Cindy's Own Words

There is a lot of misapprehension out there on both the left and the right about what Cindy Sheehan is all about. Like Rosa Parks, Cindy did not just happen into this role on the national stage, but entered it quite willingly and intentionally. The awful circumstance of the death of her son gave her access to prominence in the same way that the awful circumstance of government sanctioned racial humiliation gave Parks access to prominence. But these activists both took bold and courageous action to leverage their access to awaken the nation's conscience. People in America are celebrated for making the best of a bad situation in turning a negative circumstance into a great personal success story. How much more noble it is to turn one's own tragedy into a wake up call to the nation to avert further tragedy!

Previous words of Cindy Sheehan's have been taken out of context to suggest that she was grateful to the President for having met with her some weeks after her son's death, and that her current activism represents some 180 degree shift from her previous stance. She was respectfully acknowledging that Bush at least did meet with her and her family, while not making an immediate stink about his aloof and disrespectful attitude during that meeting. But she was always against this war, and her son's insistence on going, when she tried to dissuade him, she attributes to his desire to stick by his buddies, not a belief that the war was a just cause. As Cindy recently wrote:

The VERY LAST THING I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS IS: Why do the right wing media so assiduously scrutinize the words of a grief filled mother and ignore the words of a lying president?

Here are links to more of Cindy's own words:

Letter to Rumsfeld, Jan 2005 & speech to Riverside Church
Letter to Bush, Nov 2004 (scroll down)
On Being Public
Preparing to Go
Speech to Veterans for Peace in Dallas
Day 1 Diary
Day 3 Diary
Day 4 Diary

Even more links and info

I may not agree with everything that Cindy writes, but hers is a personal tragedy which she by force of will is transforming into a national news story, and I absolutely salute her for her courage.

UPDATE: Thanks to Bohemian Mama for reminding me to include the following links:
To help Cindy, go here.

To support all the Gold Star Families for Peace, go here.