Camp Casey vs Camp Bushiviek

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Daryl Cagle

The body count in Iraq for American soldiers grows everyday, with the last count, putting the death toll at 1800+ - that is, 1800+ families who will never see their sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, husbands, wives... (I could go on) ever again. And why? Because of an illegal war built on a pack of lies and deceit. A war built around seething lies about fantastical WMD, which don't exist; about ties to 9/11 and terrorism.

I'll concede on the terrorism, and only for a simple reason, the insurgency is a form of terrorism, however, there was no terrorism in Iraq before the war; they had no ties to al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, in fact, Saddam Hussein and bin Laden hated each other and their religious views differed severely.

But, aside from the growing insurgency movement (and no, Mr. Cheney, it isn't in its last throes, no matter what you seem to think).

So, this brings me to my point - there is a growing movement in the USA, the Anti-War movement and it's gaining quite some momentum. It started out with a few people here and there, but then when the deaths started to hit home, more people took it upon themselves to demand answers. One of such people demanding answers is Mrs. Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son Casey on 04/04/04 to the insurgency in Iraq; because of the illegal war being waged in Iraq.

Casey Sheehan enlisted in the Army in 2000 at age 20. The country was at peace. When he was asked to reenlist four years later, he knew that he would probably be sent to Iraq. He reenlisted anyway. In March 2004, he was sent to Iraq as a mechanic attached to the artillery division of the 1st Cavalry Division. When a convoy was attacked in Sadr City a month later, he volunteered to join the rescue mission — although he had no obligation to take part in combat. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.

He went above and beyond the call of duty; he served his country and he gets the reward of death for his heroism. He wanted to serve his country; the country he loved and the God he believed in. But instead... he died.

And his mother grieved, but then took it to the next stage. Her grief fuelled her desire to make sure that no one else, would go through what she did.

For this, she has been painted by the right-wingers of America as a selfish women, who is dishonouring her son's memory by protesting the war. She has been demonised as an unpatriotic woman who is using her son's memory to push her own political agenda. This of course, is coming from the side that sought to exploit the case of Mrs. Terri Shiavo and push their own religious-based political agenda, in order to dispose of the so-called "activist" judges, who ruled in the late Mrs Shiavo's husband favour time and again.

Those opposed to President Bush's policy in Iraq have been painted as unpatriotic, and criticised for "letting our boys down".

What really amuses me is...

The one-woman show which has generated so much momentum is, however, in danger of running out of steam as Cindy Sheehan's mother had a stroke and she returned to California to be with her.

This "selfish" woman has taken away from her protest to go seek her ill mother. If Mrs. Sheehan was selfish and pushing her own political agenda, would she have so quickly left her own vigil and protest to be by her mother's side? She would've found a way to try and put it off and wait for a diagnosis and word from the doctor.

Fortunately, not everyone in Crawford Texas is an ignorant blockhead redneck who can't see two inches beyond his/her nose. There are some there who have sought to help the protest in anyway they can.

One man, who is a relative of a redneck who claimed he was practicing for "dove" season, allowed the protestors to make use of his property, so that they could move closer to Bush's Crawford ranch.

One resident was arrested on Monday for allegedly running over some 800 wooden crosses, dotted along a roadside, which bore the names of fallen soldiers.
A day earlier, a landowner reportedly fired a shotgun twice in the air.
....
[He] reportedly fired his shotgun twice into the air last Sunday, but was not arrested. He is said to have told reporters he was "getting ready for dove season".

What is really ignorant is the fact that someone had the gall to drive over the crosses and American flags set up in a small makeshift memorial to honour the memory of those who have fallen in the war.

I find it ironic, that the side who is calling the movement unpatriotic and a dishonour to the memory of the fallen, would've done such a thing. The crosses were set up to honour the memory of the fallen, and yet, the crosses were treated with contempt by a man who believed in the message of the right.

A few miles down the road in Crawford itself there's a "peace house" where bloggers work around the clock, a production line for meals and camp supplies is up and running and a small group of women cut, bolt and paint more white crosses to take up to Camp Casey.

If you have time, I recommend that you take a look at the first two links. They go to videos that relate to this. The first is a bit long, but it is shot at the site of the protest and it highlights the reason why people are there. The second is the message that the protest is trying to convey...

One Day at Camp Casey
Gold Star Families for Peace: Cindy's Message
Gold Star Families for Peace
Tensions rise at Bush range vigil
Texas protestpressure point
Who speaks for Casey Sheehan?