ABC Nightline , March 14, 2005 That was my son's unit. He was killed on that day 04/04/04. Here is a letter that I wrote to NightLine about the broadcast: Love
Cindy Sheehan March 15, 2005 To Whom it May Concern: Imagine my distress when I turned Night Line on last night and I was confronted with the gory details of my son's murder in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq on 04/04/04. Imagine, also, my sorrow and rage at the side of the story that you presented to the American public. I was on the Night Line Townhall Meeting in Washington, DC on 01/27/05. After I spoke (which I think was a fluke), Ted Koppel dismissed me as being "emotional." First of all, how can I approach this discussion without emotions, MY SON WAS KILLED, AND KILLED FOR LIES? Second of all, that show was not fair and balanced and I think the conclusion "Should we stay" was foregone. The show last night was also not fair and balanced. To see all the wives being interviewed who had not lost their husbands and to hear what "hard work" it is to be left behind when their husbands are at war. How hard to you think it is to have a child killed in an illegal and immoral war? In this "wonderful" group of families left behind, we had exactly ONE of the wives call us..she is Diane Rose who was my son's Colonel, Frank Rose's wife. The last time we heard from Diane was in October and we feel we have been left behind by anyone connected to the 2-5 Cavalry. Is support only given if your loved one stays alive? One wife was quoted as saying that Sundays were the hardest for the families left behind. My son was killed on Palm Sunday last year..how does anybody think Sundays are for my family? A distraught father who lost his son was shown telling how much his life was so adversely affected. Why wasn't a mother (like me) who has been an outspoken critic of this war and of the President's policies interviewed for this piece? Why wasn't I given a chance to talk about 04/04/04 and the series of lies, mistakes and miscalculations that led to my precious oldest child's death?? General Chiarelli was quoted as saying that 04/04/04 was a "wake up" call to the 2-5 Cavalry. If he thinks it was a "wake up" call, let me tell you how having 3 Army officers come to my door on 04/04/04 and tell me that my darling son was KIA. I have learned so many details of that day and of my son's experience in Iraq. The very first thing that went wrong happened in November at Ft Irwin, California...the 2-5 Cavalry went for desert training. They received open desert warfare training and my son was killed in an urban guerilla attack, which he hadn't been trained for. Also, he was wearing an inadequate helmet and a Vietnam era flak jacket. Casey was stationed in a very dangerous place, like the General said: FOB War Eagle. I have subsequently learned that the soldiers of the 2-5 Cav who were stationed outside of Baghdad had Kevlar body armor. I have also found out that Casey slept in the back of his Humvee for the last 2 weeks of his life because there wasn't any room on post for him to have a cot. How tired and overworked was he before he went into that battle on 04/04/04? In addition, my son was killed after L. Paul Bremer inflamed the Shi'a by taking away their tv station and newspapers. The Abu Ghraib scandal was about to break in America...but it was well known by the Iraqi people that their citizens were being tortured and defiled in the prisons. My son was a sitting duck by the time 04/04/04 rolled around. The very worst thing of all, is that my son was sent to rescue some fellow soldiers trapped in an ambush in the back of a LMTV..which is basically an open air trailer. It would be the equivalent of driving through Dallas on 11/22/63 in a Convertible. The troops stationed at FOB War Eagle were sent ahead of their tanks and Bradleys!!! They had to go into battle in the back of LMTV's and non-armored Humvees. This is just proof to me that our troops are as important to their leaders as bullets are. It is a small miracle that only 7 of them were killed in the ambush. Luckily for the rest of the moms, it was dark. After my son's murder, there was an article in Stars and Stripes that quoted one of Casey's superior officers as saying. "04 April taught us a lesson. We won't send soldiers to battle without their armor any more." How do you think that made me feel? It was like "OOOPS, your dear son was killed. Life happens. Oh well, you live and learn." The General was also quoted as saying that the insurgency "surprised" them. Why? Has there ever been an invasion/occupation of a sovereign country that hasn't been resisted? Anyone with half a brain and an even rudimentary understanding of history would know that all occupations are resisted. The Pentagon and the Army brass did not plan adequately for an occupation. Then Gen. Chiarelli said the thing that upset me the most. He said that the loss of life was terrible, but at least Iraqis had elections on 01/30/05. With the continuuing insurgency and with Iraqis and Americans losing their lives everyday there, how can he be proud of that? I may remind you and the General, that Iraqi elections was not the reason that our President and his Neo-Con war mongers invaded Iraq with our precious human resources. I will give the two reasons given for the invaseion here: Saddam had WMD's and he was an imminent threat to America. Saddam could have WMD's on our shores within 45 minutes. Condoleeza Rice used fear as a factor when she said: Don't let the smoking gun be a mushroom cloud. Rumsfeld and Colin Powell pointed out to us where the weapons were on a map. The second reason that America was given before the invasion was that Saddam was the biggest sponsor of world terrorism and he supported Osama Bin Laden! Oh really??? The hijackers were predominantly Saudi Arabian as was Osama (who is still at large, by the way). The theory that Saddam had anything to do with 9/11 was disproven by the 9/11 commission's report. A huge factor in Americans believing all this bull is that our media..the Fourth Estate didn't do any research and expose the lies for what they were: justifications for invading a country that posed no imminent or long-term threat to America. One reason that the President DID NOT give for the invasion and occupation of Iraq was so that Iraqis could have elections. As a matter of fact, that was Ayatollah Ali al Sistani's idea..not Bush's. If the president in his lying and betraying in the lead up and rush to this insane invasion had told the world that we were going over there to give Iraqi's elections, would we the people have gone along with the invasion? Would we as compassionate Americans have thought that it would have been worth billions and billions of dollars; hundreds of our amazing children dead; tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi women and children dead: a country lying in ruins? I don't think so. I certainly didn't raise my son to be an outstanding citizen of the world to go and die so some people could have ink-stained fingers!!! If anyone reading this has children, would you think it was worth it?? Instead of some Congress leaders showing ink-stained fingers at the SOTU address they should have held up blood soaked hands. Am I emotional? Yes, my first born was murdered. Am I angry? Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel. Am I stupid? No, I know full-well that my son, my family, this nation, and this world were betrayed by a George Bush who was influenced by the neo-con PNAC agenda after 9/11. We were told that we were attacked on 9/11 because the terrorists hate our freedoms and democracy...not for the real reason, becuase the Arab-Muslims who attacked us hate our middle-eastern foreign policy. That hasn't changed since America invaded and occupied Iraq...in fact it has gotten worse. It would be so amazing if your show would put me, or another parent who lost their child on who disagrees with the war and this administration: to have just an entire show..without presenting the false side of the debate. That would take a lot of courage and integrity. I hope your program will exhibit these qualities. I also think that Mr. Koppel owes me an apology for the rude way I was treated on his show. After I expressed myself about the war being based on lies and that the troops should be brought home immediately because the war was based on lies, I was not thanked for my comments, or my son's sacrifice. He just said to keep the discussion away from emotions. Then, the wife of a soldier who was killed was allowed to speak and she praised the policies of this deplorable and despicable administration, and she was thanked and praised by the panel. Also, another aspect that Mr. Koppel refused to acknowledge was when a man walked up to a microphone and asked Richard Perle to explain PNAC..he was rudely ignored. I am so glad the First Cavalry came home from this senseless and needless war based on the imaginations of Neo-Cons and fought with ignorance and arrogance by the Commander in Chief and the Pentagon. I am thrilled for the mothers whose children didn't come home under the cover of darkness in flag-draped boxes like my son did. I am sure that some of Casey's buddies were able to walk off the plane because of his sacrifice. I am just so deeply sorry that my son's blood had to be their leaders' lesson in how to occupy a country and fight an insurgency. My son is dead forever and my joy has been robbed from me for the rest of my life. Your show needs to show both sides of this debate and stop being a propanda tool for this administration. This is my challenge to you from a true patriot who wants the lies exposed. Love and Peace!!! Cindy Sheehan Mother of Hero: Spc Casey Austin Sheehan KIA 04/04/04 Casey's Peace Page Co-Founder of Gold Star Families For Peace http://www.gsfp.org/ Dead Soldier's Mother, Vigil in Crawford TX Cindy Sheehan interviewed on Democracy Now August 12, 2005 Some Background at http://www.gsfp.org/ and at http://www.mfso.org/ WindowsMedia Dwnload aprx 7.5mb (Right click and save target as...) Playback is at aprx 100kbps http://txliberty.dyndns.org/inetpub/wwwroot/webfiles/DN050812.wmv -Terry Liberty Parker AustinLibertyInterNet Radio/TV at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LibertyProspects/links VoiceCall 1.512.462.1776 every Sunday 6:30pm (cdt) to ? I host informal disscussion to which all are welcome who want to consider ideas & issues of Liberty & Justice for ALL in Hickory St Grill at 8th & Congress, Austin TX Look for me, MyPicAt http://profiles.yahoo.com/txliberty OnLineAt http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian/chat Abbe Delozier wrote: Subject: Crawford update Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 17:49:41 -0500 Rally in Crawford noon on Saturday8/13/05 COME TO CRAWFORD..... Greetings to all! It is midnight Thursday 8/11/05. Robert and I have just returned from Crawford. When we were there last Monday-3 days ago, there were about 20 people and a small encampment. There were media calls coming in fast and furious. It was a quiet yet determined small group of supporters. Today there were over 75 cars and over 150 people from all over the country who came in to support Cindy Sheehan. All had stories of hearing about Cindy on the news, dropping everything they were doing, getting in the car and coming to Crawford to support Cindy and meet her. People were arriving continuously streaming in to come help from all over the country One couple drove in from Los Angeles. They brought white crosses. They lined up the crosses 3 deep on one side of the county road leading to the Bush ranch. The crosses are set in the ground for over a quarter of a mile. It was a gut wrenching sad sight to see these crosses lining the road. As far as you could see there is nothing but open grassy fields-cow pasture and blue sky. The crosses stand out alone against the open sky. There were constant comments from on-lookers wondering how George W Bush sleeps at night as he flies over in his helicopter looking down at these crosses. He has flown over several times in the Air Force One helicopter. Volunteers were busy placing the names of the fallen soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq on the crosses. A sad and solemn task that was not completed when we left at 9:30pm tonight. Condi Rice and Rumsfeld arrived at the ranch today. Rumor has it that George W's entourage will finally have to drive by the encampment tomorrow. So far he has been flying in and out and has not used the county road.There is alledgedly a neighbor hosting a fundraiser party for Bush tomorrow. We saw catering trucks arriving at the Broken Spoke Ranch today where the event is being held. The Broken Spoke Ranch is only half a mile away and in view of the Sheehan encampment. If they leave the ranch by car they will have to drive by the crosses and encampment to get to the party. Today I quickly went to work helping return media calls. There are 4 people now assisting with this and scheduling interviews for Cindy and the other parents of fallen soldiers who have arrived to help.We were receiving calls from all over the country and world. I met a reporter emailing a report to Germany. Cameras from MSNBC, People magazine and, CNN, to name a few.TV, newspapers, radio station calls were pouring in. For every call I took 4-5 calls would come in while I was on that call. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference sent in a minister today to assess the situation to see what they could do to help. He gave a sermon on the importance of non-violence and said some very inspirational things. SCLC will possibly be sending in more help and representatives from their organization the minister told me tonight. The level this action that Cindy Sheehan started from an idea she had last Saturday has gathered momentum exponentially and is truly explosive and miraculous. In my opinion she is giving voice to the outrage,frustration and upset many Americans feel about this war and all the actions and policies the Bush administration has instituted against the will of the majority of the American people. What I saw today were people from every walk of life, age and race. They all care deeply for their country and are upset about the direction this president has taken us in. All were there to help, to do something, anything to stop this war and bring our troops safely home. The opinions and observations I have expressed in this account are mine only. I do not represent Cindy Sheehan or anyone else. After visiting and talking with the folks who showed up in Crawford this is what I came home with. I only wish I could do more. All we are missing out there for now is someone to cook vegeterian meals for Cindy and crew helping out, AND for Bush to have the guts to walk out his gate and talk to Cindy. COME TO CRAWFORD! The sheriff's department has been very kind and accomodating. People are lined up and and camped up and down the road. They have brought tents,chairs, shade, love and support. COME TO CRAWFORD! There will be a rally on Saturday, and a prayer event on Sunday. It is a very humbling and inspirational experience to go to Crawford and witness what is going on. Bring your friends, neighbors and kids. COME TO CRAWFORD! Be creative. Please write letters of support to your newspapers and media outlets. Talk about this to everyone. Take 5 minutes a day to take action in your own way. YOU CAN HELP IN YOUR OWN WAY FROM YOUR HOME. Thanks! Abbe Waldman DeLozier __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! 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