KCTribune: Peace Activist Cindy Sheehan Brings Message to Kansas City

By Daniel Starling
During the darkest days of George W. Bush’s reign, the fear of yet another “9/11” choked the conscience of many Americans, who keep silent as our leaders veered far off course, into a preemptive War in Iraq. Around the country small groups of anti-war activists gathered to organize protests and network with others who opposed the war for reasons political or moral, or both.

Congress allowed another generation of sons and daughters to come home broken and battered for purposes many knew, at the time, were based on half-truths and media manipulations by the White House. Few, if any, members of Congress had children in the military service when they granted Bush/Cheney authorization to invade Iraq. None would be forced to fly the Gold Star flag, symbolizing the death of a member of the military, from their porches.

In the wake of nearly five years of conflict in the cradle of civilization, thousands of U.S. mothers have had to receive the news of a son’s or daughter’s ultimate sacrifice for our nation-building experiments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Only a few had the courage to speak out against the wars and none have become more notable or controversial than Cindy Sheehan, whose son, Casey, died in April 2003, while serving in Iraq.

Over the last five years, Sheehan has traveled the world tirelessly speaking out against the Bush Administration, the War in Iraq, the power of political elites and the continuation of failed foreign policies that have cost Americans thousands of countrymen, and our “enemies’” the lives of countless thousands of innocents—the true victims of any conflict.

On several occasions, I personally witnessed the courage and bravery of Cindy Sheehan, the Gold Star Mothers for Peace, the Iraq Veterans Against the War and countless others that found the courage of conscience and strength of spirit to stand up against the Bush Administration policies and the industrial/corporate war machine.

I watched this former housewife lead more than 370 in the largest mass arrest outside the White House when she tried to meet again with George W. Bush. This was long after she camped out for months at “Camp Casey” in Crawford, Texas, outside the “Western White House”.

Cindy Sheehan was the one person in America who was fearless in the face of personal attacks, slander and innuendo on national television and radio, working exhaustively promoting peace, touring with Iraq War veterans who also came to question the true purposes and justifications for what has been called “Bush’s War”.

Sheehan is also an author, currently promoting her new book, "Myth America: 10 Greatest Myths of the Robber Class and the Case for Revolution”, with speaking engagements around the country, including Friday, April 26, in Kansas City at the Uptown Theater.

The event is a fundraiser for KKFI-FM, 90.1, and the anti-war American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Contributors will have a chance to meet and greet Cindy Sheehan and listen to her speak about her career as both peace activist and author.

Below is partial transcript of a phone interview with Ms. Sheehan conducted by Daniel Starling, exclusively for KCTribune.com.

Transcript of Interview with Cindy Sheehan

Q: Its been five years since your son (Casey) died in the War in Iraq, its been a long time that you’ve been involved in the anti-war movement. How has your perspective changed?

A: That’s a really broad question. When Casey was first killed and I got into the anti-war movement, it wasn’t that big and it was mostly anti-Bush. During the 2004 campaign I was working against George Bush’s re-election. My perspective is, of course, changing from somebody who came into it brand new to somebody who became a leader of the anti-war movement.

My perspectives has changed that way, but what has happened, I think, and I didn’t realize this when I first got involved in the movement, is that many of the organizations that say they are working for peace are really just working for the Democrats. They have been cooped by the Democratic Party. So we see, with Obama in office, the protests and the calling for protests have diminished. I didn’t know that when I erected Camp Casey in Crawford, that many of the organizations that came to me, their goals, were not to end the war, which was my goal, but to elect Democrats.

And so we see in 2006 and 2008 that very little has changed. The Democratic Party uses the energy of the anti-war movement, like they use the energy of the Labor movement. They get in, and they don’t do anything, or actually betray the people that put them into office.

So the reasons for my book and my book tour is to dispel (the) myth that the Democrats or Republicans in the robber class ever came out for us in any way. They are all part of the same system that is there to protect each other, protect their power and protect their wealth and take more power and wealth from us. Many other organizations in the movement don’t feel that way. They feel that if you get a Democrat in office then most of their job is done. I, of course, I think that is fundamentally wrong.

Q: What is your feeling about the Obama Presidency? He basically used the anti-war movement to get elected. We have a supposed time-line to end the war. There doesn’t appear to be much movement towards the anti-war rhetoric he used to get elected.

A: Well, I don’t even think he used anti-war rhetoric. He wasn’t in the Senate when the Authorization for the use of force was passed or voted on. He gave a very tepid anti-war speech in Chicago in 2002. It was an anti-Iraq war speech and he said he wasn’t against war, just some war.

During his campaign he said he would withdraw combat troops. And than that whole timeline has been extended. He said he would increase troops to Afghanistan. To have the softer style of being anti-war, he didn’t even use the anti-war rhetoric, so I don’t really understand why the anti-war movement was so hell-bent on supporting him.

Just because he wasn’t McCain? I don’t think John McCain would be doing much differently in Iraq and Afghanistan. So, we look at the style and want to be in denial about the substance. That’s something we have to change in this country, to actually read policy and listen to what the candidates are actually saying and not be dazzled by appearances.

Q: Why do think you became such a public figure? There were a lot of people who came out against the war, including other Gold Star Mothers. What has made you such a polarizing figure?

A: I really don’t know, but I don’t think there has been anybody else in the movement, besides a few people, that have been willing to work as hard or sacrifice as much, and have a message. There were people in the anti-war movement against the war, who people would say were the usual suspects. I was the single (Gold) star mom, before it was just me. But I was the one who got national and international attention and many people had never seen a Gold Star mother say their son died for lies, and died in vain. So it could be a novelty, but you know, I work really hard and study really hard and I know what I am talking about. I write and speak and am willing to make some sacrifices to make the world a better place.

Q: A few years ago, I read your resignation letter (from the anti-war movement). What inspired that and what brought you back into the movement?

A: What inspired it was that in May 2007, the Democrats gave George Bush another blank check to fund the war. This was after Nancy Pelosi said she would give no blank checks. That would be the second blank check that (she) gave him. And when they did that I left the Democratic Party. And I did it from the advice of a political activist in Ireland. I was in Dublin at the time when the Democrats put through that funding bill. This activist had done the same thing. He resigned from the Labor Party to go to the Green Party, I think. He did it in a public way and a lot of people (laughs) focused anger on him. But it caused a debate and a dialogue to get people to talk about their party and how it wasn’t representing them anymore.

So I decided to leave the Democratic Party after they did that again. I was really just hanging on by a thread and that was the last straw. When I left the Democratic Party, I wrote about it when I was in Dublin. I left Dublin to come back to America…I got in late and so I went to bed in Texas. I got up in the morning and turned my computer on. I was being thoroughly and viciously attacked by people that had supported my position. Just because I wasn’t in the Democratic Party anymore.

I had the same positions. But I guess (sigh) your party or your party affiliation validates you or something, I don’t know. These people just really attacked me. At the time, I was sick, I had a chronic condition that caused me a lot of pain. And the national and international travel didn’t help, believe me. I was broke and really tired and I was like “What am I doing this for?” (Laughs) You know…Why am I literally killing myself for people who are so nasty and who don’t get it? I think it’s hypocritical to support your party when they do bad things, and you criticize the other party when they do the same bad thing.

Anyway I decided to leave and what brought back (to the anti-war movement) was when George Bush commuted Scooter Libby’s sentence. And nobody in Congress did anything about it, even when George Bush and his office was involved in the crime Scooter Libby was convicted of. So I just thought, wow, you know, I can’t really stay out. We decided to go on a journey for humanity from Crawford Texas and D.C. and talk to people about impeachment.

Our tour was to educate about impeachment and talk about how George Bush and Dick Cheney needed to be impeached by the Democratic Party. After we decided to do that tour, I had the idea of challenging Nancy Pelosi for her seat in San Francisco if she didn’t put impeachment back on the table.

Q: You were the second leading vote getter in that election.

A: Yes, I was.

Q: Will you run (against Pelosi) again sometime

A: You know that decision is still months away. We never know what is going to happen tomorrow…or what going to happen a year from now. I really want to concentrate on my book tour and building grassroots communities to step outside the robber class system. And not participate in that system. I have a lot of time to decide stuff like that.

Q: I have personally watched you do some brave things. I was in front of the White House when you got arrested with 370 other people…Where does that bravery come from?

A: Well I come from a little different direction that most people do. I have been brutalized by the system by the loss of my son. Many people have been brutalized by this system. Here in America and all over the world people have been brutalized by the robber class system.

The robber class isn’t confined to the United States. It’s worldwide.
Many people have been affected by the economic stress. The rise in murder/suicides is tragic. People will begin to realize that the only reason we are in this situation is because we are codependent with (them). I was codependent with the robber class when I allowed my son to go to Iraq. And I have to accept blame for that. I have to look at my own lifestyle, my own actions and take my part in the blame for Casey’s death before I can even look at anybody else. So my bravery, and I don’t even think it’s bravery, is because I am not afraid. I am not afraid because I have very little left to lose.

What we have to do, this is what I have begun to realize. Health care, prosperity and security, housing, good food and clean water, they are not privileges they are basic human rights. And I am entitled to those things, as much is Nancy Pelosi. And we don’t think that in America, that those are rights we are entitled to. We believe, because the robber class has told us, is that those are privileges. So I just have been able to courageously stand up for my rights and for everybody’s rights. They are not privileges, they are not for the wealthy, they are for every human being in America.

(This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity)