Just damn.
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Posted on 08/30/2005 11:33:27 AM PDT by Choose Ye This Day
Rush transcript of NPR's Neil Conan, speaking by phone with Cindy Sheehan:
NC: Very nice of you to be with us today.
CS: [cheerfully] Oh, thank youuu!
NC: I know that you were, uh, out in California last week because your mother was ill. How’s she doing?
CS: Um, she’s doing better. They’re trying to keep her from having another stroke. And if she doesn’t have another stroke, she should be able to recover.
NC: That’s good news. Now, tell us, a little bit about your son, Casey.
CS: My son Casey was an amazing human being. He was gentle, loving, peaceful, sweet. He always just wanted to help people. He was an Eagle Scout and an altar boy for ten years. He had been in college for three years before he was recruited. He was just, uh, an almost perfect son and a really good big brother to his two sisters and his other brother.
NC: Why did he decide to join the Army?
CS: Well, he got lied to by his recruiter. His recruiter made him five promises that he broke all the promises to Casey. Casey was a very trusting and trustworthy person. So, he felt everyone else was trustworthy. Especially somebody who represents the government.
NC: Mmm hmmm. But, so, did he say afterwards, “I was duped?”
CS: Um, he, he, when we’d ask him about all these things that your recruiter promised you, he’s just say, “Well, Mom, you know, it’s the Army. They didn’t tell us they didn’t have to fulfill their promises. We were the only ones who had to fulfill our promises.”
NC: Mmm hmm. And did he write you letters about what he was doing in Iraq?
CS: Well, he was only there five days before he was killed. He started one letter that he never finished, and we got it back with his things.
NC: What did it say?
CS: Um…well, I’ll give you the general thing, but it was kind of personal. Y’know, he said that, um…it should be a pretty smooth year, that they were looking forward to a smooth year. And he was killed four days later. And he said that he wished he could be home for his sister’s graduation. And some other personal things.
NC: Um, and of course, I don’t want to get too personal, but…I wonder: When he was deciding to join the Army, did you try to talk him out of it?
CS: We didn’t have a chance because he joined before he talked to us.
NC: Before he talked. So, he made a choice of his own.
CS: [pause] Right.
NC: Um, now, you were…
CS: [not so cheerfully] But does that have to do with him being sent to a war that’s illegal and immoral to kill people and get killed for, um, a country that was no threat or harm to the United States of America?
NC: Uhhh…no. But, he wasn’t drafted. He made a choice of free will.
CS: Yeah, and if we give our children to the government to serve their country, we should make sure that they’re only used if it’s absolutely necessary to defend the United States of America.
NC: I wonder, now, you got a chance to meet with President Bush with a group of other families for a brief time. What happened in that meeting?
CS: Ummm…I’ve talked about this a lot. Do we have to talk about this? Do you have any questions about what’s going on right now or what we’re gonna do in the future?
NC: I’m just curious; I’ve not heard your answer to this.
CS: Um, excuse me?
NC: I’ve not heard your answer, if you wouldn’t mind.
CS: [someone speaking in background] I have two minutes.
NC: [amazed] You have two minutes.
CS: I have two minutes so…he was—George Bush acted like we were at a tea party, he was rude to us, and we felt worse than we did after we met with him.
NC: Mm hmm. Um, I didn’t realize you just had two minutes. We thought we had more time with you today, but, uh…I did want to ask. I know you’re planning to, when President Bush comes back to Washington, you’re planning to continue the protest here in Washington D.C.
CS: Yeah, we’re taking the bus tour to Washington D.C. and we’re all meeting there on September 24 for the big United for Peace and Justice…um, war protest.
NC: And you did get a chance to meet with some of his senior advisors a couple of weeks ago. Did you get a chance—did they listen to you, or did they talk to you?
CS: He-hello?
NC: Did they listen to you? Or did they talk to you?
CS: Hello?
NC: Yes. Hi?
CS: [clear as a bell] I didn’t hear your question, I’m sorry. We have a really bad connection.
NC: I apologize for that. It’s the cell—
CS: That’s not your fault. I’m in the middle of Crawford, so, you know, it’s very spotty cell phone service out here.
NC: I understand. I was asking about your meeting with some of the President’s chief advisors, including the National Security Advisor. In that meeting, did they, did they listen to you?
CS: Um, they listened to me and they talked to me. They tried to tell me things that I knew weren’t true, and so finally I said, “Just because I’m a grieving mother doesn’t mean that I am stupid.” And I said, “I don’t believe you guys are stupid either.” So we ended the meeting and they said they would pass on my concerns to the president, and then…they left.
NC: So you felt like you were being dismissed.
CS: I felt like I was being patronized.
NC: Patronized.
CS: And I felt that they thought that they were gonna be able to intimidate me into leaving, and, or impress me by the high level of officials that they sent.
NC: What would you say to President Bush if you had another chance to meet him?
CS: I’d say, what was the noble cause he sent my son to die for? And, why are soldiers still fighting over there when we know this war is based on lies, and to tell him to quit using my son’s name to justify the continued killing.
NC: As you know, there are parents of other men and women who died in Iraq who say you’re using their sons’ and daughters’ names in your cause.
CS: To stop the killing? You know, just because my son’s killed, why should I want any other children to be killed? Why would I want any other families to be going through this and this seems to be the President’s reason for continuing the war because he’s killed so many American soldiers already he has to kill more. And I believe that’s the most insane and the most immoral reason for continuing the war.
NC: I understand what you’re saying, but, they say you don’t speak for them.
CS: I never said I spoke for them. I never said I spoke for 100% of the military families. I never claimed to. I know they have their opinions and I believe that’s their right to their opinions.
NC: Fair enough. Do you st—You’ve come out…A lot of statements have been attributed to you as this…Camp Casey has grown, as this movement has grown, and uh…
CS: I gotta, I have to go now. Thank youuuu. [click]
NC: [dumbfounded] Cindy Sheehan. Leaving us there in Crawford, Texas. We apologize for that. We had arranged with people there to speak with Cindy Sheehan for the remainder of this segment and take some phone calls as well. Uh, evidently, plans changed at the last minute and we apologize for that.
I don't think you will find anyone on FR that disagrees with that statement (except for the few leftists spewing their opinions on these threads).
Another interesting note here: he was a MECHANIC and VOLUNTEERED to go on the rescue mission...he would NOT have had to do it because his job didn't require that. Perhaps the Army didn't LIE about his job after all.
And perhaps the truly sad thing here is that Casey Sheehan acted heroically, yet all that will be remembered of him is his mother's actions.
(To paraphrase somebody) She couldn't drink hemlock out of her boot with the instructions printed on the heel.
[[CS: Yeah, and if we give our children to the government to serve their country, we should make sure that they’re only used if it’s absolutely necessary to defend the United States of America. ]]
First of all you rotten skank, you didnt GIVE your son to the military. He joined on his on free will. The job of the military is to kill people and blow things up. That's what we do so don't act like you didnt' know that there wasn't a chance that your son (and other people's sons) might not come home. Millions of our soldiers, sailors and marines have died so that you and your America hating marxist friends could spout your anti-American bullshit in a free country like the one that gave you some much priveledge. My sympathy for you expired long ago. You have now crossed over to the other side and joined the ranks of the enemies of our country just like Hanoi John Kerry and Hanoi Jane Fonda did during the Viet Nam war. Man, this skank deserves a tobacco juice facial just like the one that Jane Fonda got:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7575576
Great job!!! The more she opens her mouth, the more her story starts to fall apart. When I first heard this story, my impression was that Casey was just out of high school and died in Iraq five days after getting there. I did NOT know he re-enlisted; I did NOT know he was 24 years old and I did not know he volunteered for the rescue mission.
Those facts were purposely left out by not only Cindy Sheehan, but the media. Do those facts negate the tragedy of his death? Of COURSE not! But it does show that he was an adult who apparently wanted to be serving in the military. His mother's actions and comments have TOTALLY overshadowed HIS heroism and HIS life by painting him as an ignorant dupe.
Even NPR tried to ask her about her wacky comments and quite frankly, contradictory statements. She came off in the interview as a "valley girl" who won't talk unless able to spew her talking points. Let her keep talking.
Cindy Sheehan is a potty-mouthed liar...
Just damn.
If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
No doubt. And as she has evidently survived massive overdoses of both "ugly" and "lower your IQ" pills, there isn't much chance of her getting run over by a stampede of anxious suitors.
Build their gallows high
And second of all, Casey was not a CHILD!!! It's not like the armed forces are raiding elementary schools and dragging 9-year-olds off to serve in the infantry.
These are grown MEN and WOMEN--ADULTS who are CHOOSING to enlist, and re-enlist, in a TIME OF WAR.
Were you to see the red/blue map of CA -- you'd see the vast majority of counties being "red". It's the coastline -- that's blue. In last election, Los Angeles and San Francisco were blue -- but those are very dense populations. CA is chock-full of solid conservatives.
"Facts? We don't need no steenkin' facts!"
I am fed up with this woman, squared. She needs to be in jail or in a home, ASAP.
I don't think I could handle listening to the tape of her. She sounds as if she has -- um -- (my dad called it Rocky Mountain Two-Step) of the mouth, and constipation of ideas.
Yah, that's it. I just can't handle deliberate stupidity. And I also can't help but wonder, when she is in her 60's, how she will look back on this part of her life? Will she be proud? I wonder...
Hey, I have a Ditch Witch and its a great machine! Don't hang that tag on that b**ch
Do you know California at all? Do you know where Vacaville is, or what it means?
It is most decidedly in NORTHERN California, about 320 miles from the Valley Girl famous "totally -- fer sher" San Fernando Valley, which is in Southern California. "Vacaville" as a name is a bastardization of Spanish and English, the word "vaca" meaning cow. As in, cattle country. Vacaville is in an area that was extremely rural and agricultural until not very long ago, and even now, most of the area is still primarily agricultural. It so SO FAR REMOVED from the "fer sher, dude" California stereotype of which you speak, that it's ridiculous. If you're going to whitewash Californians, at least know the territory. My bet is that Cindy is not a very long-time resident of Vacaville, though I really don't know.
"Another interesting note here: he was a MECHANIC and VOLUNTEERED to go on the rescue mission...he would NOT have had to do it because his job didn't require that. Perhaps the Army didn't LIE about his job after all."
Whether he had a combat arms MOS, a combat support MOS, or a combat service support MOS, he was a soldier first and a mechanic, technician, or whatever second. Think of all the cooks, clerks, truck drivers, and mechanics who had to grab rifles during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 to ward off hordes of attacking Germans.
For too long a lot of soldiers had the idea that they were clerks or whatever first and soldiers second. I could have to tell you stories about having to deal with young privates who started whining and sniveling when they were told they were going on a field training exercise.
Recently the army instituted some long-needed changes in basic training. Now recruits going through basic get a lot more field time, and on top of that they fire more than just their individual weapon. They get familiarization fire with such weapons as the M240B machine gun, the .50-caliber machine gun (good old Ma Deuce), and the Mark 19 grenade launcher. They also spend a lot of time training to respond to ambushes and attacks on convoys.
Bottom line: Casey was a soldier. Deal with it, Cindy!
The closing interview with the mother who was proud of her marine was moving.
My profound apologies to all Ditch Witch's (do Ditch Witch's have feelings) and their owners. Terribly insensitive of me.
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