Cindy Sheehan's latest article (very heartbreaking)

[shireen]

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/gsfp/blog/comments.jsp?key=382&blog_entry_KEY=22449&t=

Mistakes, Mismanagement and MoveOn, Slowly Bleeding to Death

09:00 AM Feb 21, 2007


Mistakes, Mismanagement and MoveOn
In Search of Peace
Slowly Bleeding to Death
Cindy Sheehan

Senator John McCain: “We are paying a very heavy price for the mismanagement — that’s the kindest word I can give you — of Donald Rumsfeld, of this war. The price is very, very heavy and I regret it enormously.”

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton: "I take responsibility for my vote. It was a sincere vote based on the facts and assurances we had at the time. Obviously I would not vote that way again if we knew then what we know now.”

Imagine a 2008 presidential race with the above two as our major candidates. One who is a supporter of the invasion/occupation of Iraq who thinks it has been “mismanaged” and one who is a supporter of the invasion/occupation of Iraq who was fooled by the crafty, super-genius, George Bush.

Imagine a grieving mother whose son or daughter has been killed in Iraq hearing a Pentagon report that calls the manipulated Doug Feith (famous PNAC supporter and former Deputy War Minister) intelligence that led to her child’s death, not a crime, but “inappropriate.” Imagine this same grieving mother having to hear these two candidates for their political party’s nomination play politics with their child’s life that was cut tragically short by unrepentant murderers.

John McCain “regrets” that Donald Rumsfeld mismanaged the war and notes that he will go down in history as the worst War Minister in of the ages, but doesn’t regret his former support of the same man, or his support of George Bush who will go down as the worst “war preznit” in history and who defamed, lied, libeled and slandered John McCain in 2000.

Hillary Clinton thinks she is doing her campaign a favor by saying her vote to give George Bush authority to invade Iraq was a mistake, but she won’t apologize for it. Imagine a grieving mother who lies awake at night longing for her “mistakenly” killed child who would be alive if instead of cheerleading for a tail-wagging-dog foray into Iraq that could have been avoided if only Ms. Clinton had taken the lead in the Senate denouncing the Bush Regimes lies instead of pretending to believe them.

MoveOn.org, which I recently learned was the American “anti-war” movement, is not calling for an immediate withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, but favors a “slow bleed” strategy. MoveOn will not call for de-funding the war because they don’t want to be perceived as “anti-troop” when we all know that the reich-wing has never supported our troops. The 21,500 troops who are going to be surged into Baghdad will not even have body armor until this summer. Hopefully, they can dodge the bullets and shrapnel until summer, or until MoveOn wakes up and realizes that the only way to support our troops in the field is to bring them back to the States so they don’t have to worry about body armor, clean water or edible food.

...
more at http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/gsfp/blog/comments.jsp?key=382&blog_entry_KEY=22449&t=

:cry:

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

1. K & R, Cindy always tells it like it is.....{{{Cindy}}}

:hug:

Oh, and, the speaking truth to power part :yourock: MKJ

[WiseButAngrySara]

2. Another knr for Cindy. Her agonizing truth... ....n/t

[shireen]

13. Congress needs to listen to Cindy and other GSFP members

and I mean REALLY listen. Too many of them simply don't get it, and when they claim to regret the 2002 war vote, it's too little too late. We have to hold our elected officials to much much higher standards when it comes to life and death decisions; we need people with deep wisdom, empathy, and intelligence, people like John Conyers, Bernie Sanders, Dennis Kucinich, Russ Feingold, etc.....

[WiseButAngrySara]

24. I could not agree with you more! ....n/t

[MarianJack]

3. A Proud Vote #4!

Do any of these candidates have the least awareness that this has needlessly caused the deaths of thousands of American sons & daughters, fathers & mothers, brothers & sisters for a fucking lie?

Not to mention thousands of Iraquis?

[PDJane]

4. They don't care.

If they cared about Americans, they wouldn't be sending them to die to make the world safe for corporate profits.

If they cared about Iraqis, they wouldn't have used a bogus war as an excuse to bomb a civilian infrastructure and impose sanctions, all of which killed more civilians than military.

[bvar22]

5. K&R

I desperately PRAY that this is not out future for 2008:


"Hillary Clinton thinks she is doing her campaign a favor by saying her vote to give George Bush authority to invade Iraq was a mistake, but she won’t apologize for it. Imagine a grieving mother who lies awake at night longing for her “mistakenly” killed child who would be alive if instead of cheerleading for a tail-wagging-dog foray into Iraq that could have been avoided if only Ms. Clinton had taken the lead in the Senate denouncing the Bush Regimes lies instead of pretending to believe them.
"



The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

[MrMickeysMom]

15. To this, I add, "anyone who didn't see through Bush 43 is a LIAR!"

It makes my teeth grind every time I hear one of Clinton or any other Democratic Presidential hopeful step up to the podium, then boldly proclaim, "If I knew then, what I know now...I would NEVER have voted for supporting the president" SHUT THE FUCK UP, AND QUIT LYING.

Excuse me, but WE ALL knew EXACTLY what was going on before that Senate vote. Does it really require being out of legislature, or being far removed from beltway like all of us out in the hustings here to understand what the HELL was going leading us so obviously into this occupation based on one lie after the other. Do they still think we are that stupid? That we wouldn't know what was on in the mind of these criminals in the White House". Give me a fucking break!

If Clinton, or ANYONE had the tiniest intention of winning the hearts and minds of the voter, or getting people to the polls, period, it would be because they FINALLY had to ADMIT, "Well, shit, America, I.... I just can't convince myself to LIE ANYMORE!"

We all knew. And we still know that these Prez would-be's knew. Now all you motherfuckers can just get at the end of the line to kiss our ass, rather than think we'll waste another day listening, nodding and winking to this crap anymore. Not until you fess up and admit to ALL OF US- that you can't lie anymore and that you were wrong.

AND, you're going to make it right.

[lonestarnot]

6. Keep fight'n them Cindy!

[mnhtnbb]

7. Praying that it won't be a choice between Hillary and McCain

and that MoveOn will wake up.

[file83]

8. This is why we should ALL support Barack Obama....

...he doesn't have to defend some defenseless position on the Iraq war.

[annm4peace]

9. Love Cindy, but MoveOn is NOT the Anti-War movement

MoveOn has been a great help for many events and have brought many out to protests, and to vote... but they definately are not the Anti-War or even Anti-Torture movement. I can not support Hillary or any other candidate that says they didn't know Bush and the Administation was lying. There were over 10 million of us in the sTreets in February before the War on Iraq. We listen to the experts who were in the field.. who had been in the field for many years. There were many more who were writing their congresspersons.. writing to editors of newspapers.. writing friends and families. WE knew.. and these Congress people who act they they didn't know are a bunch of liars. There were many Congress people who didn't believe the lies and the spoke out, even when their lives were threatened. I don't have any respect for Hillary, or Kerry, or Murtha, or Biden, or Obama. They knew what the truth was before the war and they chose to support the lie of going to war, of continuing to fund the war, and supporting the Military Commissions Act.

[shireen]

10. why Obama?

I don't understand why you're lumping Obama with that group. I'm not asking as a supporter, just curious, wondering if I missed something. If I recall correctly, Obama has been against this war from the start.

[annm4peace]

12. what the say and what they do

He repeatedly voted to fund the war. Voted to Reauthorize the Patriot Act. Voted against Redeployment of Troops.

check out www.vote-smart.org

Of course I have to vote Democrate if needed but I'm not putting my time or money into any of the these type of candidate's campaigns.

[shireen]

14. i remember now ....

you just reminded me why I was feeling so uneasy about Obama; he voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act. Yes, that was incredibly disappointing. I hope someone asks him WHY he did it, and he better have a good explanation.

[peacetheonlyway]

17. cindy was being satirical on that comment

annm4peace
I think Cindy was using satire like she was jokingly saying that moveon was
now considering itself the antiwar movement when they haven't done jack one good
thing to get our boys and girls home safely.

moveon is worse than an amoeba, they suck all the money out of progressives
and put out a few badly written, low impact commercials during superbowls
and that's about it.

they write emails that show their complete ignorance on election fraud such
as supporting the holt bill which doesn't even investigate counting the paper ballots
or requiring a counting/randomized audit of the paper essentially cementing electronic (ergo
stolen) elections.

no the moveon people have long since made me sick to my stomach.

cindy is smarter than anyone gives her credit. she's in the trenches and knows
who's real and who's just bullshit talking.


*** the 10 million in the streets might just be a conservative number..
by and large the millions of people against the war, if you did a person by person
count all across the country, we're probably looking at 70 - 80% of the average american
citizen that wants us out of iraq.

defunding the troops is the quickest way to force bushe's hand. congress must
grow a backbone.

[kdpeters]

11. Go Cindy. De-fund the war. Don't let 'troops' be used as political footballs.

MoveOn will not call for de-funding the war because they don’t want to be perceived as “anti-troop”

Good God, I am so sick of wishy-washy, mealy-mouthed, Beltway strategists!! Et tu, Move On? You don't want to be perceived as "anti-troop"? Who cares? Do what is right!! If you aren't "anti-troop", then you can sleep at night. If you allow right-wing crapagandists to dictate your actions, may you have no peace and no sleep as long as you are a moral coward.

No one who advocates de-funding the war advocates withholding the funds to bring them home safely. That's crapaganda.

It's nothing but an outrage that the people -- through our elected representatives in Congress -- should have to fight our cheif executive to stop fighting a war we no longer want. Are we still a Constitutional democratic republic, or are we already living under a military junta? If the former, then We the People decide when the troops have done their job. There can be no heroic outcome to this madness -- it started with lies, and it's always been lies. The 'troops' will have to come to terms with the fact that their brothers and sisters have died for nothing sooner or later -- that's the cold, hard, un-fucking-excusable truth. May God forgive this country for allowing it to happen. If we didn't want to appear "anti-troop", then we better spend the next generation trying to make it up to them and the families they left behind. Better it happen sooner and save lives. We the People are Constitutionally obligated to send "the troops" to defend us. We failed them. Their Commander in Cheif used them as pawns. There is nothing heroic to come out of this. Bring them home and bring them home NOW!!! Anything less is putting your political ambitions ahead of what you know is best for the troops -- God damn you if you do.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[peacetheonlyway]

18. people who don't understand cindy's

incredible courage makes me want to hurl.....

how many ordinary americans are respected dignitaries, with an open door to any diplomat/Head of State in Europe and south america?

mark my word, this woman is geniune and intelligent and savvy and one day will end up defining policy.

one could only hope for such a miracle.

[shireen]

19. welcome to DU

i think ....

[kdpeters]

20. OK, Jenna. We know it's you. It's the tequila making you hurl, not Cindy.

The good news is that the Army is finally accepting spoiled, good-for-nothing lushes. Someone has to peel potatoes.

[donkeyotay]

21. The need to use measured language in Washington has grown obscene

The euphemistic language and the genteel need to hide behind closed doors and fake investigations and say "oh, let's not dwell on the past"... Civility is a good thing, but like any good thing, it becomes a bad thing when taken to an extreme. While Washington ponders whether a surge is an escalation or ethnic cleansing is a civil war or a withdrawal is retreat, etc., people are dying. "Mismanagement." "Inappropriate." "Mistaken." Where is the acknowledgment of truth? Anyone who knows more than teevee news told them - and I hope that includes Congress - about the run up to the war knows that LIES were told, that people who wanted this war - for a variety of reasons - abused their power to achieve this war. They were arrogant, and they did not value the lives, both American and Iraqi, that would be sacrificed for their ambitions. They criminally conspired to bypass all the safeguards. They hijacked the military whose purpose is to defend us to use for their own agenda. That no one has been held accountable, that so few words of truth and clarity have been spoken only validates the corruption.

[lyonn]

23. "They hijacked the military..." Yup

So enjoyed and at the same time angered with your post. It's worth a recommend. "oh, let's not dwell on the past" you stated sarcastically, exactly, how can they not dwell on the past? It was all pretty much criminal.

Edited to hopefully clarify??

[PassionateAttachment]

22. "American boys and girls are dying for Israel"

Joe Wilson - June 14, 2003

"The real agenda in all of this of course, was to redraw the political map of the Middle East. Now that is code, whether you like it or not, but it is code for putting into place the strategy memorandum that was done by Richard Perle and his study group in the mid-90's which was called, "A Clean Break - A New Strategy for the Realm." And what it is, cut to the quick, is if you take out some of these countries, some of these governments that are antagonistic to Israel then you provide the Israeli government with greater wherewithal to impose its terms and conditions upon the Palestinian people, whatever those terms and conditions might be. In other words, the road to peace in the Middle East goes through Baghdad and Damascus. Maybe Tehran. And maybe Cairo and maybe Tripoli if these guys actually have their way. Rather than going through Jerusalem."

19:46: http://next.epic-usa.org/epicdev2/_media/2003forumaudio/28-lecture-wilson-32.mp3

"On the other ones, the geopolitical situation, I think there are a number of issues at play; there's a number of competing agendas. One is the remaking of the map of the Middle East for Israeli security, and my fear is that when it becomes increasingly apparent that this was all done to make Sharon's life easier and that American soldiers are dying in order to enable Sharon to impose his terms upon the Palestinians that people will wonder why it is American boys and girls are dying for Israel and that will undercut a strategic relationship and a moral obligation that we've had towards Israel for 55 years. I think it's a terribly flawed strategy."

13:33: http://next.epic-usa.org/epicdev2/_media/2003forumaudio/29-lecture-qa-32.mp3