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.
She's allowing herself to be a tool of the hate America crowd. Her enlisted son died a hero. Too bad his mother can't honor him with the dignity he deserves.
President Bush should not give her more attention than he does for families of our other fallen heros. She's not more special than other grieving mothers.
She's a grieving mom, grieving the loss of John Kerry.
Her son is a tool to her, nothing more.
You said it.
Of course. This is an illustration of a very important principle to keep in mind when dealing with "victims." To wit:
There is no virtue in being a victim, especially a self-appointed one. No one acquires wisdom simply by being victimized. A person who was an ignorant A-Hole before her loss will still be an ignorant A-Hole after her loss.
For more examples, see "Jersey sluts" regarding 9/11, and a host of "veterans" who knew nothing before they went into the service but now feel endowed with unimpeachible expert credibility simply because they wore the uniform while shovelling sh*t in Louisiana.
As I said in Post #16,
"Thanks. The name didn't ring a bell. Although the article is not retracted, please allow me to issue an "oops" on my comments"
She ought to leave the president alone. I agree that she isn't necessarily a bad person. But she is either stupid or in an irrational state. This is not the kind of behavior that should be rewarded. The president would do more to hurt morale than to help it if he gave her the credibility that would come with meeting her. Yes, there's a chance that she'd be brought around a bit, but only a chance. The odds are that a meeting would do no good. The president is not responsible for anyone's feelings, even hers. To give credence to such a juvenile expectation is to weaken this country's already-slipping character in time of war.
Sorry but I disagree because her only support group is the marxist ex-hippies who marched against the Vietnam war........ Look at the bus load of losers and you will see what I mean. They are the ba$tards who are capitalizing on her loss to further their own twisted ideology........
After this is all all over they will dump her and move on to another anti-American cause........ Scum!
Exactly, victimization no more makes you an expert than catching a football makes you Jerry Rice.
Idiot is as Idiot does.
This lady had her meeting with President Bush in June of 2004 and she used it as a launching pad for an anti Bush offensive.
Its on Daily Kos(I googled her name and I think it is safe to say she is milking her sons death for everything it is worth)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/5/194826/1471
I think you hit the nail on the head with that one. And plus, how can she be with those moonbats more than 2 minutes and not figure out that they are exploiting her son's death for their own purpose?
If I had a child who died in Iraq, and people were within bullet range of me and they were chanting "W. killed his son"...I honestly can't say I wouldn't start pulling a trigger.
If President Bush did meet with her ---- you would have a lot of "nuts" trying to get in...and maybe one of them wouldn't be so subdued...
Plus, this is the man's home...she can stand miles away and protest...otherwise, she could try visiting through other channels..maybe a conservative rep from California would have arranged it, if she didn't drive around in an Impeachment Bus, that is being funded by some bad groups.
Same argument.
He did meet with her. At the White House.
Great point.
I'm sure she is getting plenty of feedback from the far left.
Why?
Because you assume every human is good by default?
She may be stupid, but she gets no pass. My either/or: Sub-100 or evil.
But what she encountered was an arrogant man with eyes lacking the slightest bit of compassion, a President totally "detached from humanity" and a man who didn’t even bother to remember her son’s name when they were first introduced.
Wow thanks for the info. So this woman has already meet with the president? How come am I not surprised the leftist media whore didn't mention she has already met with the president. You know if some republican would have done this to X42 they would have included everything bad the parent ever done in the story. And where does she get off thinking she can demand to meet the president. They should have put her in cuffs and locked her up. I guess she thought if Cleland was able to do this kind of stunt she could too. This woman is a disgrace to her son.
Knowing what I now know from the thread about this bytch, I think that whoever told our National Security Advisor to meet with her -- the president, perhaps -- made a serious error. By hanging a "kick-me" sign on their backs, the president, or Steve Hadley, or whoever, has unknowingly and cluelessly insulted the people of character, foremost the soldiers and their families, on whom this war depends.
Once again, this administrations rewards its enemies and forgets its friends. They cannot keep doing this and expect to remain politically viable. Or geopolitically viable.
Oh it is her? Sounds like someone needs a good long interview with the secret service.
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