Posted on 08/06/2005 5:15:28 PM PDT by markomalley
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - The angry mother of a fallen U.S. soldier staged a protest near President Bush's ranch Saturday, demanding an accounting from Bush of how he has conducted the war in Iraq.
Supported by more than 50 demonstrators who chanted, "W. killed her son!" Cindy Sheehan told reporters: "I want to ask the president, 'Why did you kill my son? What did my son die for?'" Sheehan, 48, didn't get to see Bush, but did talk about 45 minutes with national security adviser Steve Hadley and deputy White House chief of staff Joe Hagin, who went out to hear her concerns.
Appreciative of their attention, yet undaunted, Sheehan said she planned to continue her roadside vigil, except for a few breaks, until she gets to talk to Bush. Her son, Casey, 24, was killed in Sadr City, Iraq, on April 4, 2004. He was an Army specialist, a Humvee mechanic.
"They (the advisers) said we are in Iraq because they believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, that the world's a better place with Saddam gone and that we're making the world a safer place with what we're doing over there," Sheehan said in a telephone interview after the meeting.
"They were very respectful. They were nice men. I told them Iraq was not a threat to the United States and that now people are dead for nothing. I told them I wouldn't leave until I talked to George Bush."
She said Hagin told her, "I want to assure you that he (Bush) really does care."
"And I said if he does care, why doesn't he come out and talk to me."
Sheehan arrived in Crawford aboard a bus painted red, white and blue and emblazoned with the words, "Impeachment Tour." Sheehan, from Vacaville, Calif., had been attending a Veterans for Peace convention in Dallas.
The bus, trailed by about 20 cars of protesters and reporters, drove at about 15 mph toward Bush's ranch. After several miles, they parked the vehicles and began to march, in stifling heat, farther down the narrow country road.
Flanked by miles of pasture, Sheehan spoke with reporters while clutching two photographs, one of her son in uniform, and the other, a baby picture, when he was seven months old.
She said she decided to come to Crawford a few days ago after Bush said that fallen U.S. troops had died for a noble cause and that the mission must be completed.
"I want to ask the president, `Why did you kill my son? What did my son die for?" she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "Last week, you said my son died for a noble cause' and I want to ask him what that noble cause is?"
White House spokesman Trent Duffy said response that Bush also wants the troops to return home safely.
"Many of the hundreds of families the president has met with know their loved one died for a noble cause and that the best way to honor their sacrifice is to complete the mission," Duffy said.
"It is a message the president has heard time and again from those he has met with and comforted. Like all Americans, he wants the troops home as soon as possible."
The group marched about a half-mile before local law enforcement officials stopped them at a bend in the road, still four to five miles from the ranch's entrance. Capt. Kenneth Vanek of the McLennan County Sheriff's Office said the group was stopped because some marchers ignored instructions to walk in the ditch beside the road, not on the road.
"If they won't cooperate, we won't," Vanek said.
No, you don't understand the hatred of these "people". She came to "see" the President in a bus labeled "The Impeachment Express" for God's sake.
There is nothing the President could say to this woman to appease her. She'd come out after the meeting and tell the press that the President is an idiot and has no plan to "save" the troops.
Does your wife ever win an argument? </sarcasm>
She is an idiot.
yep, why do you think I come here to start trouble?
She needs to be locked up......she's taken the moveon.org talking points to new heights of dementia! Don't mess with Texas, stupid woman!
Oh my she does peddle every flavor of anti-American Kool-Aid known to mankind. It's so frustrating to listen to the media tone down most of the statements that these families make. They put more pressure on some of the military support groups especially when large numbers of casualties occur. They love to throw numbers in the face of parents who still have loved ones serving.
Not trouble. An interesting diversion of opinions. Still, I'm glad she wins sometimes!!
Instead we have to fight a PC war supervised by the ACLU and the U.N.
We know who the countries who sponsor this type of crime are and they should be no more than smoking holes right now.
I hadn't seen that. I too would like to see the list of the others. Yall seem to know her. Tonight was the first time I heard of her and it's hard to be critical of a parent of a soldier that has died for my freedom but she isn't wanting to talk about this with GB IMO. If the interview was as bad as she claimed why would she want to talk with him again? Sad. Her son wasn't drafted but volunteered. He knew who is CIC was.
"I cannot for the life of me see how you equate fighting for one's country to pedophilia, rape, etc..."
I believe her son, Casey, died fighting for a noble and just cause and the fact that he volunteered makes me feel humbly grateful for his service and saddened that he died. His mother believes he died in an obscene way......I was trying to relate to her feelings, not at all to equate Casey to anything dishonorable.
"The bus, trailed by about 20 cars of protesters and reporters..."
Aren't they one in the same?
It's all so ghoulish.
POSTED: 9:44 a.m. PDT April 6, 2004
UPDATED: 5:10 p.m. PDT April 6, 2004Story by nbc11.com
-- Another Bay Area soldier has died in Iraq. Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, 24, of Vacaville was one of eight soldiers killed recently in an early morning ambush outside southern Baghdad.
Military officials say Sheehan was riding in a convoy when Shiite militia attacked with rocket-propelled grenades. It was his second week in Iraq.
Sheehan re-enlisted in August because he wanted to serve his country and go to Iraq.
His family says his life was more than his military service.
"I don't want people to think he was a number. He was a loving young man. He achieved so much -- just seeing the dozens and dozens of people that have come … the lives that he has touched," said Cindy Sheehan, Casey's mother.
Sheehan's parents say he planned on going to officer training school once he got back from Iraq.
From NBC11 via officer.com
Soldier From Vacaville Killed In IraqSheehan Was Only In Iraq Two Weeks
POSTED: 6:17 p.m. PDT April 6, 2004
UPDATED: 6:24 p.m. PDT April 6, 2004Story by The KCRA Channel
VACAVILLE, Calif. -- A Shiite uprising led by a cleric in Iraq's southern Baghdad has left several American troops dead, including one man from Vacaville.
Vacaville residents are mourning the death of Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, 24, who died with seven other soldiers in an ambush by Shiite militia Sunday morning. He had only been in Iraq for two weeks.
The U.S. Central Command headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida reported that the militia of Muqtada al-Sadr's army tried to gain control of police stations and government buildings and engaged troops of the task force 1st Armored Division with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades on Sunday. More than two dozen people were wounded in the fighting.
Sheehan is the fourth Solano County resident to be killed in Iraq.
"I really thought he was going to be OK because he was trained and he did a good job. But then he was ambushed, " said Sheehan's mother, Cindy Sheehan.
"He's a team player, and he was a good serviceman, and he followed his orders, and he did his job," said Sheehan's father, Patrick Sheehan.
Sheehan's grandmother, Shirley Miller, says she is angry over her grandson's death.
"Yes, he did his duty. And I am totally broken up about it, but I'm also very angry, very, because we shouldn't be in Iraq," Miller said.
The Sheehan family attends St. Mary's Catholic Church in Vacaville, where the Rev. Michael McFadden says mourners will say a rosary for Sheehan Monday evening, followed by a mass on Tuesday morning. Cindy Sheehan is a former youth minister at the church.
Funeral services are being arranged at the Nadeau Family Funeral Home.
From KCRA-TV via Officer.com
What I'm curious about is the source, as alleged in the blog entry cited in earlier posts, that Cindy Sheehan was a anti-Bush activist from before the loss of her son. As stated in the blog entry, "Cindy Sheehan is pursuing a vendetta of hate against the President that predates the loss of her son." I did a deep Copernic search and an altavista search on Cindy Sheehan and those two articles posted above are the first two entries on the web that mention her name. Although the grandmother, Shirley Miller, had something nasty to say, there was no indication that this kind of bile spewed out of Cindy Sheehan's mouth.
What does it matter? If, as some posters, and that blog entry indicate, she was an anti-Bush activist from before her son's death, then she is truly worthy of all the scorn being heaped on her by people on this thread. If, on the other hand, she became an anti-war activist only after her son's death, then its likely that her grief has been manipulated by the anti-war traitors. Although its apparent that she now is using her son's death to promote a political cause, there's a HUGE difference, at least in my mind, if she had that agenda all along or if that agenda existed only after.
So my question to you (particularly to WillMaven) is this: is there some documentation out there that establishes her as an anti-Bush activist from back in 2000, as was alleged, or is that just an assumption? I appreciate the responses.
Lets see, this woman is grieving SO much for her son, that she has to include VOTING IRREGULARITES, in her screed?
Puh-leeeeze...she sounds just like an opportunist lib...like a Susan Estrich that just goes GIDDY whenever there are reports of a large number of American casualties...because she knows the POTUS polling numbers will go down...
Trying to relate to her feelings? And you equate that with mothers of pedophiles? If you believe that she feels her son died in an obscene way.....then why not equate that with the mothers who have lost sons to murder? Mothers of pedophiles and this mother have what in common??
http://www.progressive.org/?q=mag_mc063005
Looks like they both need some medication and counseling.
It gets worse....did you read post #116?
This is total BS. GWB was a six-year old boy when his little sister, Robin, died of leukemia. It affected his entire life.
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