Cindy Sheehan of Gold Star Families for Peace:
“They died for a lie”
June 24, 2005 | Pages 6 and 7
CINDY SHEEHAN’S son Casey was killed in action in Iraq on April 4, 2004. Since then, she has tirelessly traveled the country speaking out against Bush’s war. Cindy is a founding member of Gold Star Families for Peace, an organization of family members opposed to the occupation of Iraq who have lost a loved one in the conflict. She spoke to Socialist Worker’s ERIC RUDER about the challenges of working to end the occupation.
[Excerpts, there is lots of moonbat ravings to choose from:]
THE IRRESPONSIBLE thing was going in there in the first place. Iraq is where civilization began, and to say that they can’t handle their own affairs is basically racist.
We have to give them the credit to be able to rebuild their own country--to get back on their feet again. They need the jobs. We have foreign contractors over there taking their jobs. And what does it mean “to finish the job?” What is the job? How can you “finish” imperialism? It doesn’t end--it just spreads.
Some people may think that we’re fighting terrorism over there. But when is that job ever going to be complete? Terrorism is just a new “ism.” It was “communism” when I was growing up...
I DEFINITELY think that we should support war resisters in the military. This war is not only illegal, but it’s immoral--in fact, some people might say all war is immoral. It’s our job as moral human beings to oppose it--and oppose it in any way that we can.
I know several people who are being court-martialed, and they need support--they need monetary support, they need our moral support, and they need to know that we’re with them.
We need to encourage more people to do this. The people who go public--like Kevin Benderman, Pablo Paredes and Camilo Mejía--are doing a public service to this country, by showing soldiers and our young people in the military that there is an alternative to going over, and killing and dying in an immoral war.
Even though the alternative might be prison, I wish my son was in prison instead of in his grave. I wish he didn’t have to die for a lie and for this immorality.
Casey never thought this war was right. He never agreed with the commander-in-chief. He thought the war was wrong. He was a follower of Jesus Christ, and it surprised the hell out of us when he joined the Army. But he did it to serve, not to go kill innocent people in a war that didn’t make any sense. I begged him not to go, but he said, “Mom, it’s my duty, my buddies are going, so I have to go.”
I’m hoping that if he had been over there for a while, he would have come to the same conclusion as Camilo and Pablo and Kevin--that, no, I’m not going to obey these orders.