Mother Cindy Sheehan & Son Casey, Iraq War - George W. Bush's Accountability

Hundreds of years ago, the Old Testament prophet, Daniel,
prophesied that in the end times “a king of fierce countenance…shall stand up…and by
peace shall destroy many.”

Bush's New World Order
http://www.apfn/pdf/BushsNewWorldOrder.pdf (74 pages)
Daniel 8:25 KJV
And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many;

http://198.65.14.85/News/2005/31-40/32news09.htm

LISTEN TO AIR AMERICA....
Results 1 - 10 of about 773 for Cindy Sheehan.

Click here to view Cindy's ad from Crawford, TX.

Check in with Earnest Hancock and Mari Connor from Air America Phoenix as they journey to Crawford TX to stand side by side with Cindy Sheehan as she waits for the President.
http://www.crawfordorbust.com/

http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/live/

Talk to The Randi Rhodes Show
LIVE (3pm - 7pm EST) 1.866.303.2270

- Crawford Peace House (Info on supporting and/or joining Cindy)

Hundreds of supporters are arriving in Crawford Texas to stand with a grieving mother Cindy Sheehan who is outside of the Crawford Ranch.

Local Bush supporters speed by, clip cars,and honk their horns. Are they trying to run the protesters off the road? We need vans to shuttle people to and from a place that has now become Hallowed Ground. Arlington Cemetary - WEST.

The right-wing is terrified of Cindy Sheehan. Just listen to their smears. They’ve called her treasonous and an “an ignorant cow!”

Cindy Sheehan is joined by hundreds of others now, some who have lost their sons as well in this illegal war designed by Bush & Company. We'll send buses and vans today for the others who arrive! Maybe you can help...do you DRIVE?

Listen for regular updates from Crawford and add your voice to the question, "Mr. President, Can you tell me, for what noble cause did our sons die?" http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/live/

Charles Goyette, Phoenix, Az - Air America 1010am 6:00am-9:00am
http://www.charlesgoyette.com/

CLICK: "Something's In the Air/But It's Not on the Airwaves"

Cindy Sheehan:

Cindy Sheehan: This is George Bush's Accountability Moment
Yahoo News - 9 hours ago
George Bush's accountability moment. That's why I'm here.
The mainstream media aren't holding him accountable. Neither is Congress. ...
all 1,023 related »

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Alaska Gyrl in Crawford Photos...
http://alaskagyrl.blogspot.com/

August 11, 2005 | Cindy Sheehan, holding a cross with her son's name, Casey Sheehan, visits a roadside soldier memorial near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. More than 1,000 crosses have been placed in the memorial, one for each soldier who has died in the war in Iraq.
(Photo: Tony Gutierrez / AP)

The reason Bush doesn't want you to see the coffins

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Click here to read Iconoclast interview with Cindy Sheehan's lawyer:
'Crawford 5' Lawyer Aids Sheehan's Legal Defense
http://198.65.14.85/News/2005/31-40/32news15.htm

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   President Bush Ditches Mother of Slain Soldier
    By Nathan Diebenow
    The Lone Star Iconoclast

TEXAS STATE TROOPERS move into place between Cindy Sheehan and her supporters and the President's oncoming motorcade. http://198.65.14.85/News/2005/31-40/32news15.htm
— Iconoclast Photo By Deborah Mathews

LAW ENFORCEMENT wore riot gear with the motorcade in the background.
— Iconoclast Photo By Deborah Mathews http://198.65.14.85/News/2005/31-40/32news15.htm

IT IS SUSPECTED THAT one of these vehicles carried the President in the motorcade.
— Iconoclast Photo By Deborah Mathews http://198.65.14.85/News/2005/31-40/32news15.htm

    President Bush Ditches Mother of Slain Soldier
    By Nathan Diebenow
    The Lone Star Iconoclast

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/081205A.shtml

Wednesday 10 August 2005

Crawford - The mother of a US soldier slain in Iraq was denied a face-to-face meeting with President Bush here Saturday after she walked through a ditch-like path in the August heat to the President's Prairie Chapel Ranch.

"I didn't come all this way from California to stand here in a ditch," said Cindy Sheehan, 48, co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, attempting to continue her trek to the ranch.

Even though two of the President's aides later agreed to deliver her message to him, Sheehan said that she would remain in Crawford for the whole month, if need be, until she is granted a private audience with the commander-in-chief to ask him for what "noble cause" did her son die overseas.

"If he doesn't come out to talk to me in Crawford, I'll follow him to D.C., and I'll camp out on his lawn," she said, to a round of applause from her supporters. "I'll go to prison. I don't want to live in a country where people are treated this way."

Sheehan's actions, she said, were sparked by President Bush's comments like those made last Wednesday in Grapevine to about 1,800 members of the American Legislative Exchange Council: "Our men and women who've lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and in this war on terror have died in a noble cause and a selfless cause."

"We all know by now that that's not true, and I want to ask George Bush, 'Why did my son die? What was the noble cause that he died for?'" said Sheehan. "I don't want [President Bush] to use my son's name or my family name to justify any more killing or to exploit my son's name, my son's sacrifice, or my son's honor to justify more killing. As a mother, why would I want one more mother to go through what I'm going through, Iraqi or American?

"And I want to tell him that the only way to honor my son's sacrifice is to bring the troops home now."

Her son, Casey Sheehan, 24, of Vacaville, Calif., died in Baghdad, Iraq, on April 4, 2004, when his unit was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

Bush's comments Wednesday coincided with the deaths of 12 Marine reservists from Ohio who were killed in perhaps the deadliest roadside bombing of US troops in Iraq. So far, the lives of about 1,821 Americans in uniform have been taken since the 2003 invasion. Pollsters indicate that Bush's approval ratings are declining in relation to the rise in US casualties in Iraq.

Sheehan, joining anti-war activists at the Crawford Peace House, arrived with a busload of veterans from the Veterans for Peace convention which was held in Irving, near Dallas, since Thursday. The total group of activists there numbered over 50 and included members of Veteran's for Peace (VFP), Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), CodePink, and the Crawford Peace House.

Vietnam veteran Jim Waters, not affiliated with any activist group, said that he drove overnight from Lubbock alone in support of Sheehan and the Gold Star Families for Peace because he is "very concerned" about the war in Iraq and wants to ask President Bush, "Why aren't his daughters there?"

"One of the principles of leadership is you don't ask people to do what you yourself don't have the courage to do, and [President Bush] is asking people to fight to their deaths when he himself and most of the architects of this war never served," said Waters, a retired Navy commander and former hospital administrator. "[President Bush] served, but he jumped over 10,000 people to get into the National Guard Champagne Unit, so he could avoid duty in Vietnam. I had to go to Vietnam, and now he's sending them to their deaths - over 1,800 so far.

"I'm sick and tired of what's happening to our country," he continued. "To me it's almost like the White House operation is a mob operation. These guys are scary, and they're dangerous, in my opinion."

The demonstrators gathered around one side of Sheehan as she spoke with the news media. A World War II veteran, Archie Goodwin from Naples, Fla., carrying a sign, stated away from the group that he is for peace, but "Bush isn't." His sign read, "Somebody lied."

Sheehan was accompanied on Saturday by her sister, Dede Miller, and Amy Ranham, another mother of a slain US soldier. Among her fellow supporters present were Ann Wright, a former US diplomat who resigned her post in March 2003 in protest of the invasion of Iraq; Camilo Mejia, a reservist in the Florida National Guard who became a consciousness objector upon returning from service in Iraq; and Persian Gulf War Veteran Dennis Kyne, a former battlefield medic who is outspoken on the effects of depleted uranium weapons.

Captain Kenneth Vanek of the McLennan County Sheriff's Department agreed to lead the caravan of anti-war demonstrators to the Bush Ranch. "As long as y'all work with us, we'll work with y'all," he said.

The situation, however, turned less friendly as the afternoon progressed.

At a checkpoint, the demonstrators, on orders from the peace officers, exited their vehicles about eight miles from the ranch and were told to walk in the direction of the ranch on the shoulder of the road, not the roadway itself, so as to not impede the traffic. The conditions of the shoulder made it increasingly difficult for the demonstrators to walk. Five-to-10-feet wide, the shoulder was sloped inward ditch-like to two-to-three feet in some places and lined with dry, uncut grass and damp dirt.

The deputies finally ordered the demonstrators to halt miles from the ranch because the group had not agreed to its side of the "bargain" by walking on the roadway. "The media is allowed on the road, so why aren't we?" asked one of the demonstrators, to which an officer of the Sheriff's Department replied, "Because they were following you."

Sheehan, making one last attempt to push forward, said, "In the name of 1,828 soldiers that should be alive, I'm going to see the president. He killed my son."

Holding signs that said, "No more blood for oil," "Support our troops, bring them home now," "Iraq is Arabic for Viet Nam," and "Frodo failed. Bush has the ring," the demonstrators then chanted, "W. killed her son. W. killed her son."

This first attempt to meet the President ended up futile. Members of the group, including Sheehan, exchanged a few heated words with the Sheriff's deputies, Secret Service agents, and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers who kept their composure through the afternoon. There were no arrests made during the demonstration.

Other political slogans and chants were heard, including one from Hadi Jawad of the Crawford Peace House who urged the news media keep reporting on the Downing Street memos. These documents are a series of classified, British reports made during a planning session between British and American officials over Iraq months before its invasion. The British officials note in the memos that the United States was "fixing" evidence around the administration's policy to justify the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Sheehan, after the main-steam media had left to file their reports, said, "This is the beginning of the end of the occupation of Iraq." A wild round of applause followed.

White House spokesman Trent Duffy said in response to Sheehan's actions that President Bush also wants the troops to return home safely but their mission must be completed in their honor. Two aides to the President, national security adviser Steve Hadley and deputy White House chief of staff Joe Hagin, later met with Sheehan to say that the president cares, but she, though appreciative, said in a message through The Iconoclast to the President, "George Bush, if you really care about me, why aren't you meeting with me?"

Sheehan, an opponent of the war in Iraq since its inception, took part in a meeting with other military families and Bush in June 2004 at Fort Lewis, near Seattle, Wash. This occurred two months after her son was killed in Iraq. In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Sunday, she said that during her first meeting with President Bush, she felt that the President seemed more jovial than sorrowful and expressed no interest in knowing the name of her son or seeing pictures of him.

Sheehan intends to continue to attempt to gain an audience with President Bush. "I'm filled with hope now, too, that we might be able to turn things around," she said, noting that additional support is on its way from throughout the country as she continues her efforts, which will include a candlelight vigil. Caravans from Louisiana and San Diego are on the way, to name a couple, she said.

Before her first attempt to speak to President Bush in Crawford, Sheehan met with two victims of the Hiroshima nuclear bombing, Dr. Satoru Konishi and ex-Marine Paul Ritthaler, and Ritthaler's wife, Betty. A press conference was held at the Peace House on the 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing.

During the day Sunday, Sheehan received numerous votes of thanks, well-wishes, and support from around the globe, said Diane Wilson, founding member of CodePink, a national anti-war group. While Sheehan was doing interviews Sunday afternoon, small groups of supporters were arriving at her campsite, dropping off supplies and and enjoying the cloudy weather on Prairie Chapel Road.

Wilson announced Sunday that she is starting a hunger strike in Crawford aimed at getting President Bush to talk with Cindy Sheehan, mother of a US soldier slain in Iraq. According to CodePink's website Sunday evening, three others have joined the strike: Jodie Evans, Cindy Sheehan's sister DeeDee, and Sarah Rath. Wilson said she believes that more volunteers will follow suit around the country in the coming days.

Friends of Peace and Justice of Waco are in the process of mobilizing support for Sheehan's perhaps month-long vigil. More information can be obtained at the Crawford Peace House website or by calling (254) 486-0099 after Monday.

    For more Information:
    Crawford Peace House
    Gold Star Families for Peace
    Military Families Speak Out
    Veterans for Peace
    CodePink
    Vietnam Veterans Against War
    Iraq Veterans Against the War

    I'm Not Budging, Says Soldier's Mother Camped at Bush's Door
    By Tom Baldwin
    Independent UK

George Bush loves his Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford so much that he has spent almost one fifth of his presidency "taking the pulse of the heartlands" in this big-buckled, open - if not red - necked, beef-eating corner of Texas.

He knows this enthusiasm is not shared by everyone but apparently delights in forcing aides, journalists and, yesterday, even Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld, to do a stint of ranch duty. "I just checked in with the house, its about 100 degrees," he told reporters with some relish on Monday.

Crawford would not even rate as a last resort for a summer holiday unless you happen to be President of the United States - or Cindy Sheehan.

She is one of America's "Gold Star moms" after her 24-year-old son, Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed in an ambush at Sadr City, Iraq, last year.

Ms Sheehan says that it was last weekend when she "spontaneously" decided to march up to the President's gate for some answers. "I want to know what is this noble cause he says my son died for and why he doesn't send his own daughters out there to fight for it."

The President dispatched Stephen Hadley, his National Security Adviser, and Joe Hagin, a White House Deputy Chief of Staff, for a 45-minute chat with her.

But Ms Sheehan, 48, from Vacaville, California, refuses to be fobbed off. She has been camping on a patch of grass about a mile from the ranch, where she intends to stay until Mr. Bush heads back to Washington at the end of this month or consents to talk with her.

"Camp Casey", as she calls it, has grown to about 50 people, including other bereaved military families, and there are predictions that numbers will swell to 1,000 this weekend.

It is a ramshackle place of temporary shelters, home-made banners and the tie-dyed peace art familiar to anyone who remembers the protests at Greenham Common in Berkshire in the 1980s. Like Greenham, Camp Casey is already under pressure from the authorities who have placed "no trespassing" signs around it, as well as some local people who have driven over to yell abuse.

In the local paper, the McGregor Mirror, there is an open letter to "the woman complaining about her son's death in Iraq" from Ann Lehman, a Crawford resident.

"You dishonor the President, yourself and God when you deny your son the freedom in death that he had in life to choose. He knew the risk when he joined the military, just as President Bush knows the risk for his life every day!" she said.

But Ms Sheenan is more than just a blot on the President's landscape: she is fast becoming this summer's media phenomenon. When she spoke to The Times, she did so with the ease of a woman who has conducted more than 100 interviews since the weekend.

"We need to get our troops out of Iraq. The only reason Bush wants to stay there is because his buddies are getting rich and feasting off the blood of our children." She also wants a complete military withdrawal from all Arab countries to make us safe from terrorism.

Is not ridding the world of Saddam Hussein a noble cause? "We sold him weapons and were once his friend - we made him," she said.

"I have to wonder for the rest of my life if the gun which took Casey's life was sold to Saddam by the US or by Britain." Ms. Sheenan has separated from her husband, Patrick, since Casey's death because he does not agree with the "level of intensity" she has devoted to peace in the past year. She has had to dissuade her younger son, Andy, from joining the Army. "I said there was no way this Government was going to get another of my children."

It is hard for the President to attack a bereaved parent but right-wing websites have been doing their best to discredit Ms. Sheenan, pointing out that she has already met the President, two months after her son's death. Back then, according to a report in her local paper, she said, "I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis" before suggesting that Mr. Bush had given her back the "gift of happiness ".

Ms Sheenan says that she was confused by grief at the time and now gives a very different account of her meeting with the President, saying that he acted as if he was hosting a party and clearly did not know her son's name. She knows that her protest is distracting attention from Mr. Bush's attempts to portray his five-week Crawford vacation as a wholesome exercise in clearing brushwood and finding out what i s on the minds of ordinary folk.

The focus on Ms Sheenan chimes with the sense that support is slipping away from Mr. Bush as the death-toll for US troops exceeds 1,840. An opinion poll published yesterday showed that only 38 per cent of American voters approve of Mr. Bush's handling of Iraq.

Speaking after his meeting yesterday, Mr. Bush said: "I sympathize with Mrs. Sheehan. She feels strongly about her position and she has every right in the world to say what she believes. This is America."

He said that he understood the "anguish" of families who had lost loved ones but he insisted that those calling for all American troops to be pulled out of Iraq were wrong, because it "would send a terrible signal to the enemy". http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/081205A.shtml

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Cindy Sheehan: This is George Bush's Accountability Moment
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20050811/cm_huffpost/005472

Thu Aug 11, 4:56 PM ET

This is George Bush's accountability moment. That's why I'm here. The mainstream media aren't holding him accountable. Neither is Congress. So I'm not leaving Crawford until he's held accountable. It's ironic, given the attacks leveled at me recently, how some in the media are so quick to scrutinize -- and distort -- the words and actions of a grieving mother but not the words and actions of the president of the United States.

But now it's time for him to level with me and with the American people. I think that's why there's been such an outpouring of support. This is giving the 61 percent of Americans who feel that the war is wrong something to do -- something that allows their voices to be heard. It's a way for them to stand up and show that they DO want our troops home, and that they know this war IS a mistake a mistake they want to see corrected. It's too late to bring back the people who are already dead, but there are tens of thousands of people still in harm's way.

There is too much at stake to worry about our own egos. When my son was killed, I had to face the fact that I was somehow also responsible for what happened. Every American that allows this to continue has, to some extent, blood on their hands. Some of us have a little bit, and some of us are soaked in it.

People have asked what it is I want to say to President Bush. Well, my message is a simple one. He's said that my son -- and the other children we've lost -- died for a noble cause. I want to find out what that noble cause is. And I want to ask him: If it's such a noble cause, have you asked your daughters to enlist? Have you encouraged them to go take the place of soldiers who are on their third tour of duty? I also want him to stop using my son's name to justify the war. The idea that we have to complete the mission in Iraq to honor Casey's sacrifice is, to me, a sacrilege to my son's name. Besides, does the president any longer even know what "the mission" really is over there?

Casey knew that the war was wrong from the beginning. But he felt it was his duty to go, that his buddies were going, and that he had no choice. The people who send our young, honorable, brave soldiers to die in this war, have no skin in the game. They don't have any loved ones in harm's way. As for people like Reilly and Hannity and Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh and all the others who are attacking me and parroting the administration line that we must complete the mission there -- they don't have one thing at stake. They don't suffer through sleepless nights worrying about their loved ones

Before this all started, I used to think that one person couldn't make a difference... but now I see that one person who has the backing and support of millions of people can make a huge difference.

That's why I'm going to be out here until one of three things happens: It's August 31st and the president's vacation ends and he leaves Crawford. They take me away in a squad car. Or he finally agrees to speak with me.

If he does, he'd better be prepared for me to hold his feet to the fire. If he starts talking about freedom and democracy -- or about how the war in Iraq is protecting America -- I'm not going to let him get away with it.

Like I said, this is George Bush's accountability moment.

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t r u t h o u t | One Mother's Stand
By Scott Galindez

Friday 12 August 2005
10:55 AM

The Bush motercade is expected to pass Camp Casey at noon. The secret service is securing the area. All is calm and everyone is cooperating with the police to make sure that there is no conflict.

UPDATES:
http://truthout.org/cindy.shtml
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Open Letter To George's Mama
by Cindy Sheehan

http://www.opednews.com

Dear Barbara,

On April 04, 2004, your oldest child killed my oldest child, Casey Austin Sheehan.

Unlike your oldest child, my son was a marvelous person who joined the military to serve his country and to try and make the world a better place. Casey didn't want to go to Iraq, but he knew his duty. Your son went AWOL from a glamour unit. George couldn't even handle the Alabama Air National Guard. Casey joined the Army before your son became commander in chief. We all know that your son was thinking of invading Iraq as early as 1999. Casey was a dead man before George even became president and before he even joined the Army in May of 2000.

I raised Casey and my other children to use their words to solve problems and conflicts. I told my four children from the time that they were small that it is ALWAYS wrong to kick, bite, hit, scratch, pull hair, etc. If the smaller children couldn't find the words to solve their conflicts without violence, I always encouraged them to find a mediator like a parent, older sibling, or teacher to help them find the words.

Did you teach George to use his words and not his violence to solve problems? It doesn't appear so. Did you teach him that killing other people for profits and oil is ALWAYS wrong? Obviously you did not. I also used to wash my children's mouth out with soap on the rare occasion that they lied…did you do that to George? Can you do it now? He has lied and he is still lying. Saddam did not have WMDs or ties with al-Qaeda and the Downing Street Memos prove that your son knew this before he invaded Iraq.

On August 3rd, 2005, your son said that he killed my son and the other brave and honorable Americans for a "noble cause." Well, Barbara, mother to mother, that angered me. I don't consider invading and occupying another country that was proven not to be a threat to the USA is a noble cause. I don't think invading a country, killing its innocent citizens, and ruining the infrastructure to make your family and your family-friendly war profiteers rich is a noble cause.

So I went down to Crawford in August to ask your son what noble cause did he kill my son for. He wouldn't speak with me. I think that showed incredibly bad manners. Do you think a president, even if it is your son, should be so inaccessible to his employers? Especially one of his bosses whose life George has devastated so completely?

I have been to the White House several times since August to try and meet with George and I am going back to Crawford next week. Do you think you can call him and ask him to do the right thing and bring the troops home from this illegal and immoral war in Iraq that he carelessly started? I hear you are one of the few people he still talks to. He won't speak to his father, who knew the difficulties and impossibilities of going into Iraq and that's why he didn't go there in the first Gulf War. If you won't tell him to bring the troops home, can you at least urge him to meet with me?

You said this in 2003, a little over a year before my dear, sweet Casey was killed by your son's policies:

"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?" (Good Morning America, March 18, 2003)

Now I have something to tell you, Barbara. I didn't want to hear about deaths or body bags either. On April 04, 2004, three Army officers came to my house to tell me that Casey was killed in Iraq. I fell on the floor screaming and begging the cruel Angel of Death to take me too. But the Angel of Death that took my son is your son.

Casey came home in a flag draped coffin on April 10th. I used to have a beautiful mind too. Now my mind is filled with images of seeing his beautiful body in his casket and memories of burying my brave and honest boy before his life really began. Casey's beautiful mind was ended by an insurgent's bullet to his brain, but your son might as well have pulled the trigger.

Besides encouraging your son to have some honesty and courage and to finally do the right thing, don't you think you owe me and every other Gold Star parent an apology for that cruel and careless remark you made?

Your son's amazingly ignorant, arrogant, and reckless policies in Iraq are responsible for so much sorrow and trouble in this world.

Can you make him stop? Do it before more mothers' lives are needlessly and cruelly harmed. There have been too many worldwide already.

Sincerely,

Cindy Sheehan
Mother of Casey Sheehan
Founder and President of Gold Star Families for Peace
Founder of Camp Casey Peace Foundation

Peacejournalism.com
http://peacejournalism.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=6890

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http://www.apfn.org/apfn/leakgate.htm

Leak-Gate Part 1: The Lies
Flash Player
http://www.apfn.org/flash/leakgate1.swf

Leak-Gate Part 2: The Leak
Flash Player
http://www.apfn.org/flash/leakgate2.swf

Leak-Gate Part 3: more leaks, call the plumber'
Flash Player
http://www.apfn.org/flash/leakgate3.swf

The Smoking Gun: The Downing Street Memo (Minutes)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1593607,00.html
http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/memo.html
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/

Downing Street Memos show U.S. push for war
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/memo.htm

The (8) Downing Street Memos
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/8memos.htm

IMPEACHMENT TIME: "FACTS WERE FIXED."
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/leakgate_impeachment.htm

The Full, Official Casualty list, Alphabetized

US Military Report: The High Death Rates exposed by Brian Harring
http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a1654.htm#001

This raised a question in my mind: Did Rove know Ms. Plame had taken the identity of Mr. Cheney during an arrhythmia episode at Walter Reed and that a heavily sedated vice president had been flown by the CIA to Riyadh as Ms. Plame donned a latex-padded suit and took his place? She quickly discovered that the uranium was stored at the Whitewater property once owned by the Clintons and then deeded to Kofi Annan and used as a supply depot for black helicopters. She tried to warn Mr. Clinton and the next day he had that mysterious "bypass" operation after which he suddenly got chummy with ex-CIA chief George H.W. Bush and the two flew off to Southeast Asia like in an old Crosby/Hope "Road" picture.
FULL REPORT: http://www.apfn.org/apfn/leakgate.htm

# # #

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Subject: [houston] Crawford Update and Info
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 20:55:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: maureen@riseup.net
Reply-To: hgac@riseup.net
To:

Dear Houston Community,
Please forward this to appropriate Houston-area lists.
1. It appears that this may be a month long occupation, so I expect
that folks from Houston will be traveling to Crawford at different times.
I have created an account for folks hoping to coordinate rides to
Crawford. Visit http://www.rideshare.us and enter the look-up code:
HoustonCrawford. Folks can post rides that they are offering or you can
search for rides by clicking on the appropriate links. Hopefully, we can
use this as a tool to better coordinate rides and supply train.

2. Supplies can be dropped off at 4501 Feagan please call 832.641.2882
or email hgac@riseup.netto coordinate a time. If anyone else in other
areas of town would like to be drop-off locations for supplies please get
in touch with me off list.

3. On that note supplies are still needed.
1. Food (non-perishables)
2. Bottled water/Coffee
3. 3-5 Gallon jugs with spigots
4. Electrolyte replacements(ie Emergen-C)
5. Tarps
6. Blankets, cots, sleeping bags
7. Rain gear
8. Bug spray
9. Ice chests
10. Batteries
11. Flashlights
12. Trash bags
13. First Aid Supplies (bandages, aspirin, benadryl etc)
14. Rope
15. Anything else you can think of....

4. Crawford House is in need of donations due to the large influx of
people(700)so please visit http://www.crawfordpeacehouse.org. Also people who
want to help out with gas expenses for Houstonians delivering supplies and
people to Crawford can contact me if they would like to make a donation in
that regard.

5. Stay tuned to http://www.Houston.IndyMedia.Org and KPFT for updates and
information.

Please contact me with ideas, suggestions, donations or questions.
maureen@riseup.net or 832.641.2882

Thanks,

maureen

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ATTN: CINDY SHEEHAN "REASON FOR WAR ON IRAQ"
The Euro And The War On Iraq
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/iraq_reason.htm

CODEPINK Blogs From Crawford
http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?id=451

BEST TALK SHOW IN USA - CHARLES GOYETTE - KXXT AM 1010 PHX, AZ
TODAYS SHOW EXPLAINES "CINDY SHEEHAN Vs. "THE MEDIA" WOW!
SHOW ARCHIVES
http://www.charlesgoyette.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

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THIS IS HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW, ALIVE!

Casket of Marine Staff Sgt Chad Simon Aug. 8, 2005 at Roselawn Memorial Park in Monona, Wis. Simon, 32, of Madison, Wis., died Aug. 4 in an explosion Nov. 8, 2004, in Babil Province, Iraq. Following behind the casket are Simon's wife, Regina Simon, and son, Dylan, 6. (AP Photo/Steve Apps, Pool) http://www.militaryproject.org/article.asp?id=646

Daniel 8:25 KJV
And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many:

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AU/ACSC/0389/97-03

BUSH'S NEW WORLD ORDER:

THE MEANING BEHIND THE WORDS
A Research Paper
Presented To The Research Department
Air Command and Staff College
In Partial Fulfillment of the Graduation Requirements of ACSC
by
Maj. Bart R. Kessler
http://www.apfn/pdf/BushsNewWorldOrder.pdf

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Of the Many Deaths in Iraq, One Mother's Loss Becomes a Problem for the President

Cindy Sheehan paces on a road Sunday near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Tex. She vows to wait until he talks to her or leaves the ranch.

By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
Published: August 8, 2005

CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 7 - President Bush draws antiwar protesters just about wherever he goes, but few generate the kind of attention that Cindy Sheehan has since she drove down the winding road toward his ranch here this weekend and sought to tell him face to face that he must pull all Americans troops out of Iraq now

Ms. Sheehan's son, Casey, was killed last year in Iraq, after which she became an antiwar activist. She says she and her family met with the president two months later at Fort Lewis in Washington State.

But when she was blocked by the police a few miles from Mr. Bush's 1,600-acre spread on Saturday, the 48-year-old Ms. Sheehan of Vacaville, Calif., was transformed into a news media phenomenon, the new face of opposition to the Iraq conflict at a moment when public opinion is in flux and the politics of the war have grown more complicated for the president and the Republican Party.

Ms. Sheehan has vowed to camp out on the spot until Mr. Bush agrees to meet with her, even if it means spending all of August under a broiling sun by the dusty road. Early on Sunday afternoon, 25 hours after she was turned back as she approached Mr. Bush's ranch, Prairie Chapel, Ms. Sheehan stood red-faced from the heat at the makeshift campsite that she says will be her home until the president relents or leaves to go back to Washington. A reporter from The Associated Press had just finished interviewing her. CBS was taping a segment on her. She had already appeared on CNN, and was scheduled to appear live on ABC on Monday morning. Reporters from across the country were calling her cellphone.

"It's just snowballed," Ms. Sheehan said beside a small stand of trees and a patch of shade that contained a sleeping bag, some candles, a jar of nuts and a few other supplies. "We have opened up a debate in the country."

Seeking to head off exactly the situation that now seems to be unfolding, the administration sent two senior officials out from the ranch on Saturday afternoon to meet with her. But Ms. Sheehan said after talking to the officials - Stephen J. Hadley, the national security adviser, and Joe Hagin, a deputy White House chief of staff - that she would not back down in her demand to see the president.

Her success in drawing so much attention to her message - and leaving the White House in a face-off with an opponent who had to be treated very gently even as she aggressively attacked the president and his policies - seemed to stem from the confluence of several forces.

The deaths last week of 20 Marines from a single battalion has focused public attention on the unremitting pace of casualties in Iraq, providing her an opening to deliver her message that no more lives should be given to the war. At the same time, polls that show falling approval for Mr. Bush's handling of the war have left him open to challenge in a way that he was not when the nation appeared to be more strongly behind him.

It did not hurt her cause that she staged her protest, which she said was more or less spontaneous, at the doorstep of the White House press corps, which spends each August in Crawford with little to do, minimal access to Mr. Bush and his aides, and an eagerness for any new story.

As the mother of an Army specialist who was killed at age 24 in the Sadr City section of Baghdad on April 4, 2004, Ms. Sheehan's story is certainly compelling. She is also articulate, aggressive in delivering her message and has information that most White House reporters have not heard before: how Mr. Bush handles himself when he meets behind closed doors with the families of soldiers killed in Iraq.

The White House has released few details of such sessions, which Mr. Bush holds regularly as he travels the country, but generally portrays them as emotional and an opportunity for the president to share the grief of the families. In Ms. Sheehan's telling, though, Mr. Bush did not know her son's name when she and her family met with him in June 2004 at Fort Lewis. Mr. Bush, she said, acted as if he were at a party and behaved disrespectfully toward her by referring to her as "Mom" throughout the meeting.

By Ms. Sheehan's account, Mr. Bush said to her that he could not imagine losing a loved one like an aunt or uncle or cousin. Ms. Sheehan said she broke in and told Mr. Bush that Casey was her son, and that she thought he could imagine what it would be like since he has two daughters and that he should think about what it would be like sending them off to war.

"I said, 'Trust me, you don't want to go there'," Ms. Sheehan said, recounting her exchange with the president. "He said, 'You're right, I don't.' I said, 'Well, thanks for putting me there.' "

Asked about Ms. Sheehan's statements, Trent D. Duffy, a spokesman for the White House, said Sunday: "The president knows one of his most important responsibilities is to comfort the families of the fallen. That is why he has personally met with and grieved with hundreds of families who have lost a loved one who made the ultimate sacrifice. We can only imagine how painful and difficult it must be for a mother to lose her son. Our hearts and prayers are always with the moms and dads and spouses and children of those who have fallen."

It is not clear how the White House will handle Ms. Sheehan. Mr. Bush usually comes and goes from the ranch by helicopter, but he might have to drive by her on Friday, when he is scheduled to attend a Republican fund-raiser at a ranch just down the road from where Ms. Sheehan is camped out. She will no doubt get another wave of publicity on Thursday, when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice join Mr. Bush at the ranch to discuss the war.

---------
TrueMajority.org is a grassroots group which envisions a nation where people care about their fellow citizens, and together enjoy freedom and broad prosperity. We believe participating in an effective government is the best way to be mutually responsible for our community.

TrueMajority.org, 191 Bank Street, Third Floor, Burlington, VT 05401
http://www.truemajority.org

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CODE PINK HOME PAGE:

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Cindy Sheehan | Address to Veterans For Peace Convention
http://www.truthout.org/cindy.shtml
But do you think George Bush will interrupt his vacation and go visit the families of those 20 marines who have died in Ohio this week, asks Cindy Sheehan? Sheehan says the answer is No ... he doesn't care, he doesn't have a heart. That's not enough to stop his little "playing cowboy" game in Crawford for 5 weeks.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 10, 2005
3:33 PM
CONTACT: Ralph Nader
202-387-8034

An Open Letter from Ralph Nader to Cindy Sheehan
http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0810-15.htm

WASHINGTON - August 10 -

Dear Ms. Sheehan,

From your grief over the loss of your son, Casey, in Iraq has come the courage to spotlight nationally the cowardly character trait of a President who refuses to meet with anyone or any group critical of his illegal, fabricated, deceptive war and occupation of that ravaged country. As a messianic militarist, Mr. Bush turned aside his own father's major advisers who warned him of the terroristic, political, and diplomatic perils to the United States from an invasion of Iraq. He refused to listen.

Thirteen organizations in early 2003 separately wrote their President requesting a meeting to have him hear them out as to why they opposed his drumbeating, on-the-road-to war policies. These groups represented millions of Americans. They included church leaders, veterans, business, labor, retired intelligence officials, students, women and others. They are among those Americans who are not allowed through the carefully screened public audiences that are bused to arenas around the country to hear his repetitive slogans for carrying on this draining, boomeranging war. They each wrote President Bush but he never bothered even to acknowledge their letters simply to say no to the requested meetings. Not even the courtesy of a reply came from their White House. Ever since then it has been the same-exclusion, denial, contempt and arrogance for views counter to that of Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney and the tight circle around them that composes the inner tin ear of this Administration. Why, they even refuse to listen to objections by their own government's military lawyers (JAG) over repeated violations of due process of law. When will he realize that he is supposed to be the President of all the people, not just those misled into supporting his Iraq maneuvers?

Perhaps the breakthrough will begin this hot August in Crawford, Texas, with the devastating loss of a beloved child transformed into a mission for the soul of our country. This rogue regime, led by two draft-dodgers and officially counseled by similar pro-war evaders during the Vietnam War, is not "our country." Millions of Americans, including military and public servants in his Administration, and many in the retired military, diplomatic and intelligence services, opposed this war, still oppose it and do not equate George W. Bush and Dick Cheney with the United States of America.

Our flag stands for "liberty and justice for all." Our flag must never be misused or defiled as a bandana for war crimes, as a gag against the people's freedom of speech and conscience or as a fig leaf to hide the shame of charlatans in high public office, who violate our Constitution, our laws and our founding fathers' framework for accountable, responsive government.

You will be goaded to cross the semantic line against a President who himself has crossed the much graver constitutional line that has cost so many lives on both sides and continues to cost and cost our country in so many ways domestically and before the world. Neglecting America for the Iraq war has become the widening downward path trod by the Bush government.

Authenticity, bereft of contrivances, is what must confront this White House Misleader. And authenticity is what you are and what drives you as you demand to see this resistant President. He is on an intermittent month long vacation, with spells for fundraisers and other insulated events. His schedule provides ample time for such a meeting. You reflect the hopes and prayers of millions of like-minded Americans. Should he relent and opens his doors, be sure to ask why he lowballs U.S. casualties in Iraq, deleting and disrespecting soldiers seriously hurt or sickened in the Iraq war theatre, but not in direct combat. Remind him of those soldiers back in military hospitals who, with their families, wonder why they are not being counted as they cope with their serious and permanent disabilities. (60 Minutes, CBS program). Ask him why, despite Pentagon audits and GAO investigations about corruption, waste and non-delivery of services in Iraq by profiteering large corporations totaling billions of dollars, this Commander of Chief accepted campaign contributions from their executives and proceeds to let this giant corporate robbery continue without the requisite law and order?

Consider bringing to him a copy of President Dwight Eisenhower's famous "Cross of Iron" speech, delivered in April 1953 before the nation's newspaper editors in Washington, D.C. And add statements by Marine General Anthony Zinni (ret.), a Middle East specialist who strongly criticized the Bush-Cheney war policy before and after March 2003. May you and your associates succeed in galvanizing the public debate in this country over why a growing majority of Americans now think it was a costly mistake to invade Iraq and want our soldiers back, with the U.S. out of that country. He knows that his support for how he is handling this war-occupation is falling close to one third of respondents in recent polls-the lowest yet. Even with the mass-media at his disposal everyday, he now represents a minority of public opinion, which should give him pause before closing his oil marinated doors on majority views in this nation.

May you prevail where others have failed to secure an audience

Military Families Join Protest at U.S. President's Ranch

Crawford, August 10 (RHC)-- Military families of U.S. soldiers killed or wounded in Iraq are joining the protest outside of President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. Members of Gold Star Families for Peace (GSFP) and Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) traveled to Texas to join Cindy Sheehan, the mother of an Army soldier killed last year in Iraq. Sheehan began her protest on Saturday, vowing to remain at the ranch until the U.S. president agreed to meet with her.

According to anti-war organizations in the United States, the families with loved ones currently in Iraq or about to deploy or re-deploy to Iraq are converging on Texas to add their voices to the call for a meeting with President Bush, who is vacationing at his ranch during the entire month of August.

Earlier this month, the U.S. president referred to troops killed in Iraq, assuring their families that "they died for a noble cause." A statement issued by the groups said that they know that "the cause was not noble and that their loved ones died, or are currently in harm's way, serving in a war based on lies." The statement says that the best way to honor their loved ones is to end the occupation, bring the troops home now and take care of them when they return.

Members of Gold Star Families for Peace and Military Families Speak Out say the White House has consistently tried to hide, and to hide from, the cost of the war in Iraq. This August, they say, these costs are being brought right to Bush's doorstep.
http://www.periodico26.cu/english_new/world/families100805.htm

LINK:

Dear Friends and Supporters,

George Bush said speaking about the dreadful loss of life in Iraq in August: (08/03/05): "We have to honor the sacrifices of the fallen by completing the mission." "The families of the fallen can be assured that they died for a noble cause."

In reaction to these two asinine and hurtful statements, members of Gold Star Families for Peace (GSFP) are going to George's vacation home in Crawford, Tx this Saturday, August 6th at 11:00 am to confront him on these two statements.

1) We want our loved ones sacrifices to be honored by bringing our nation's sons and daughters home from the travesty that is Iraq IMMEDIATELY, since this war is based on horrendous lies and deceptions. Just because our children are dead, why would we want any more families to suffer the same pain and devastation that we are.

2) We would like for him to explain this "noble cause" to us and ask him why Jenna and Barbara are not in harm's way, if the cause is so noble.

3) If George is not ready to send the twins, then he should bring our troops home immediately. We will demand a speedy withdrawal.

GSFP will be joined by members of Veteran's for Peace (VFP), Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), Code Pink, and Crawford Peace House.

We GSFP members will not leave until we get answers from George Bush. We deserve and expect him to welcome us with answers to as why our loved ones are dead.

Every worker for peace, every worker for justice, every person who wants our country back are welcomed to join us on Saturday. Show George Bush that we mean business. Be there to support us family members who have already been through so much. We are fighting for our country, our world, especially the children.

Crawford is about 2 hours from Dallas where the VFP Convention is being held this weekend. There will be car pools from the convention.

HONOR OUR LOVED ONE'S SACRIFICES: BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!!!!

Bring water and hats...we plan on staying until we are arrested or satisfied with the answers. (I am betting on jail).

Please pass this email on to your friends, lists, and media.
For more info: call
Cindy Sheehan
707-365-7750
I will be in Dallas starting tomorrow evening.
# # #

GOOGLE:
Results 1 - 10 of about 814 for Cindy Sheehan

=================================================================

Mike Hastie

Dedicated To Iraq Veterans Who Know The Truth

Wed Aug 10, 2005 17:49

Dedicated To Iraq Veterans Who Know The Truth
http://www.militaryproject.org/article.asp?id=646

From: Mike Hastie

To: GI Special

Sent: August 08, 2005

Subject: Dedicated to Iraq Veterans Who Know The Truth

I'm a little confused about America's political profile throughout the world.

We preach democracy with the right hand, but support Puppet Governments and Dictatorships with the left hand.

I'm sure one of these days, I'll figure out the logic behind this seemingly incongruous approach to preserving peace and freedom throughout the world.

I just know I haven't evolved or matured enough to appreciate the genius involved in comprehending the ramifications of such a humanitarian level of thinking. Maybe I need to return to Vietnam, and try to recapitulate what was obviously far beyond my youthful years to understand the first time.

There is obviously something I need to grow into, if I am to fully embrace America's involvement in Vietnam. I'm sure if I try hard enough, I will eventually grasp through enlightenment, what I've been confused about most of my adult life.

I know if I am just patient, it will all be crystal clear to me someday.

After all, these things take time. As printed on the U.S. dollar bill, "In God We Trust."

Mike Hastie
U.S. Army Medic
Ist Squadron, 10th Cavalry
4th Infantry Division
Vietnam 1970-71

What do you think? Comments from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Send to contact@militaryproject.org . Name, I.D., withheld on request. Replies confidential.

"I Have Lost Confidence In The Integrity Of UFPJ"

I hope our local organizers break with the national UFPJ position in defining our local event, and if they do, I hope they communicate that fact and why to national UFPJ.

For myself, I will make a sign that includes Palestinian rights and domestic civil rights and liberties, and encourage others to do likewise.

August 07, 2005 By Chris Lowe, Portside [Excerpt]

I wonder if Ted Pearson, Judith V. Lelchook or any other Portside reader can enlighten those of us who are merely foot-soldiers, so to speak, in the anti-war movement, how it came to be that UFPJ has taken a stance against including solidarity with Palestinian human rights and support for civil liberties at home in demands for the September actions? By what process, with what consultation, did this occur?

As I read the documents on UFPJ's website, both of those demands were endorsed explicitly by the last national gathering of UFPJ.

Who made the decision to override the action of that gathering?

With what authority?

With what consultation or report-back?

When UFPJ was formed, I supported it for two reasons. One was that it appeared to provide an alternative to undemocratic sectarian practices within ANSWER mobilizations and to a lesser extent in NION.

Now I wonder if it still provides such an alternative, or just a variant form of undemocratic practice for ideological ends.

It is my belief that UFPJ has made a serious error in defining the September actions as it has.

Stripping the movement of positive content, no longer analyzing who benefits from the war and who is harmed, not exposing the great dangers it poses beyond its narrow problems, and failing to sketch the outlines of alternative paths weakens the movement. It may or may not turn out marginally more people in September, but I am skeptical.

The cost is that the September events will in no way build toward preventing the next war as well as ending the present one. Nor will they provide any serious challenge to the assumptions that enabled the Bush administration to gain the support of many Democrats and most of the media in rolling us to war, and that enable it to continue to obscure its lies along the way.

How this happened remains opaque to me and I suppose to most of the rank and file who are somewhat attuned to movement politics without being organizers. I suspect it may be opaque to many local organizers as well, especially away from NYC, San Francisco and maybe L.A.

That opacity in itself is troubling commentary on the state of internal democracy of UFPJ, all the more so since internal democracy was a key raison d'etre of UFPJ in the first place. Given UFPJ's lack of transparency, it becomes that much easier to suspect that more than just a bad decision to opt for lowest- common-denominator tactics has taken place.

The suspicion/ fear/ paranoia (?) is that a species of center-leaning sectarianism has won the day inside UFPJ, one that actually does not support Palestinian human rights, that is ambivalent about protecting the human rights of those most threatened at home, and that does not want to expose or challenge the ways that the war embodies and advances particular interests at home while further eroding democracy, with the support of both major party presidential candidates from last year (I mean Kerry's continued support for imperial presidential war powers).

I don't know that is the case. But I do want to know why UFPJ has proceeded as it has, contrary to the position of its last national gathering, and how it did so.

Meanwhile, I have lost confidence in the integrity of UFPJ.

When I turn out in September, it will be on the same basis as I turned out for a NION-sponsored march in October of 2002 here in Portland -- to voice my opposition to the war, but not to support the mobilizing organization.

I hope our local organizers break with the national UFPJ position in defining our local event, and if they do, I hope they communicate that fact and why to national UFPJ.

For myself, I will make a sign that includes Palestinian rights and domestic civil rights and liberties, and encourage others to do likewise.

Chris Lowe

Portland, Oregon

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

A cattle rancher who chose not to be identified said of Bush's country-boy image, "It makes you wonder why they let a guy who chokes on a pretzel and falls off a scooter handle a chainsaw for the news cameras." Aug 7 2005 OZLEM ALTIOK, ntimc.org

Web Copies:

For back issues see GI Special web site at http://www.militaryproject.org/ .

The following that we know of have also posted issues:

http://gi-special.iraq-news.de, http://www.notinourname.net/gi-special/, www.williambowles.info/gispecial

http://www.albasrah.net/maqalat/english/gi-special.htm
=======================================================

CODEPINK Blogs From Crawford

Read: Diane Wilson: an interview by Gayle Brandeis

August 9, 2005

By Cindy Sheehan

The Peaceful Occupation of Iraq
Day 4

Today started at 4am when I had to get up and get ready to be on Good Morning America. It was pouring down rain at Camp Casey. The wind was blowing and there was thunder and lightening. It was pretty exciting. The interview went very well. I haven’t seen it or read a transcript. Since it was taped, I am just wondering if they showed it when I said Bush doesn’t want to see me because he likes to surround himself with “sycophants.” I also interviewed with Randi Rhodes, Ed Schultz, Greta Van Susteran, and many others, and closed out the day with my pal, Mike Malloy.

The “first meeting” controversy died down a little today when my town’s newspaper printed an op-ed that contradicted Matt Drudge’s cherry-picked account of my first meeting with George.

But since they don’t have that controversy, they apparently have been lying about other things. Bill O’Reilly said that I am doing this because I have been bought out by, “The Arab Anti-Discrimination League.” He was telling his viewers that I am a tool for the liberals and that I am a tool for the anti-war movement. Right now, what we are doing right here in Crawford is the anti-war movement. We have such a strong coalition of groups. GSFP, CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out and the Crawford Peace House.

I talked with John Conyers today and he wrote a letter to George signed by about 18 other Congress members to request that he meet with me. I also talked to Maxine Waters tonight and she is probably going to be here tomorrow. I am so overwhelmed by the support.

I did non-stop interviews today. 100 people came through today to visit with us. About 25 people are staying the night. More food, water, flowers, and money came through today. One father brought his 2 and 4 year old sons out to meet me and thank me for trying to save his boys from the same fate Casey suffered.

Celeste and Dante Zappala from Philadelphia and Bill Mitchell from Atascadero, Ca., all members of GSFP, came out today to support me and help me do interviews and greet all of the people who are arriving.

There is a huge action tomorrow in Aurora, Il. George Bush is leaving the ranch tomorrow to go to Aurora, Il to sign a part of the energy bill at the Caterpillar factory. True Majority has raised money to dog George Bush when he leaves the ranch. Every time he leaves, there will be a GSFP member, MFSO members, VFP members, and Code Pink members who will protest him and say “Meet with Cindy.” We will not let him have a 5 week nice vacation when there are millions of people in harm’s way in Iraq due to his careless policies. The people of Iraq and our soldiers are suffering. Why should George have a nice vacation?

Thank you for all your support and interest.

We are making a difference.

Keep up the good work.
http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?id=451

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A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW

Cindy Sheehan Gives BuzzFlash the Latest from Crawford

Tue Aug 9, 2005 19:05

Cindy Sheehan Gives BuzzFlash the Latest from Crawford
http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/05/08/int05033.html

Direct from the drainage ditch, the intrepid protester says "Our spirits are great," but Bush "doesn't have enough courage to face someone who actually disagrees with him ..."

A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW

Cindy Sheehan and others are at Bush's Crawford, Texas, vacation location, bringing a message to Bush that it's time to bring the troops home. She is a cofounder of Gold Star Families for Peace and the mother of Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, killed in Baghdad April 4, 2004.

Intrepid, courageous, and effective. Cindy Sheehan has brought the war against war to George Bush during his frustratingly insensitive 5-week-long vacation in Crawford, Texas. BuzzFlash emailed her today, and is happy to share her responses with our readers and the world.

BuzzFlash: Is it true as reported on Daily Kos that you have been warned you will be arrested on Thursday? How do you feel about going to jail? Would it be a first?

Cindy Sheehan: Yes. It would be the first time, and I am ready to go. The only way they will get me out of there is if he meets with me, [or] the end of August, or when I am arrested."

BuzzFlash: How do you see this protest ending?

Cindy Sheehan: With either our arrests, or the end of August. But if I get arrested and I am let out before the end of August, I will go back.

BuzzFlash: How many peace activists are participating with you there in the Crawford peace protest?

Cindy Sheehan: Right now, about three dozen. More are coming from all over the country.

BuzzFlash: Did Bush's spokespersons, who came out to talk to you, address your key questions: What is our "noble cause"? And how do we "complete the mission"?

Cindy Sheehan: Yes, but they gave the standard baloney line.

BuzzFlash: Why do you think Bush isn't meeting with you now, when he did in June, 2004?

Cindy Sheehan: In June my entire family was invited, along with 15 other families. I believe that back in June we were used as political tools. I believe he's not meeting with me now because he doesn't have enough courage to face someone who actually disagrees with him and would dare to call him on his lies.

BuzzFlash: How do you see the fighting ending?

Cindy Sheehan: I don't know, I just hope it is sooner than later.

BuzzFlash: How is the administration now treating you?

Cindy Sheehan: Ignoring me since Saturday.

BuzzFlash: How are you holding up? What are the conditions there (physical, emotional)?

Cindy Sheehan: I am tired and my throat hurts from talking so much. We are confined to camping in a drainage ditch, we are using the bathroom in a camping potty, it is oppressively hot or pours down rain. But our spirits are great. And we know that no matter how hard we have it, the troops in Iraq and the Iraqi people have it even harder.

BuzzFlash: Are you encouraged by this week's events? What can your supporters (around the nation, world) do to help?

Cindy Sheehan: I am so encouraged!!! It has been overwhelming and amazing, but not surprising. Our new website is http://www.meetwithcindy.org.

Money can be donated to help support Gold Star Families for Peace or the Crawford Peace House.

A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW
======================

Cindy Sheehan and others are at Bush's Crawford, Texas, vacation location, bringing a message to Bush that it's time to bring the troops home. ...
Military Families to Join Cindy Sheehan in Crawford; Gold Star and ... U.S. Newswire (press release)
UPDATES ON CINDY SHEEHAN VISIT TO CRAWFORD uruknet.info
Cindy Sheehan Won't Back Down Morons.org
OfficialWire - OfficialWire -
all 578 related »

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Greg Szymanski

While Bush Vacations, Innocent People Die!

Mon Aug 8, 2005 19:14

While Bush Vacations, Innocent People Die!
On the front lines in Crawford TX
http://www.arcticbeacon.com/arcticbeacon.html

Authorities Getting Ready To Throw Anti-War Protestors From Bush Ranch For Trespassing
Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son in Iraq last year, won't leave Crawford TX until she's arrested or personally meets with Bush. No trespassing signs are now going up near to the location where the group of about 50 anti-war protestors are camped out near the President's ranch while he vacations. In the event Sheehan and the group are told to leave, they have obtained legal counsel to protect their free speech rights.

August 8, 2005

By Greg Szymanski

Law enforcement authorities are taking steps to remove a group of about 50 peace activists camped near President Bush’s Crawford, TX, ranch, mounting an effort to accuse the Iraqi War protestors of trespassing.

Cindy Sheehan, a mother who lost her son in Baghdad and founded an anti-war group, traveled to the President’s ranch Saturday with other supporters, demanding answers from the vacationing President about his recent public statements regarding the “noble nature” of the Iraqi War.

Hadi Jawad, a spokesperson for the Crawford Peace House helping Sheehan and supporters with food and water during their protest, said today “it was a very fluid and changing situation right now” with authorities keeping a close eye on the group and warning them about the possible trespassing violation.

“A woman who owns the property across the road from where the group is camped out today began putting up no trespassing signs with law enforcement officials nearby,” said Jawad.

To read entire article go to Articles Page
http://www.arcticbeacon.com/arcticbeacon.html

=====================================================

Cindy Sheehan, co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace and mother of U.S. soldier who was slain in Iraq, called for President Bush on Saturday, Aug. 6, to return all troops in Iraq to the United States immediately. Although she failed to meet with Bush face-to-face at his Crawford-area ranch, Sheehan did speak with two of the president's aides. She still vowed to remain in Crawford to meet with the President. MORE PICTURES:>>
http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/News/2005/31-40/31news02.htm

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President Bush Ditches Mother Of Slain Soldier
Lone Star Iconoclast, TX - 13 hours ago
... “I didn’t come all this way from California to stand here in a ditch,” said Cindy Sheehan, 48, co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, attempting to ...
Mother of Slain Soldier Protests Bush at Ranch Muslim American Society
Slain soldier’s mother keeps protest vigil at Bush ranch ArmyTimes.com
Vacaville Mother Holds Vigil Near Bush Ranch KCRA-TV
CNN - uruknet.info -
all 582 related »

REMEMBER WACO! (18 miles from Crawford, Texas)
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/wacopg.htm

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CINDY SHEEHAN

Aug 8 - UPDATES ON CINDY SHEEHAN VISIT TO CRAWFORD

Mon Aug 8, 2005 17:01

MONDAY MORNING at Camp Casey saw plenty of signs

UPDATES ON CINDY SHEEHAN VISIT TO CRAWFORD
Monday, Aug. 8, 2005
Photos Appear At Bottom Of Page

12:05 p.m., Monday, Aug. 8

The Iconoclast's Deborah Mathews reporting:

Cindy Sheehan spent the night in her tent beside the road last night and has spent the morning on the telephone in the Peace House being interviewed by the media. Right now she is there alone.

She seems to be doing well, but looks tired.

License plates from other states are seen throughout downtown Crawford as business appears to be booming. The Coffee Station is crowded.

Another report will be provided shortly.

2:20 p.m., Monday, Aug. 8

Associate Editor Nathan Diebenow interviews visitors to "Camp Casey."

Interview With Supporters From Belton, Texas

PRAIRIE CHAPEL — Cathy and Jerry Donica of Belton, Texas, were visiting with supporters of Cindy Sheehan Sunday afternoon at what has now been deemed Camp Casey, the campground named after Sheehan’s late son where the mother has set up residence for the month of August. The Donica’s, owners of a computer business in Belton where they have lived for about seven years, spoke with The Iconoclast’s Nathan Diebenow briefly about the reasons why they were there, the information soldiers are giving them about Iraq, and the attitude of the local townspeople and farmers.
.........
ICONOCLAST: You guys are from Belton, so why are you hear?
CATHY DONICA: To support Cindy, to support the Peace House, and anybody that’s against George Bush (laughs).
ICONOCLAST: How did you guys come to hear about Cindy and her push to meet Bush?
CATHY DONICA: The DemocraticUnderground.com is where I hear it from.
JERRY DONICA: My wife (laughs).
CATHY DONICA: (laughs) I’ve always been very liberal at heart anyway. My nephews came back from Iraq as well, and I don’t want to see them go back again.
ICONOCLAST: Where were they at?
CATHY DONICA: You know, I don’t remember the name of the town, but I remember it started with the letter A. They went out with the National Guard out of Waco, I do believe, and they live in Fairfield now, but they were over there for the whole year, and they said they were shot at and everything else. I don’t want them going back. The chances are that they will, and I don’t want to see them go back.
ICONOCLAST: How old are they?
CATHY DONICA: 20 and 22.
ICONOCLAST: What are their names?
CATHY DONICA: Jason and Steven Rossiaky. They were stationed over there with their father, Steven Rossiaky.
ICONOCLAST: What position is the father?
CATHY DONICA: I want to say staff sergeant, but I’m not sure.
ICONOCLAST: What position are the boys?
CATHY DONICA: They’re just brand new in the National Guard, so I’m not sure.
ICONOCLAST: So you have a connection to the conflict in Iraq.
CATHY DONICA: Yes, and assorted friends, too, that are coming back. Friends of different soldiers out of Fort Hood.
ICONOCLAST: They’re coming back, but what are they saying?
CATHY DONICA: Unfortunately, I can’t get a whole lot of people to tell me very much. There was one guy that came back, and he and I talked a little bit about it. He was very closed up about it. He was very much — Here’s what I’ve noticed about everybody that’s coming back: it’s not about whether or not they support why they’re going over there. It’s that they support each other. Their job has to be done. The biggest message I hear from soldier is regardless of what their political leanings are — a lot of them here want to go back because they want to be supportive of the other soldiers. That’s the biggest message. That’s why they don’t want some coming back — it’s either they all go over there or they call come back.
ICONOCLAST: Have they talked about the vaccinations they received before or during their deployment or the equipment that they have gotten? Have they described any sicknesses that they have since coming back to the States?
CATHY DONICA: There was a girl soldier that I talked to. She was in the first Gulf War, and she had the anthrax vaccination done. I remember her complaining to me that she felt so aggressive coming back and she knew it was from the shot. She knew that it was from the shot. She knew for a fact in her mind that it was from the shot. She was saying that it made her mroe angry, aggressive and sicker. She felt sick all the time. I don’t remember her name.
ICONOCLAST: How many years ago did you meet with her?
CATHY DONICA: Three or four years ago.
ICONOCLAST: Was she in her mid-30s or something?
CATHY DONICA: Yeah, she sure was.
ICONOCLAST: So she would be about 40 right now?
CATHY DONICA: She probably would be.
ICONOCLAST: What about your nephews? Have their behavior’s changed since coming back? Can you notice a difference from then and now?
CATHY DONICA: My son would be a better person to ask. I don’t really talk to them. One of them got married. The other one, he just keeps to himself. The only thing he told my son was that he got shot at when he was over there. He was trained to drive a tank, but wound up being an MP instead.
ICONOCLAST: So was he out of the base area?
CATHY DONICA: He stayed on the base mostly. I don’t think he was dealing with a lot of combat or anything.
ICONOCLAST: What about the other one?
CATHY DONICA: The other one was right there with his dad. The three of them were stationed in the same area.
ICONOCLAST: So they didn’t go outside the base.
CATHY DONICA: Not often. They were actually safer than a lot of the other soldiers were. They didn’t see a lot of conflict. They got shot at, mostly sniper fire, I guess.
ICONOCLAST: Have there been anyone from the Crawford area that have come out here and said anything to you?
CATHY DONICA: Other than that man that was just here. He was nice. He’s always very nice.
JERRY DONICA: She (Diane Wilson, co-founder of CodePink) said that some teenagers were out there doing donuts (in their truck).

========================

Every Mother's Son
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Monday 08 August 2005
http://peacejournalism.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=4557

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
- Stephen King

George W. Bush hauled stakes for Texas and a vacation a few days ago. Cindy Sheehan followed. She got off a bus Saturday afternoon and started walking to the Crawford ranch. She wanted some answers and was going to get them.

Sheehan had met Mr. Bush once before. On April 4, 2004, just shy of a year after Bush stood on an aircraft carrier beneath a banner that read "Mission Accomplished," Cindy Sheehan's son, Army Specialist Casey A. Sheehan, was killed in Iraq when his unit was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. He was 24 years old.

After Casey's death, Cindy Sheehan was invited to the White House for a visit with Mr. Bush in June of 2004. Her first memory of Bush's appearance that day was when he walked into the room and said in a loud, bluff voice, "Who we'all honorin' today?"

"His mouth kept moving," Sheehan later recalled of her meeting with Bush, "but there was nothing in his eyes or anything else about him that showed me he really cared or had any real compassion at all. This is a human being totally disconnected from humanity and reality. His eyes were empty, hollow shells." Bush called her "Ma" or "Mom" throughout the whole meeting, and never got around to learning her name.

"The whole meeting was simply bizarre and disgusting," Sheehan said later. "designed to intimidate instead of providing compassion. He didn't even know our names. I just couldn't believe this was happening. It was so surreal and bizarre. Later I met with some of the other fifteen or sixteen families who were at the White House the same day and, sure enough, they all felt the same way I did."

That was it. Cindy Sheehan, who had never been politically active in her life, became an activist. She traveled the country to speak to whomever would listen, she told the story of Casey's life and death, and she threw fire at George W. Bush with the passionate anguish of a mother who was forced to bury her son.

"Casey was told that he would be welcomed to Iraq as a liberator with chocolates and rose petals strewn in front of his unarmored Humvee" Sheehan wrote in February. "He was in Iraq for two short weeks when the Shi'ite rebel 'welcome wagon' welcomed him to Baghdad with bullets and RPG's, which took his young and beautiful life. Casey was killed after George Bush proclaimed 'Mission Accomplished' on May 1, 2003. Hundreds of our young people and thousands of Iraqis have been needlessly and senselessly murdered since George Bush triumphantly announced an end to 'major combat' almost 2 years ago now. All of the above events have been heralded by this administration as 'turning points' in the 'war on terror' - or as wonderful events in the 'march of democracy.'"

In June of 2005, Cindy Sheehan testified at a hearing in Washington DC about the Downing Street Minutes, the recently leaked British intelligence documents which exposed the fact that Bush intended to invade Iraq almost from the beginning of his first term, and that "Intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy" of invasion.

"I believed before our leaders invaded Iraq in March, 2003," said Sheehan in her testimony, "and I am even more convinced now, that this aggression on Iraq was based on a lie of historic proportions and was blatantly unnecessary. The so-called Downing Street Memo dated 23 July, 2003, only confirms what I already suspected: the leadership of this country rushed us into an illegal invasion of another sovereign country on prefabricated and cherry picked intelligence. It appears that my boy Casey was given a death sentence even before he joined the Army in May of 2000."

And so it came to pass that George W. Bush hauled stakes for Texas and a vacation a few days ago, and Cindy Sheehan followed. She got off a bus Saturday afternoon and started walking to the Crawford ranch. She wanted some answers and was going to get them. She got as far as a police checkpoint, and has gotten no further. She is still there, waiting to speak to Mr. Bush so she can get an answer to her question. Why did her son die?

The folks on the Crawford ranch sent out some important people to speak to her. They sent Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser. They sent Joe Hagin, a deputy White House chief of staff. Cindy Sheehan sent them both packing.

By Sunday, a media frenzy had erupted around her. On Sunday night, the New York Times published a story about Sheehan's Texas standoff. "Her success in drawing so much attention to her message - and leaving the White House in a face-off with an opponent who had to be treated very gently even as she aggressively attacked the president and his policies - seemed to stem from the confluence of several forces," wrote the Times. "The deaths last week of 20 Marines from a single battalion has focused public attention on the unremitting pace of casualties in Iraq, providing her an opening to deliver her message that no more lives should be given to the war."

"At the same time," continued the article, "polls that show falling approval for Mr. Bush's handling of the war have left him open to challenge in a way that he was not when the nation appeared to be more strongly behind him. It did not hurt her cause that she staged her protest, which she said was more or less spontaneous, at the doorstep of the White House press corps, which spends each August in Crawford with little to do, minimal access to Mr. Bush and his aides, and an eagerness for any new story."

Casey Sheehan was every mother's son. Cindy Sheehan is every son's mother. She loved him with every cell in her body and every breath in her soul, and mourns his absence in every second of every day, and will have some answers for her pain and loss, or will know the reason why. She is down in Crawford, right now, waiting for George W. Bush to stop sending lackeys to placate her. She wants to speak to the man who sent her son to die. She is waiting.

William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of two books: War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know and The Greatest Sedition Is Silence.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805I.shtml

=================================================================
Cindy Sheehan:
"The Secret Service is Trying to Intimidate Us"

Sun Aug 7, 2005 18:57

Sunday 7th August 2005 (06h18) :
Cindy Sheehan: "The Secret Service is Trying to Intimidate Us"
Cindy Sheehan called After Downing Street moments ago at 10 p.m. ET to report that the Secret Service is trying to intimidate her and members of Gold Star Families for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and Veterans for Peace into leaving their protest near Bush’s Crawford, Texas ranch.

This morning Cindy led dozens of protesters as close as they could get to the ranch; they were stopped by local police about five miles away. Cindy and others plan to stay there throughout Bush’s five-week August vacation until he agrees to meet with her and other family members of soldiers killed in Iraq and answer their questions about the war.

Throughout the afternoon and evening, however, the Secret Service has been telling protesters that if they stay there they may be hit by Secret Service vehicles. Cindy says, "They’ve told us this at least ten times. There isn’t much room between the side of the road and the fence, and they go zooming by far over the speed limit." Cindy reports the Secret Service already ran a mother and her six year-old off the road. She believes the Secret Service’s actions are a clear attempt to coerce her and the other protesters into leaving.

Cindy and others are asking to meet with the Secret Service and local police to ensure the safety of everyone involved. In the meantime, she asks that anyone who can contact the media to alert them to the situation.

If you are able to do this, media contact information can be found here. Please politely let them know what’s been happening with the Secret Service, and encourage them to continue covering Cindy’s efforts to meet with President Bush.

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?...

Update from Celeste Zappala, Co-Founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, on Crawford

I have received the following email from Celeste Zappala, co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace. She asked that I post it on Dailykos and to thank everyone for their support.

I have just spoken to Cindy Sheehan at 5:05 pm. Her message:

"Today is the beginning of the end of the occupation of Iraq." She is feeling strong, people have been bringing her food and water. The police have been polite. She has decided to stay on the Prairie Chapel Road, which is one mile from the Ranch, until George Bush meets with her and tells the truth. She invites anyone who can to join her during the month of August for as long as they can. She urges them to bring camping gear. Also, there are two caravans coming in from Louisiana and from Dayton, Ohio now.

Cindy says she knows from her travels that "people are fed up with this war and want to do something to stop it."

Cindy asks that those who want to lend support to send donations to the Crawford Peace House which has been generously offering hospitialtiy.

Code Pink is sending out a national call for its members to have a hunger strike until George Bush has an honest meeting with Cindy. Cindy’s sister Dede has joined that hunger strike. Please keep Cindy and all of our folks in prayer. This is a stand for the honor and memory of our kids and the soul of our nation.

peace be with you, Celeste Zappala Co-founder, Gold Star Families for Peace Mother of Sgt Sherwood Baker, KIA 4/26/04

Update [2005-8-6 18:47:46 by NYBri]:

More from Cindy via Celeste.

JUST NOW-6:13 p.m.

Cindy just called again.

TWO PEOPLE CAME OUT FROM THE RANCH TO TALK TO HER: JOE HAGEN, ASSISTANT WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF, AND STEVEN HADLEY, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR

They told Cindy, George Bush really believed there were weapons of mass destruction, Saddam was a threat, the war in Iraq is making America safer, we are fighting in Iraq so they we don’t have to fight terrorists here, and George Bush sincerely cares about the loss of the soldiers and their families. They had a twenty-five minute discussion as Cindy refuted these tired arguements, and reminded the men that she had met Bush last June and she had felt disrespected and belittled. She said to them "You are intelligent men, how can you believe what you are saying?"

Cindy will continue to wait for an honest discussion with George Bush.

For my part, I am proud that Cindy is standing up against these dreadful lies and the Bush ideology that has blinded so many from reality and logic. It’s as if they keep saying these things it will become true. As Cindy pointed out to the representatives, since our kids were killed, the Downing Street memo and the 9/11 Commission report have been released which refutes these false claims. Yet here we are on August 6, 2005 and the President’s men are still trying to convince American Mothers that their kids died for WMD and 9/11 links. It is not only insulting, it is madness. I will keep you posted as I talk to Cindy.

blessings, Celeste
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1207#comment

by : afterdowningstreet.org
Sunday 7th August 2005
===================================

William Rivers Pitt

Casey Sheehan was every mother's son.

Mon Aug 8, 2005 18:21

Casey Sheehan was every mother's son. Cindy Sheehan is every son's mother

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080805I.shtml

Every Mother's Son
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Monday 08 August 2005

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
- Stephen King

George W. Bush hauled stakes for Texas and a vacation a few days ago. Cindy Sheehan followed. She got off a bus Saturday afternoon and started walking to the Crawford ranch. She wanted some answers and was going to get them.

Sheehan had met Mr. Bush once before. On April 4, 2004, just shy of a year after Bush stood on an aircraft carrier beneath a banner that read "Mission Accomplished," Cindy Sheehan's son, Army Specialist Casey A. Sheehan, was killed in Iraq when his unit was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. He was 24 years old.

After Casey's death, Cindy Sheehan was invited to the White House for a visit with Mr. Bush in June of 2004. Her first memory of Bush's appearance that day was when he walked into the room and said in a loud, bluff voice, "Who we'all honorin' today?"

"His mouth kept moving," Sheehan later recalled of her meeting with Bush, "but there was nothing in his eyes or anything else about him that showed me he really cared or had any real compassion at all. This is a human being totally disconnected from humanity and reality. His eyes were empty, hollow shells." Bush called her "Ma" or "Mom" throughout the whole meeting, and never got around to learning her name.

"The whole meeting was simply bizarre and disgusting," Sheehan said later. "designed to intimidate instead of providing compassion. He didn't even know our names. I just couldn't believe this was happening. It was so surreal and bizarre. Later I met with some of the other fifteen or sixteen families who were at the White House the same day and, sure enough, they all felt the same way I did."

That was it. Cindy Sheehan, who had never been politically active in her life, became an activist. She traveled the country to speak to whomever would listen, she told the story of Casey's life and death, and she threw fire at George W. Bush with the passionate anguish of a mother who was forced to bury her son.

"Casey was told that he would be welcomed to Iraq as a liberator with chocolates and rose petals strewn in front of his unarmored Humvee" Sheehan wrote in February. "He was in Iraq for two short weeks when the Shi'ite rebel 'welcome wagon' welcomed him to Baghdad with bullets and RPG's, which took his young and beautiful life. Casey was killed after George Bush proclaimed 'Mission Accomplished' on May 1, 2003. Hundreds of our young people and thousands of Iraqis have been needlessly and senselessly murdered since George Bush triumphantly announced an end to 'major combat' almost 2 years ago now. All of the above events have been heralded by this administration as 'turning points' in the 'war on terror' - or as wonderful events in the 'march of democracy.'"

In June of 2005, Cindy Sheehan testified at a hearing in Washington DC about the Downing Street Minutes, the recently leaked British intelligence documents which exposed the fact that Bush intended to invade Iraq almost from the beginning of his first term, and that "Intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy" of invasion.

"I believed before our leaders invaded Iraq in March, 2003," said Sheehan in her testimony, "and I am even more convinced now, that this aggression on Iraq was based on a lie of historic proportions and was blatantly unnecessary. The so-called Downing Street Memo dated 23 July, 2003, only confirms what I already suspected: the leadership of this country rushed us into an illegal invasion of another sovereign country on prefabricated and cherry picked intelligence. It appears that my boy Casey was given a death sentence even before he joined the Army in May of 2000."

And so it came to pass that George W. Bush hauled stakes for Texas and a vacation a few days ago, and Cindy Sheehan followed. She got off a bus Saturday afternoon and started walking to the Crawford ranch. She wanted some answers and was going to get them. She got as far as a police checkpoint, and has gotten no further. She is still there, waiting to speak to Mr. Bush so she can get an answer to her question. Why did her son die?

The folks on the Crawford ranch sent out some important people to speak to her. They sent Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser. They sent Joe