Mother of Slain Soldier Keeps Vigil in Crawford, Texas
by Glynn Wilson
Editor and Publisher
Locust Fork Publishing
LocustFork.Net
SOMEWHERE IN THE BLOGOSPHERE - Cindy Sheehan, the mother from Vacaville, Calif., who co-founded Gold Star Families for Peace after her son Casey was killed in Iraq, said in a blog conference call today that the U.S. Secret Service had been harassing her to leave Crawford, Texas, saying she was at risk of being run over by a car in the middle of the night.
She praised the Internet and the blogosphere for helping her cause and for keeping her safe.
“I attribute everything to the Internet and the blogosphere. When we put it out Saturday night that the Secret Service was trying to intimidate us into leaving, it went all over the blogosphere and the Internet,” she said. “I just wanted everybody to know that if something happened to us it was probably the Secret Service. They know that. They watch the blogs too.”
But she said she would not be intimidated into leaving or giving up.
“This is something that can’t be ignored and they can’t shut us down,” she said. “It’s truly amazing and thank God for the Internet or we wouldn’t know anything. We would already be a fascist state. Our government is run by one party, every level, and the mainstream media is a propaganda tool for the government. If we didn’t have the Internet, none of us would know what was truly going on.”
She said she never got involved in activism before her son Casey was killed in Iraq, “because I didn’t think one person could make a difference. But one person with millions of people behind you can make a difference. . . . I have said since my son died and the ‘elections’ in November that it is ‘we the people’ that has to cause the change.”
In response to a question from a blogger, Ms. Sheehan went into more detail about the treatment she received from the Secret Service.
“The first day we were here, they kept on coming and telling us, ‘you know you really don’t want to stay here because chances are you’re going to get hit by a car during the night,’ ” she said. “Finally, one of the people here with me asked, ‘Does that mean if we get run over it’s going to be one of you?’ And the guy goes, ‘That’s not what I’m trying to say.’ ”
When asked if she got the impression that the Secret Service was trying to intimidate her, she said, “Yes, definitely. They wanted us to leave. Of course they wanted us to leave. But they really don’t know who they are dealing with here. They know now, but they didn’t know then.”
When she was asked if she has had daily contact with the Secret Service, she said yes, and that the so-called “Camp Casey concierge” was asked about the number of people expected to show up.
“But we can’t tell,” she said. “People are just spontaneously coming. It’s been a really amazing thing.”
From another blogger, she was asked about the smear campaign from the White House and the right-wing bloggers, including Matt Drudge, saying she changed her story on what President George W. Bush told her in an earlier meeting with parents of troops killed in Iraq.
She said the comments Drudge used were taken out of context and she insisted she is telling the truth about how Bush treated her by calling her “mom” and making bad jokes.
When asked about the controversy over whether she would appear on Bill O’Reilly’s show “The Factor” on Fox News, she said she had decided not to go on the show after being attacked by the conservative talk show host who is not a journalist.
“I don’t like it when people lie about me and attack me for exercising my freedom of speech,” she said. “It’s one thing for Bill O’Reilly to disagree with my politics and my view on the war, but it’s absolutely another thing that he attacked me personally. I’m not going to dignify his show with my presence because I believe his show is an obscenity to the truth and to humanity.”
She also said she was not going to allow anyone to distract her from the true mission of her cause.
“The true mission is bringing attention to this occupation of Iraq and ending the war, bringing our troops home,” she said. “I don’t think they have the support of a majority of America. I think we do.”
She said there were only three things that would make her leave Crawford: A good meeting with the president, the end of August or if she is arrested.
She said if they try to force her to leave, “I am just going to sit my butt down on the ground. This is America. Every inch of America is a freedom of speech and freedom to peaceably assemble zone. If you want me gone you’ll have to carry me out of here.”
When asked specifically what she would ask the president if she were granted a meeting, she said she would ask what the noble cause is that her son Casey died for.
“I don’t believe a war of aggression against a country that was no threat to the United States of America is a noble cause,” she said.
She indicated she would ask about his statement that we have to honor the troops by completing the mission, since the mission is unclear and keeps changing.
“The only way they can honor my son’s sacrifice is by bringing the troops home,” she said.
She was asked how she felt about the media’s minimal coverage of her compared to crime news such as the ongoing story about the Alabama teen missing in Aruba.
“They don’t want this to be the story,” she said. “A lot of people have a lot at stake by keeping this occupation going. They are making lots of money. We all know who owns NBC. If they were truly reporting the news objectively, they would be reporting this. It strikes me as a bigger story than Natalee Holloway, which is a tragedy for one family. What we are trying to do here is save millions of families from going through tragedy.”
One of the callers pointed out that her story was the lead editorial in Tuesday’s New York Times.
“It is getting a lot of mainstream attention,” she said. “That is a gratifying result of what is happening. It’s putting the war back on the front pages, back in the news where it belongs. It belongs there every day whether a grieving mom is sitting outside the ranch in Crawford or not. We have to realize we are a nation at war.”
She said again if not for the Internet, “We wouldn’t know the truth about what is going on over there.”
The blog conference call was hosted by Joe Trippi of JoeTrippi.com, Bob Fertik of Democrats.com and AfterDowningStreet.org, and Jodie Evans of CodePink4Peace.org.
Editor’s Note: I will be calling the Secret Service this afternoon to get their reaction to this story.
But I just wanted to inform my regular readers that while I was working on this story, several things happened that make it clear there are forces in this country trying to prevent the truth from getting out.
First of all, just as I started to blog, this site was attacked again by a series of trackback pings and comments from a Texas spammer flooding us with Texas hold ‘em poker and casino sites. Our home phone and cell phone were flooded with telemarketing calls. And, although a minor, scattered thunderstorm came through this area during the conference call, it was over by the time I started to blog. Yet Alabama Power tripped the power here as I was trying to post, forcing me to restart the computer and reset the cable modem. Fascism indeed.
