Sheehan blasts Hellary and Chuck

[Moses]

Cindy Sheehan Pledges Civil Disobedience Campaign
Peace mom plans more arrests in D.C. and Thanksgiving in Crawford

by Sarah Ferguson
October 19th, 2005 9:52 PM [/size]

Cindy Sheehan made a return visit to the streets of New York Wednesday, joining the weekly vigil of Grandmothers Against the War outside Rockefeller Center.

In contrast to the scene in Union Square last month, when the police stormed the podium and cut off Sheehan’s mic, this time the NYPD went out of its way to be gracious to America’s leading peace mom.

Police politely urged the jostling camera crews and passing tourists to “please clear the sidewalk,” overseen by the NYPD’s top spokesperson Paul J. Browne, who said he was there to prevent any rush-hour snafus. “It’s the hometown of NBC, so it’s a big TV area,” Browne said, with a shrug.

But if the event was less a protest than a love fest between Sheehan and her elderly fans, who lined up for autographs and snapshots with the celebrity activist and plied her with heart-shaped sugar cookies, Sheehan still had plenty of fighting words for President Bush and New York’s pro-war senators Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, who’s widely said to be mulling a bid for the White House.

“I think that if anybody wants to run for president in 2008, then they have to come out against the war, and if they don’t then we don’t support them, whether it’s Hillary or whoever it is that’s going to run for president,” charged Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son, Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed in Baghdad's Sadr City last year.

“The last time I was here, Chuck Schumer’s aide stated to me that the senator thinks the war in Iraq was a great thing for America,” Sheehan alleged. “I don’t think the people of New York believe that. We the people have to start taking responsibility for our democracy and firing leaders who do not represent us.”

Sheehan’s challenge to Clinton and Schumer not to take their heavily antiwar base in New York for granted echoed a scathing message she posted Saturday on Michael Moore’s website, in which she termed Clinton a “political animal who believes she has to be a war hawk to keep up with the big boys.”

Saying she “will not make the mistake of supporting another pro-war Democrat for president again,” Sheehan warned Clinton she would “resist your candidacy with every bit of my power and strength unless you show us the wisdom it takes to be a truly great leader.”

That got a rise out of Rush Limbaugh, who termed Sheehan either “gutsy or stupid” for taking on the Democrats’ leading lady.

Sheehan was all smiles as she milled among the antiwar grannies, 18 of whom were arrested for trying to enlist at the Times Square Recruiting Station on Monday.

Her plans for this trip to New York are fairly low key. Besides doing press interviews, she’ll be guest hosting on Air America with Randi Rhodes on Friday at 6 p.m. and giving the keynote address at the Brooklyn Peace Fair this Saturday at 11 a.m.

But Sheehan vowed to turn up the heat by returning to the front gate of the White House as soon as the death toll of American soldiers hits 2,000 (as of Tuesday it was 1,968). “I’m going to deliver a speech and then I’m going to get arrested. And when I get out I’m going to go back and get arrested,” Sheehan told the Voice.

Sheehan said she now believes lobbying and marching in the streets is no longer enough and that “nonviolent civil disobedience is the way we have to go” to end the war.

“Hundreds of thousands of people were in D.C. on September 24 and the leaders still are not leading us,” Sheehan said of last month’s antiwar demo in Washington. “They’re still spouting the Republican talking points even if they’re Democrats. So what are we going to do? It’s going to have to be massive non-violent civil disobedience I believe.”

Sheehan said she and her fellow members of Gold Star Families for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, and Iraq Veterans Against the War plan to hit the road again for another speaking tour in November, caravanning from the West Coast to Crawford, Texas, where they will reprise their “Camp Casey” protest over Thanksgiving weekend and demand once again that the president meet with them to explain what noble cause their loved ones were dying for.

“We’re going to invite George and Laura—and tell Laura to bring the turkey,” the peace mom quipped. go to next article in news ->

[Moses]

Sheehan visits AIPAC's pocket pols:

What Hillary Told Cindy
Sheehan and company get face time with senators Clinton, Reid, Lieberman. McCain’s next.

by Sarah Ferguson
September 22nd, 2005 10:14 PM




On Thursday, the anti-war activists with Bring Them Home Now also succeeded in ambushing Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman, who was downstairs in the Senate office building for a photo shoot.

“This is my nephew, and we really need to know from you what he died for,” announced Beatriz Saldivar of Fort Worth, Texas, holding up an enlarged picture of Dennis Torres, who was killed in February when his unarmored Humvee was blown up outside of Baghdad. In her other hand, she held a photo of his pregnant fiancée weeping over the coffin.

“My heart goes out to you and everyone who’s lost somebody in the war,” said the former presidential hopeful, doing his best to smile kindly.

Noting that he had traveled to Iraq three times, Lieberman said: “I have supported this war and I still do. I’m not a big fan of Bush’s foreign policy and believe we could have done much more to win the support of other countries before we went in. But I do think the world is safer without Saddam Hussein.”

Lieberman pointed out that in 1988, he and Senator John McCain called for the overthrow of Saddam after Iraqi troops massacred more than 100,000 Kurds and attacked Iran with chemical weapons,

“But the evidence? The whole reason we went over there?” demanded Hart Viges, a 29-year old Army specialist who filed for conscientious objector status after serving a year in Iraq. “We never found any weapons of mass destruction. The whole reason we went was a lie.”

Lieberman said he thought the idea that Saddam possessed WMD’s had been “overplayed” by the Bush administration and wasn’t the only reason for invading in any case. Sounding very much like Bush, who defended the war again Thursday, Lieberman said: “If it doesn’t end well, that country will go into a civil war and the whole Middle East will be destabilized. And the terrorists who are there now … they’ll claim it as a big victory and then they’ll go on to the next country.”

“But you know they’re only there because we’re there,” Viges pressed, speaking of the foreign insurgents who have flocked to Iraq since the U.S. invaded.

“I believe these people have given their lives in a cause that will make your lives and your children’s lives safer,” Lieberman insisted.

Saldivar wasn’t having it. “My nephew will never see his daughter, who was born just 72 hours ago.”

Noting that the next time Lieberman travels to Iraq, his Humvee will likely be fully armored, she demanded: “What makes your life—or Donald Rumsfeld’s life—more valuable?”

To which the senator could only respond: “I’m glad you’re doing it, and I respectfully disagree.” Cindy Sheehan and the other members of the Bring Them Home Now tour hit the halls of Congress on Thursday, knocking on the doors of more than a dozen legislators to demand their position on the war—including Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, and Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

The activists were bringing Camp Casey, named for the 24-year-old son Sheehan lost in Iraq, to Capitol Hill. The first Camp Casey was set up this summer outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.

On Thursday, Sheehan sat down with Clinton and Reid, two of the highest-profile Democrats, to pose the same question she has posed to President Bush: “What noble cause are our loved ones fighting and dying for?"

“I asked them, ‘Are you going to be willing to lead us out of Iraq? Because if you do, the rest of the nation will follow you,’ ” Sheehan said.

Neither Clinton or Reid, who both voted for the war, were willing to reverse tracks and push for a U.S. withdrawal now. Nevertheless, Sheehan reported feeling “fabulous coming out of the meeting.”

“I know their offices are going to be working with us; all we have to do is keep up the pressure on them,” Sheehan said, adding, “Now it’s up to the people of New York to put pressure on Clinton.”

New Yorkers who oppose the war might not feel so encouraged, given the hawkish stance our junior senator has taken thus far.

Asked afterward about the meeting, Clinton noted that she had met earlier in the day with about 20 moms from American Gold Star Mothers, the pro-military group that President Bush has glommed onto in an effort to deflect the criticism by Sheehan and other military families. Bush has proclaimed this Sunday National Gold Star Mothers' Day to honor America’s fallen heroes—just a day after Sheehan and other military families are to speak out at Saturday’s anti-war demonstration.

[sounding exactly like Bush] Clinton noted that those moms have voiced “different positions” on the war from the one held by Sheehan’s group, Gold Star Families for Peace.

“It’s just a painful experience because of their loss,” Clinton said of her meeting with Sheehan, who was accompanied by her sister Dede and by Lynn Bradach, whose 21-year-old son, Corporal Travis Bradach-Nall, was killed clearing a minefield outside Karbala two years ago.

But Clinton added: “My bottom line is that I don’t want their sons to die in vain.”

Asked when she thought those soldiers’ mission might be complete, Clinton responded: “I don’t believe it’s smart to set a date for withdrawal. I don’t think you should ever telegraph your intentions to the enemy so they can await you.” [sounding exactly like Bush]

“I’ve been very critical of the president’s policies and also supportive of the Iraqis who are trying to move forward and form a new government,” Clinton told the Voice. [typical chickenhawk armchair warrior- disgusting]

“I think it is a much more complicated situation,” she continued. “I don’t think it’s the right time to withdraw, but we also have to stand up and send a message that we’re not going to be there indefinitely. We need to tell the Sunnis that they have to do their job [tell the Sunnis "they have to do their job?!"-- this woman is a monstrous imperialist supremacist] and that we won’t be there forever. Because if you don’t, then what incentive is there for them to ever participate in the political process?”

Clinton cited two key upcoming moments: October 15, when the Iraqis are slated to vote on their new constitution, and December 15, when Iraqis are expected to elect a new government. [sounding exactly like Bush]

Responding to a question of whether Sheehan and the anti-war crowd are premature in demanding an immediate withdrawal of troops now, the presidential hopeful was nothing if not diplomatic.

“No, I think they’re playing a very important role,” Clinton said. “This is a democracy, thank God, and people should be speaking out. It helps keep the debate flowing and creates the conditions for better decision-making, which makes for better policies, so it’s very important.

“Nobody has a greater right to make that criticism,” Clinton said of Sheehan and the other military families who feel betrayed by the war. “But I happen to think that fighting for freedom is a noble cause. There are lots of things wrong with how Bush did it. I believe we should have gone through with the inspection process and acted through the UN. But I believe that standing up against someone as dangerous as Saddam was a good goal.”

Clinton was noncommittal when asked whether she still supports sending more troops to Iraq. “We’ll see,” she said, then disappeared into the Russell Senate office building.




At least Clinton was willing to hear Sheehan and the other military family members’ plea. Republican representative Bill Thomas of Bakersfield, California, wouldn’t let them in the door, while Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s staff told the group they would have to fill out a written form if they wanted a meeting. When told they had already called and e-mailed several times, Frist’s chief of staff relented and spent about 15 minutes with the group, which included Iraq war veterans and members of Military Families Speak Out.

“She didn’t take any notes, but hopefully the emotions we evoked in that meeting will say more than any notes would,” said Al Zappala of Philadelphia, whose son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, was killed in Baghdad last year.

Sheehan and the other members of the Bring Them Home Now tour say they won’t give up until they get every member of Congress to take a stance on U.S. withdrawal.

They’ve launched a new campaign, Meet With the Mothers, to mobilize other military family members to go to every member of Congress and ask them what noble cause their loved ones are fighting and dying for. Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, has agreed to meet with Sheehan on Tuesday, after refusing earlier requests.

“If the politicians don’t answer, there will be constituent Camp Caseys on their doorstep, just like in Crawford,” vows Jonathan Read, the former chair of Park Plaza Hotels and Resorts, who helped launch the campaign after camping out in Crawford with Sheehan for three weeks.

Earlier in the day, Sheehan and several other military moms held a press conference to announce a $1 million campaign of TV commercials and print ads.

The hard-hitting TV ad was funded by donations to Gold Star Families for Peace. It features four women challenging the president for taking the country to war, including Melanie House, a former supporter of invading Iraq, whose husband, Petty Offficer John House, was killed when his helicopter was shot down earlier this year.

“How many more soldiers have to die for your mistake? My husband never got to hold his baby. What will I tell our son his father died for?” House asks in the commercial, which is set to run nationally on the Fox News Network and on CNN in Washington, D.C., over the next 12 days. The print ads were paid for by Win Without War. They feature the banner headlines, “They lied. They died,” and juxtapose the faces of Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and Condoleezza Rice with a full-page list in tiny fine print of the more than 1,900 American soldiers killed in Iraq. The ads are running in 14 papers, including USA Today. A two-page spread appeared in Thursday’s Washington Post.

[Moses]

Cindy Sheehan: 'This war is one issue where they should vote from their hearts, with courage and integrity.'

Cindy Sheehan, the superstar of the anti-war movement, will descend upon the White House on the day U.S. casualties in Iraq hit 2,000—a grim milestone expected any day now. Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in Iraq last year, will say a few words in protest, and then tie herself to the fence. She says she won't leave until she's arrested. Once she's out of jail, she promises, she'll go right back to the fence.

And when she's done with that, she intends to set up a new Camp Casey outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, hounding him throughout the Thanksgiving holiday.

She has also been hounding the Democrats—especially Hillary Clinton. Earlier this month, Sheehan penned an article denouncing New York's junior senator as a "pro-war Democrat," calling her "a political animal who believes she has to be a war hawk to keep up with the big boys." Sheehan echoed the charge on Saturday, when she appeared at the Brooklyn Peace Fair, among other anti-war events in New York City. Delivering a speech to a crowd of 200-plus—many of whom shouted "We love you Cindy!" and "You're the best!"—she urged fellow anti-war activists to hold Clinton accountable when she runs for re-election next year. "It's time to call a war hawk a war hawk," she said, to rousing applause. "And if it hurts people politically, so be it."

www.villagevoice.com/news/0543,lombardiqa,69280,2.html

[Moses]

What sparked your article denouncing Clinton earlier this month?

She was in California fundraising recently, and Code Pink went out to protest. They were passing out fliers on her voting record. I was going to go. But then one of her supporters, somebody I love, called me and asked me not to go. I said, 'Out of respect for you, I won't. Not out of respect for Hillary Clinton.' I challenged my friend, saying, 'How could you support someone who met with me yet still says this is not a good time to withdraw troops?' Senator Clinton has said she wants to make sure my son didn't die in vain. Don't use my son's death to justify continued killing in Iraq.

So should anti-war Democrats here abandon Clinton next year and beyond?

I'm not going to support another pro-war Democrat. I made that mistake with John Kerry last year and I'm not going to do it again. While I've been here this week, I've seen tremendous support for this view. The majority of New Yorkers are against this war. So if the senator will start speaking out against the war and calling for withdrawal of troops, then support her. But if she is for more troops, don't.

Do you think New Yorkers would kick the senator out of office over one issue?

Yes. It's the mood I get. It's more than dissatisfaction. People know this war is the most important issue, and they know it's not like bringing home pork for your state. It's life and death; it's flesh and blood. I'm challenging Senator Clinton to speak out, but I'm also challenging the people of New York to exercise their vote and force their senator to represent their values.