hatred if they dare to question
those reasons – and it's worked for a long time. Parents have felt pressured to mouth the hawks' lines, lest their love
for their child be called into question.
What a devilishly mean but perfect system for subduing the parents of fallen
soldiers! Politicians and talk show hosts threaten: "Support our troops (the war), or we'll accuse you of dishonoring your
dead child." The last thing that worried or grieving parents can bear is the suggestion that they're "dishonoring" the memory
of the one they love. And so they have acquiesced. They have submitted. Archie Bunker would be pleased: Like Edith, they've
learned to stifle themselves.
Until now.
Protective Fury: The Tipping Point
One day, back when Americans lived in peace and we'd never even heard of
the Bush dynasty or the plotting neocons whose reckless ambitions it would serve, I was watching a nature show about grizzly bears in their natural habitat.
I will never forget one particularly electrifying scene that comes to mind whenever I hear about Cindy Sheehan's vigil outside
Mr. Bush's gated compound.
A large male grizzly came upon two adorable little grizzly cubs, who looked
up at him with wonder and naivete; clearly, they didn't realize the danger they were in. To my great surprise, however, the
male grizzly stood bolt upright as though startled, then starting running away from those harmless little cubs. Why on earth
did he do that, I wondered. The narrator explained that the male knew instinctively that there's nothing more dangerous than
a mother grizzly who senses that her cubs may be harmed.
As the huge male ran off into the woods, the narrator continued: "While
the male grizzly is larger and could probably kill the female, he knows that in the process, her protective fury would leave
him seriously, if not mortally, wounded. Mother grizzly bears will fight to the death for their young, ripping the flesh of
any animal, no matter how large, that threatens their cubs. Coming upon the youngsters frightened the adult male so badly
that he ran and hid because the mother, unseen but without a doubt somewhere near by, could at any moment sniff his presence
and roar into action."
Human males can also sense danger, and know very well the hazards of facing
protective mothers – particularly when other mothers are watching, too. This explains why the mainstream media has worked so hard to make antiwar parents of fallen
soldiers look pitiful, and why George Bush is hiding inside his compound, hoping that Ms. Sheehan will lose interest and go away.
But what the president doesn't understand is this: She's not going to lose
interest, and furthermore it isn't just Cindy Sheehan anymore. Parents of servicemen and women all over the country are beginning
to see the little picture again. This is the tipping point, a showdown fueled by motherly devotion that will embolden other
families to start questioning the integrity and fitness of this administration and this president: It's what I call the Sheehan
Effect.
And that's the worst news ever for a man who can only see the "the mission,"
the big picture, and how noble it will look under "Bush, George W." in the history books.
|
