[Peace-discussion] Cindy Sheehan on Day 21 of the Troops Home Fast

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 20:43:35 -0400

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Helplessly Hoping

Day 21 | July 24
Troops Home Fast <http://www.troopshomefast.org/>

Cindy Sheehan

I have been in such a blue funk of depression and worry since Israel's 
over-reaction -- or "over action" -- in Lebanon in what seems to be 
insanity escalating out of control. What our media and some world 
leaders seem to expediently forget is that Israel massacred an entire 
family on a beach in Lebanon with a rocket and kidnapped two Palestinian 
citizens before Hezbollah and Hamas kidnapped some Israeli soldiers. Who 
started the cycle of violence in those countries? Who knows? Who cares! 
The important question is: who is going to be the courageous one(s) with 
integrity, wisdom and compassion that is going to at long last stop the 
absurdity?

As hard as I may try, I cannot wrap my mind around the fanatical 
rhetoric coming out of DC and from all over the world and the mindless 
and seemingly overwhelming support of Israel's right to "defend itself." 
What Israel is doing in Lebanon by killing hundreds of innocent 
civilians in a relatively short period of time is like the US defending 
itself from the tens of thousands of innocent babies, women and children 
in Iraq. It is morally reprehensible and just an extension of BushCo's 
campaign to enrich the voracious war profiteers.

I read yesterday that our State Department 
<http://khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/July/middleeast_July473.xml&section=middleeast> 
approved a new shipment of bombs and rockets to Israel. With the 
thousands upon thousands of US made bombs and rockets being dropped on 
Lebanon by the IDF it makes one wonder if the expiration dates on the 
bombs were nearing and the war machine needed to sell and ship more 
bombs so that the CEO's could fill their Hummers, limos, and jets with 
gas. Naively, I always presumed that the State Department was there to 
prevent the use of military force not support it by authorizing more 
weapons for more efficient killing! Don't we have a War Department for 
more killing? I feel like I am living in Bizarro World.

I have been watching a lot of cable news networks and have heard such 
one-sided phrases as: "Over 50 civilians killed in Lebanon today, but 
the real story is in the Israeli city of Nazareth, where two Hezbollah 
rockets landed." Why is that the real story Tucker Carlson? It is an 
immensely tragic story because two harmless children were killed in 
Nazareth, but how does it trump over 50 civilians being killed in 
Lebanon? Oh yeah, I forgot! John Bolton said that there is no " moral 
equivalency 
<http:///news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060717/pl_afp/mideastconflictlebanon_060717204728>" 
between innocent Arabs being killed and innocent Israelis being killed. 
It's not immoral for Israel to kill innocent civilians because they are 
fighting terror with more terror: it's the American Way!

One day I heard another perfectly coiffed and composed talking head say 
while the fancy war graphics rolled across the TV screen in my hotel 
room: "This is day 12 of fighting in the Middle East." Day 12! Try 
selling that idiotic sound bite to the people of Iraq and who are dying 
by the dozens still everyday in increasing violence. Try telling our 
soldiers who keep on dying over there that this is "Day 12"...It is more 
like 2567 on day 1200 plus of fighting in Iraq. The war crimes in Israel 
and Lebanon have so conveniently knocked Iraq completely off the radar 
screen which is probably a thing of beauty and a welcome development to 
the White House and Pentagon.

We are being told that a few hundred people have been killed in Lebanon 
when we were shown a mass grave on CNN in the ancient city of Tyre that 
had almost 90 coffins in it being presided over by a distraught mayor 
telling us that at least two or three hundred more of his city's 
residents were buried in the rubble of the barbaric Israeli attacks. 
Tyre is one city and we viewed the mass grave days ago. Tyre and the 
rest of the country are being relentlessly bombed for the sins of a few 
which is a crime against humanity.

It seems like we are arm chair witnesses to Armageddon and ashamed 
witnesses to our fool of a President at the G-8: groping women; talking, 
eating, and swearing with his mouth full; drooling over slicing a pig 
and generally acting like a drunken and amorous frat boy at a toga 
party. I would like to ask George Bush a few more questions besides, 
"What noble cause?" Like: "What the hell is so humorous you jester in a 
tailored suit? You told us that you were making the world a safer place 
because of your War of Terror, and you are decidedly not!" I would also 
like to ask him if he is proud of himself for the way things are going 
on the 1200 th plus day of fighting in the Middle East. Of course it is 
not about pride---it is about profit and the Project for a New American 
Century <http://www.newamericancentury.org/>.

I mourn for the murders of the Israeli people, which are just as tragic 
(but not more tragic) and done just as barbarically (but not more 
barbarically) as the murders that Israel is commiting in this needless 
violence, as much as I mourn the deaths of our troops in Iraq and 
Afghanistan and the innocents in all Arab countries who are trapped in 
this insane spiral of bedlam. When is the world going to realize that 
bloodshed cannot be stopped, cured or even alleviated by shedding more 
blood?

Killing is a cancer that spreads the more it is fed. This disease is 
spreading around the world and instead of passing resolutions to condone 
the punishment of an innocent civilian population; Congress should be 
passing resolutions condemning ALL types of violence and should be 
supporting Rep. Dennis Kucinich's (H.Con.Res 450) call for a truce so a 
diplomatic solution can be sought---one that brings ALL sides to the 
table and one that ALL sides can feel comfortable and safer with. The 
only way to a "lasting cease fire" that the weapons broker, Condi, keeps 
talking about is a negotiated settlement that includes and insists on 
peaceful co-existence in the region.

Martin Luther King, Jr said it is either; "Peaceful co-existence or 
mutual co-annihilation." Our planet is headed on a path of annihilation 
if we don't all stop and take a deep breath, relax and realize that our 
brothers and sisters are being killed in the Middle East so that more 
bombs and rockets can be rushed there (on all sides) and so that our oil 
companies can have total control of the world's oil resources.

I have felt so helpless in the face of such unwarranted carnage, 
calamity, and sorrow. I have felt hopeless that anything I do can even 
alleviate the suffering of one person. I am helplessly hoping that the 
people of the world will join me and rise up to say a collective: "In 
God's (Allah's---whatever's) name: enough is more than enough, already!"

One last quote: Dwight David Eisenhower said that: "I think that people 
want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out 
of the way and let them have it."  I believe that we the people of Earth 
should demand that our governments get out of our way and stop be 
beholden to the war machine and allow us to have peace. Selfishly, I 
would love to have a world that my surviving children and their children 
can peacefully co-exist with peoples of other nations in.

I recognize Israel's right to defend itself as I recognize the US's 
right to defend ourselves as I recognize Lebanon's and Iraq's right to 
defend themselves---but I do not, cannot, and will not recognize 
anyone's right to commit wholesale slaughter on babies and children. I 
refuse to recognize that right no matter who does it---terrorists or 
state-sanctioned wars of terror---I refuse to recognize the right to 
slaughter and, whether it makes a difference, or not, I refuse to be 
silent about it.

It must stop: For my children, your children and their children.

They are all our children.

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc Casey Austin Sheehan who was KIA in 
Iraq on 04/04/04. She and thousands of others from around the world are 
getting ready for another summer of holding BushCo accountable in 
Crawford, TX, at Camp Casey <http://www.gsfp.org/>.

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<p style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b><big><big><font
 face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Helplessly  Hoping</font></big></big></b></p>

<p style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b><big><big><font
 face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Day 21 | July 24<br>
<a title="http://www.troopshomefast.org/"
 href="http://www.troopshomefast.org/" target="_blank">Troops Home  Fast</a></font></big></big></b></p>

<p style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b><big><big><font
 face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Cindy  Sheehan</font></big></big></b></p>

<big>I have been in such a blue funk of
depression and worry since Israel's over-reaction -- or "over action" --
in Lebanon in what seems to be insanity escalating out of control. What
our media and some world leaders seem to expediently forget is that Israel
massacred an entire family on a beach in Lebanon with a rocket and kidnapped
two Palestinian citizens before Hezbollah and Hamas kidnapped some Israeli
soldiers. Who started the cycle of violence in those countries? Who knows?
Who cares! The important question is: who is going to be the courageous
one(s) with integrity, wisdom and compassion that is going to at long last
stop the absurdity? </big>

<big>As hard as I may try, I cannot wrap
my mind around the fanatical rhetoric coming out of DC and from all over
the world and the mindless and seemingly overwhelming support of Israel's
 right to "defend itself." What Israel is doing in Lebanon by killing hundreds
of innocent civilians in a relatively short period of time is like the US
defending itself from the tens of thousands of innocent babies, women and
children in Iraq. It is morally reprehensible and just an extension of BushCo's
campaign to enrich the voracious war profiteers. </big>

<big>I read yesterday that our <a
 title="http://khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/July/middleeast_July473.xml&amp;section=middleeast"
 href="http://khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/July/middleeast_July473.xml&amp;section=middleeast"
 target="_blank">State Department</a> approved a new shipment of bombs and
rockets to Israel. With the thousands upon thousands of US made bombs and
rockets being dropped on Lebanon by the IDF it makes one wonder if the expiration
dates on the bombs were nearing and the war machine needed to sell and ship
more bombs so that the CEO's could fill their Hummers, limos, and jets with
gas. Naively, I always presumed that the State Department was there to prevent
the use of military force not support it by authorizing more weapons for
more efficient killing! Don't we have a War Department for more killing?
I feel like I am living in Bizarro World. </big>

<big>I have been watching a lot of cable
news networks and have heard such one-sided phrases as: "Over 50 civilians
killed in Lebanon today, but the real story is in the Israeli city of Nazareth,
where two Hezbollah rockets landed." Why is that the real story Tucker Carlson?
It is an immensely tragic story because two harmless children were killed
in Nazareth, but how does it trump over 50 civilians being killed in Lebanon?
Oh yeah, I forgot! John Bolton said that there is no " <a
 title="http:///news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060717/pl_afp/mideastconflictlebanon_060717204728"
 href="http:///news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060717/pl_afp/mideastconflictlebanon_060717204728"
 target="_blank">moral equivalency</a>" between innocent Arabs being killed
and innocent Israelis being killed. It's not immoral for Israel to kill
innocent civilians because they are fighting terror with more terror: it's
the American Way! </big>

<big>One day I heard another perfectly
coiffed and composed talking head say while the fancy war graphics rolled
across the TV screen in my hotel room: "This is day 12 of fighting in the
 Middle East." Day 12! Try selling that idiotic sound bite to the people
of Iraq and who are dying by the dozens still everyday in increasing violence.
Try telling our soldiers who keep on dying over there that this is "Day
12"&#8230;It is more like 2567 on day 1200 plus of fighting in Iraq. The war crimes
in Israel and Lebanon have so conveniently knocked Iraq completely off the
radar screen which is probably a thing of beauty and a welcome development
to the White House and Pentagon. </big>

<big>We are being told that a few hundred
people have been killed in Lebanon when we were shown a mass grave on CNN
in the ancient city of Tyre that had almost 90 coffins in it being presided
over by a distraught mayor telling us that at least two or three hundred
more of his city's residents were buried in the rubble of the barbaric Israeli
attacks. Tyre is one city and we viewed the mass grave days ago. Tyre and
the rest of the country are being relentlessly bombed for the sins of a few
 which is a crime against humanity. </big>

<big>It seems like we are arm chair witnesses
to Armageddon and ashamed witnesses to our fool of a President at the G-8:
groping women; talking, eating, and swearing with his mouth full; drooling
over slicing a pig and generally acting like a drunken and amorous frat boy
at a toga party. I would like to ask George Bush a few more questions besides,
"What noble cause?" Like: "What the hell is so humorous you jester in a tailored
suit? You told us that you were making the world a safer place because of
your War of Terror, and you are decidedly not!" I would also like to ask
him if he is proud of himself for the way things are going on the 1200 th
 plus day of fighting in the Middle East. Of course it is not about pride---it
is about profit and the <a title="http://www.newamericancentury.org/"
 href="http://www.newamericancentury.org/" target="_blank">Project for a
New American Century</a>. </big>

<big>I mourn for the murders of the Israeli
people, which are just as tragic (but not more tragic) and done just&nbsp;as
barbarically (but not more barbarically) as the murders that Israel is commiting
in this needless violence, as much as I mourn the deaths of our troops in
Iraq and Afghanistan and the innocents in all Arab countries who are trapped
in this insane spiral of bedlam. When is the world going to realize that
 bloodshed cannot be stopped, cured or even alleviated by shedding more blood?
 
 </big>
<big>Killing is a cancer that spreads the
more it is fed. This disease is spreading around the world and instead of
passing resolutions to condone the punishment of an innocent civilian population;
Congress should be passing resolutions condemning ALL types of violence
and should be supporting Rep. Dennis Kucinich's (H.Con.Res 450) call for
a truce so a diplomatic solution can be sought---one that brings ALL sides
to the table and one that ALL sides can feel comfortable and safer&nbsp;with.
The only way to a "lasting cease fire" that the weapons broker, Condi, keeps
talking about is a negotiated settlement that includes and insists on peaceful
co-existence in the region. </big>

<big>Martin Luther King, Jr said it is
either; "Peaceful co-existence or mutual co-annihilation." Our planet is
 headed on a path of annihilation if we don't all stop and take a deep breath,
 relax and realize that our brothers and sisters are being killed in the
Middle East so that more bombs and rockets can be rushed there (on all sides)
and so that our oil companies can have total control of the world's oil
resources. </big>

<big>I have felt so helpless in the face
of such unwarranted carnage, calamity, and sorrow. I have felt hopeless that
anything I do can even alleviate the suffering of one person. I am helplessly
hoping that the people of the world will join me and rise up to say a collective:
"In God's (Allah's---whatever's) name: enough is more than enough, already!"
 </big>

<big>One last quote: Dwight David Eisenhower
said that: "I think that people want peace so much that one of these days
governments had better get out of the way and let them have it." &nbsp;I believe
that we the people of Earth should demand that our governments get out of
our way and stop be beholden to the war machine and allow us to have peace.
Selfishly, I would love to have a world that my surviving children and their
children can peacefully co-exist with peoples of other nations in. </big>

<big>I recognize Israel's right to defend
itself as I recognize the US's right to defend ourselves as I recognize
Lebanon's and Iraq's right to defend themselves---but I do not, cannot,
and will not recognize anyone's right to commit wholesale slaughter on babies
and children. I refuse to recognize that right no matter who does it---terrorists
or state-sanctioned wars of terror---I refuse to recognize the right to
slaughter and, whether it makes a difference, or not, I refuse to be silent
about it. </big>

<p style="text-align: justify;"><big><font
 face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">It must stop: For my  children, your
children and their children.</font> </big></p>

<p style="text-align: justify;"><big><font
 face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">They are all our  children.</font>
</big></p>
   <br>
<i><big><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Cindy Sheehan is the mother
 of Spc Casey Austin Sheehan who was KIA in Iraq on 04/04/04. She and thousands
 of others from around the world are getting ready for another summer of
holding  BushCo accountable in Crawford, TX, at <a
 title="http://www.gsfp.org/" href="http://www.gsfp.org/"
 target="_blank">Camp Casey</a>.</font></big></i>  </div>
</font></p>
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