Posted on 05/29/2007 8:25:01 AM PDT by kristinn
FORT WORTH, Texas — Cindy Sheehan, the soldier's mother who galvanized an anti-war movement with her monthlong protest outside President Bush's ranch, says she's done being the public face of the movement.
"I've been wondering why I'm killing myself and wondering why the Democrats caved in to George Bush," Sheehan told The Associated Press by phone Tuesday while driving from her property in Crawford to the airport, where she planned to return to her native California.
"I'm going home for awhile to try and be normal," she said.
In what she described as a "resignation letter," Sheehan wrote in her online diary on the "Daily Kos" blog: "Good-bye America ... you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it.
"It's up to you now."
Sheehan began a grass roots peace movement in August 2005 when she camped outside Bush's Crawford ranch for 26 days, demanding to talk with the president about her son's death. Army Spc. Casey Sheehan was 24 when he was killed in an ambush in Baghdad in 2004.
Cindy Sheehan's protest started small but swelled to thousands and quickly drew national attention. Over the next two years, she initially drew huge crowds as she spoke at protest events. But she also drew criticism for some actions, such as meeting with Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's leftist president.
"I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement," Sheehan wrote in the diary.
Kristinn Taylor, spokesman for FreeRepublic.com, which has held pro-troop rallies and counter-protests of anti-war demonstrations, said dwindling crowds at Sheehan's Crawford protests since her initial vigil may have led to her decision. But he also said he hopes she will now be able to heal.
"Her politics have hurt a lot of people, including the troops and their families, but most of us who support the war on terror understand she is hurt very deeply," Taylor said Tuesday. "Those she got involved with in the anti-war movement realize it was to their benefit to keep her in that stage of anger."
When she had first taken on Bush, Sheehan was a darling of the liberal left. "However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the 'left' started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used," she wrote.
Sheehan said she had sacrificed a 29-year marriage and endured threats to put all her energy into stopping the war. What she found, she wrote, was a movement "that often puts personal egos above peace and human life."
But she said the most devastating conclusion she had reached "was that Casey did indeed die for nothing ... killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think."
Sheehan told The Associated Press that she had considered leaving the peace movement since last summer while recovering from surgery.
Then she decided on Memorial Day to step down and spend more time with her three other children. She said she was returning to California on Tuesday because it was Casey's birthday. He would have been 28.
"We've accomplished as much here as we're going to," Sheehan said Tuesday, saying she was leaving to change course. "When we come back it definitely won't be with the peace movement with marches, with rallies and with protests. It will be more humanitarian efforts."
Last year, with $52,500 in insurance money received after her son's death, Sheehan bought 5 acres near downtown Crawford as a permanent site for protests.
"Camp Casey has served its purpose. It's for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford, Texas?" she wrote.
With VoteVets coming to the fore with George Soros and Democrat party fundraiser money behind them, Cindy is no longer needed as the 'face' of the so-called antiwar movement.
Well that ought to keep her busy for the rest of her miserable life.
L
Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Cut and run.....at least she practices what she preaches....
She has lost her family from this. She is going home with no family or job. I hope it was worth it Cindy
“hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party”
It’s been my experience that either party will sell a person down the river if the action would serve a political purpose.
She most likely got word her funds were to be cut off.
It was a quagmire, she had to quit as fast as possible......
Excellent thoughts. Your statement to the press was balanced and compassionate.
Kristinn, I think you hit a great balance between condeming her actions but loving her as a person.
And of course noting how the left used her was excellent.
Classy comment, kristinn.
“”Those she got involved with in the anti-war movement realize it was to their benefit to keep her in that stage of anger.”
Great taser-shot to the America-haters....shows “mom” how badly she’s been had....by THEM!
Very classy quote from you. Kudos.
My sentiments exactly.
Apparently, there is absolutely nothing that Cindy Sheehan considers worth fighting for.
Your 15 minutes was up long ago Cindy. Get on with your life.
By your remarks, you treated her with a heckuva lot more class and dignity than she ever did. She hurt a lot of people and besmirched not only her son’s good name, but all the others who paid the same price for our freedom...and of course, their loved ones.
Ditto that.
You're a better man than I.
I hope the b**** gets hit by a bus....
L
You are too big for FreeRepublic Kristinn. You have achieved “Statesmanship” status. That was a very gentle and decent thing you did.
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