Why I Am Leaving the Democratic Party
By Cindy Sheehan
Dublin, Ireland
Dear Democratic Congress,
Hello, my name is Cindy Sheehan and my son Casey Sheehan was killed on April 04, 2004 in Sadr City , Baghdad , Iraq . He was killed when the Republicans still were in control of Congress. Naively, I set off on my tireless campaign calling on Congress to rescind George’s authority to wage his war of terror while asking him “for what noble cause” did Casey and thousands of other have to die. Now, with Democrats in control of Congress, I have lost my optimistic naiveté and have become cynically pessimistic as I see you all caving into “Mr. 28%”
There is absolutely no sane or defensible reason for you to hand Bloody King George more money to condemn more of our brave, tired, and damaged soldiers and the people of Iraq to more death and carnage. You think giving him more money is politically expedient, but it is a moral abomination and every second the occupation of Iraq endures, you all have more blood on your hands.
Ms. Pelosi, Speaker of the House, said after George signed the new weak as a newborn baby funding authorization bill: “Now, I think the president’s policy will begin to unravel.” Begin to unravel? How many more of our children will have to be killed and how much more of Iraq will have to be demolished before you all think enough unraveling has occurred? How many more crimes will BushCo be allowed to commit while their poll numbers are crumbling before you all gain the political “courage” to hold them accountable. If Iraq hasn’t unraveled in Ms. Pelosi’s mind, what will it take? With almost 700,000 Iraqis dead and four million refugees (which the US refuses to admit) how could it get worse? Well, it is getting worse and it can get much worse thanks to your complicity.
Being cynically pessimistic, it seems to me that this new vote to extend the war until the end of September, (and let’s face it, on October 1st, you will give him more money after some more theatrics, which you think are fooling the anti-war faction of your party) will feed right into the presidential primary season and you believe that if you just hang on until then, the Democrats will be able to re-take the White House. Didn’t you see how “well” that worked for John Kerry in 2004 when he played the politics of careful fence sitting and pandering? The American electorate are getting disgusted with weaklings who blow where the wind takes them while frittering away our precious lifeblood and borrowing money from our new owners, the Chinese.
I knew having a Democratic Congress would make no difference in grassroots action. That’s why we went to DC when you all were sworn in to tell you that we wanted the troops back from Iraq and BushCo held accountable while you pushed for ethics reform which is quite a hoot…don’t’ you think? We all know that it is affordable for you all to play this game of political mayhem because you have no children in harm’s way…let me tell you what it is like:
You watch your reluctant soldier march off to a war that neither you nor he agrees with. Once your soldier leaves the country all you can do is worry. You lie awake at night staring at the moon wondering if today will be the day that you get that dreaded knock on your door. You can’t concentrate, you can’t eat, and your entire life becomes consumed with apprehension while you are waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Then, when your worst fears are realized, you begin a life of constant pain, regret, and longing. Everyday is hard, but then you come up on “special” days…like upcoming Memorial Day. Memorial Day holds double pain for me because, not only are we supposed to honor our fallen troops, but Casey was born on Memorial Day in 1979. It used to be a day of celebration for us and now it is a day of despair. Our needlessly killed soldiers of this war and the past conflict in Vietnam have all left an unnecessary trail of sorrow and deep holes of absence that will never be filled.
So, Democratic Congress, with the current daily death toll of 3.72 troops per day, you have condemned 473 more to these early graves. 473 more lives wasted for your political greed: Thousands of broken hearts because of your cowardice and avarice. How can you even go to sleep at night or look at yourselves in a mirror? How do you put behind you the screaming mothers on both sides of the conflict? How does the agony you have created escape you? It will never escape me…I can’t run far enough or hide well enough to get away from it.
By the end of September, we will be about 80 troops short of another bloody milestone: 4000, and MoveOn.org will hold nationwide candlelight vigils and you all will be busy passing legislation that will snuff the lights out of thousands more human beings.
Congratulations Congress, you have bought yourself a few more months of an illegal and immoral bloodbath. And you know you mean to continue it indefinitely so “other presidents” can solve the horrid problem BushCo forced our world into.
It used to be George Bush’s war. You could have ended it honorably. Now it is yours and you all will descend into calumnious history with BushCo.
The Camp Casey Peace Institute is calling all citizens who are as disgusted as we are with you all to join us in Philadelphia on July 4th to try and figure a way out of this “two” party system that is bought and paid for by the war machine which has a stranglehold on every aspect of our lives. As for myself, I am leaving the Democratic Party. You have completely failed those who put you in power to change the direction our country is heading. We did not elect you to help sink our ship of state but to guide it to safe harbor.
We do not condone our government’s violent meddling in sovereign countries and we condemn the continued murderous occupation of Iraq .
We gave you a chance, you betrayed us.
Sincerely,
Cindy Sheehan
Founder and President of
Gold Star Families for Peace.
Founder and Director of
The Camp Casey Peace Institute
Eternally grieving mother of Casey Sheehan
Hi again Vees.
Very important post this for anyone who had even the mildest illusions in the Democrat Party being anti-war. I hope Cindy continues her fight against the war outside the ‘official’ political spectrum and unites with the no-doubt millions of Americans that feel the same. Her voice is the real “Voice of America”.
There is a very good thread on Lenin’s Tomb with the same subject and a very good article in Counterpunch:
http://www.counterpunch.com/jacobs05292007.html
Dear friend,
Thanks for visiting, and thanks for the links. I think that in many ways the Democrats are worse than the Republicans. It reminds me of the words of Nasrallah saying that he rather deal with Likud as when Labor in in power things are even uglier. Of course, in both cases this is what the French call “blanc bonnet, bonnet blanc”: exactly the same thing. Cindy is simply showing to the American people that the Democrats are at least as guilty as the Republicans in the Imperial wars of Dubya. These guys truly are Fascists, no matter what the label says.
Iassu!
what are people in Europe saying, if anything, about the Dems?
Well in radical left circles people are saying that there is no difference between the Republicans and Democrats. People (especially here in Greece) haven’t forgotten Clinton’s bombings of Serbia and Kerry was seen as a pro-war joker in his election campaign.
Sections of the left (particularly in the USA) have had and some probably still hold some illusions that the Democratic party can be radicalised and/or it is the only feasible alternative to Bush. Pure Bushit if you ask me.
I’d like to see Nader stand, hopefully with the support of the Greens. A united anti-war, leftish Presidential candidancy would be a great srep forward.
hey maybe Cindy Sheehan for President?
People (especially here in Greece) haven’t forgotten Clinton’s bombings of Serbia
Here, in the Imperial Homeland, 99.99999% of the so-called “Left” as totally forgotten, or was never aware, that the first illegal war was Clinton’s (Kosovo and, even before that, the joint US-Croatian attack on the Serbian Kajina even though it was a UN-protected area). Nor do they want to think about the fact that Kerry wanted to add another 40’000 soliders to the US Army or double the size of the US Special Forces.
I’d like to see Nader stand, hopefully with the support of the Greens. A united anti-war, leftish Presidential candidancy would be a great srep forward.
I know somebody whose judgement I respect a great deal who as met Nader and his family and who told me that the guy is really sincere and honest. If so, the US Nomenklatura will *never* let him anywhere near the White House. Always that the US democracy is a total farce, a show and a way to legitimize the regime. Its not about “we the people” or “for the people, by the people” anymore. Which gives me an idea for a blog entry.
Stay tuned :-)
I wonder what she means by the Camp Casey Peace Institute is calling all citizens who are as disgusted as we are with you all to join us in Philadelphia on July 4th to try and figure a way out of this “two” party system that is bought and paid for by the war machine which has a stranglehold on every aspect of our live. Is the anti-war movement in this country going to pick up on what might be a fantastic opportunity to really rock the boat? Can you imagine if Ron Paul, Mike Gravel, Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich and all the other politicians with a conscience all came together in one place and decided to create a real anti-war party?!
Hi Vees,
(a cut and paste fron debianHelp, dvd on the way)
I don’t live in the USA, but if some sort of radical anti-war/anti-capitalist (that’s the “Libertarians” out and people like Ron Paul out as well) it would be a great message to all those here in Europe, and no doubt in the Middle-East, Africa, Asia etc etc that there *ARE* people in the US of A that are sick to death (sic) of US foreign policy (and not only) and want to challenge it. It won’t make that much difference that the US media willl shun any such campaign, but the fact that such a campaign exists will create a mini tsunami in politics around the whole world.
For a while now, there have been anti-war activists from the US visiting Greece and participating in the demos against war/ocupation of Iraq and Palestine and threats against Iran. This has had a great effect on people as they clearly see that not all Americans are like jaclo(w)n.
anticapitalista