DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Sheehan resigns as Iraq war protest leader

Mother of fallen soldier drained by biting criticism and partisan politics

Updated: 1 hour, 5 minutes ago
FORT WORTH, Texas - Cindy Sheehan, the soldier

Heck of a story.

It was over before it started!

so now Cindy thinks she's Kellen Winslow?

Cindy the Soulja!

DPG, I am right alongside Mr. Hand nowadays.

Everyone IS on dope!!

I suppose now she finally realizes nobody gives a rat's ass about all her opinions.This was long overdue,to say the least.

Buh,bye Cindy...don't let the screen door hit ya where the good Lord split ya!

Not sure why a cynic of the war deserves that response?

I wonder if she was OK with her kid earning a paycheck from the government before he had do the job he was trained for? I still don't see why this woman's kid is more important than any other.

Mother of fallen soldier drained by biting criticism and partisan politics

Updated: 1 hour, 5 minutes ago
FORT WORTH, Texas - Cindy Sheehan, the soldier’s mother who galvanized an anti-war movement with her monthlong protest outside President Bush’s ranch, says she’s done being the public face of the movement.

“I’ve been wondering why I’m killing myself and wondering why the Democrats caved in to George Bush,” Sheehan told The Associated Press by phone Tuesday while driving from her property in Crawford to the airport, where she planned to return to her native California.

“I’m going home for awhile to try and be normal,” she said.

In what she described as a “resignation letter,” Sheehan wrote in her online diary on the “Daily KoÌ” blog: “Good-bye America ... you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.

“It’s up to you now.”

Sheehan began a grassroots peace movement in August 2005 when she set up camp outside the Bush ranch for 26 days, asking to talk with the president about the death of her son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan. Casey Sheehan was 24 when he was killed in an ambush in Baghdad.

Cindy Sheehan started her protest small, but it quickly drew national attention. Over the following two years, she drew huge crowds as she spoke at protest events, but she also drew a great deal of criticism.

‘Heartbreaking conclusions’
“I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called “Face” of the American anti-war movement,” Sheehan wrote in the diary.

On Memorial Day, she came to some “heartbreaking conclusions,” she wrote.

When she had first taken on Bush, Sheehan was a darling of the liberal left. “However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the 'left' started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used,” she wrote.

“I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of 'right or left', but 'right and wrong,'” the diary says.

Sheehan criticized “blind party loyalty” as a danger, no matter which side it involved, and said the current two-party system is “corrupt” and “rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland.”

Harsh national assessment
Sheehan said she had sacrificed a 29-year marriage and endured threats to put all her energy into stopping the war. What she found, she wrote, was a movement “that often puts personal egos above peace and human life.”

But she said the most devastating conclusion she had reached “was that Casey did indeed die for nothing ... killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think.”

“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,” she wrote. “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.”

“I am going to take whatever I have left and go home,” Sheehan wrote.

“Camp Casey has served its purpose. It’s for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford, Texas?”

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

You expect me to read that whole thing AGAIN?

I can agree with her that this country cares more about its 'Idol' than its troops too often but I am happy for her son who can finally rest after giving his life for his country while she only tarnished what her son died for!

Well,I heard Rosie left the View.


She can fill Cindy's shoes. You know she's gotta be running her mouth somewhere!

Yea, it's hard to understand why Rosie is so big with all the exercise she gets running her mouth and jumping to conclusions...

Her idea was noble, but her methods quickly labeled her as a flake, a label hard to remove once stamped.

This isn't the 60's, a sit-down protest isn't going to work in these times.

Her methods and her associates.... as the old saying goes, a man is judged by the company he keeps.. so I guess in 2007, that works for a woman as well...

No, I am saying that her son made an adult decision to serve his country. And he knew the risks. People even die during training or peace-time issues as well. He knew the risks and he gave the ultimate sacrifice.

Most, MOST of these people aren't protesting Iraq, they are protesting the Iraq War.

and in theory, President Bush might have diffused the whole situation by meeting with her early on... on the other hand, he might have then had a list of thousands of parents of wounded and killed who also wanted to meet with him... and I hate to sound cold but the President doesn't have time to do that....

This lady was an idiot. If you don't want to die for a cause you don
t agree with---THEN DON'T JOIN THE MILITARY!!!!

If Casey would have survived and been took home the payday that all soldiers get---would Cindy still be whining about her dead son---I doubt it.

I have a hard time with these people whining about how it wasn't fair that they lost a child. THATS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FIGHT IN THE MILITARY!!!!

I understand a life lost is sad----but I don't undrestand all the people who act like it is such an injustice. You sign up to fight---you risk death. What--do these people think that the military is ONLY a way to pay for college---IT COMES WITH AN INHERENT RISK.

I'm sure a million little ______ will chime in about how awful this sounds---WHATEVER---go climb a tree.

If you must know; usually I use something horrible. Like: It was right here.

But there's no need for that posted on the board.

Yes,I would think "climb a tree" may be better suited for the PG forum.

Sheehan got it right in the end. She realized the Democrats only used her to get elected. Then they threw her to the curb. Politicians never cared about her cause, she about getting votes.

I don't know about the rest of you, but if I had to bury my child I don't know how I would react. I heard her speak a couple of times and she sounded bitter of course. I hope she gets some much needed grief counseling and is somewhat able to bring some sense of closure to this ugly chapter in her life.

A poster child for the left and a target for the right . . . . sad story really . . .

Squires and bcb:

This poor woman was egged on and supported by the Democrats to garner votes. Had this not been the case, she would have said her piece, been done and begun the grieving process in a healthy manner.

I don't know why anybody would use Sheehan to try to gain votes ? Most people can't stand her. I'm against the war as well and I never wanted her as a spokesperson for my point of view,that's for sure......

Sort of like what the Bush administration has done to the moral majority huh?


Made a lot of promises to garner votes and followed up on NONE of them! Yes,both partys do it. Doesn't make it right,but that's the reality of it.

I think we have a miscommunication here?

Are you saying you can't serve,love and honor your country if you "disagree with the *current mission*" they are deployed in?

You see,many were "misguided" when they joined. They thought Sadaam was an "imminant threat with a nuclear weapons program". THAT'S why many joined! To "protect America from Sadaam".

Then they found out that he HAD NO CAPABILITY or nuclear weapons program. They found out he WAS NO THREAT to the U.S.

Unless of course you feel people who serve our country and lay their life on the line shouldn't have "their own personal thoughts and beliefs" about this war?

Let's face it,if you go to the car dealership and pick out a new Escalade loaded with options....................................and they deliver a stripped down Ford Explorer,you're not gonna be happy!


I'd say a lot of those kids who joined when they heard the "scarey news about the Axis of Evil" and Sadaams imminant threat felt the same way when they found out the intel was bogus too...........................................

They put their life on the line based on falsehoods. I would be angered under the same circunstances. I would feel betrayed and duped. I would be getting my arse shot at for something that was FAR LESS of a threat than I had been told. Yes,it would change my perception. As I'm sure it changed many of theirs..............................

Got news for you Pit , they ( recruiters, government you name it ) stretch the truth even in times of peace . They sell you on joining the military and once you do you have swallowed the pill for better or worse. It really is nothing new and most everyone who has served has at one time or another been duped....thats life.

I agree with you 100%.
My point was,that most people don't like it when it happens and have their own opinions about the circumstances surrounding it when it does.........................

I just talked to a buddy of mine that came back from his 2nd tour. He's currently working out of Walter Reed while they repair his shoulder.

Granted, this isn't a sample of the entire military, but he said he was proud to server, proud to have done his duty, and he's proud of his son that joined up to do his duty. Another buddy of mine is very proud of both his sons that are serving in Iraq. They don't feel mislead or cheated by the government for being there. They view this war as a necessity, as that entire region is unstable. Anyone that signs up for this does it voluntarily. The only guys that didn't have much of a choice are the ones that were in the military before the war started. If sheehan can't find any solace in the fact that her son served this country, that's her problem. If her son joined the military for just the training and pay, then he should not have been so foolish to expect his life would not ever be on the line.

Members of our armed services do not get to choose how and when they will go to war. They do not get to choose the circumstances. They do not get to opt out of a conflict just because they don't see honor in it. They have made an agreement with our country to serve in the manner they are requested, and in return they will hopefully have a lifelong job and benefits, and at the very least, they get advanced training if they qualify.

Like it or not, we are in a war with people that will not surrender. All they want is for the rest of the world to be in the image they find appealing. It's unacceptable to them that we live differently. In their eyes, we are enemies of god and must be destroyed for their greater good.

I have two sons that are getting to military age, and I will advise them as best I can to what they should do, but in the end it is their decision. I will support them if they join, mourn them if they die, and congratulate them when they return. I will not blame our government for their decisions.

Quote:

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They have made an agreement with our country to serve in the manner they are requested

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In a nutshell...there you have it. Sucks if you don't like it but sometimes you just gotta say " FIDO "