Cindy Sheehan |
Cindy Sheehan, the so-called "Peace Mom" who gained national attention protesting President Bush's Iraq war policy by remaining camped in a ditch near his Crawford, Texas, ranch, has issued a resignation letter as the face of the American anti-war movement.
"Good-bye America," Sheehan writes in her online diary, "you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it."
Sheehan says she came to her "heartbreaking conclusions" this Memorial Day morning, saying, "These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now."
I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.
Sheehan's son, Casey, was among the American casualties in Iraq, and Mrs. Sheehan, as WND exclusively reported, referred to the terrorists fighting U.S. troops as "freedom fighters."
In today's resignation, Sheehan lamented little has been accomplished by her efforts:
I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an "attention whore" then I really need to be committed. I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither. If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others. I have spent every available cent I got from the money a "grateful" country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey's brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings. I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.
The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.
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Previous stories:
Sheehan won't quit when Bush leaves office
Sheehan-linked 'Peace House' at war over 'missing' money
'Military mothers' anthem' takes flight
Sheehan fans bonkers over 'American Mourning'
Sheehan vilifies nation her son died protecting
Mom fights use of son's name by anti-war effort
Fed-up war widow confronts Sheehan
Cindy Sheehan goes to war over no tombstone for son
Cindy Sheehan: Don't attack Iran
Police sorry for arresting Cindy Sheehan
Cindy Sheehan: I'll sue over my arrest
Cindy Sheehan 'asleep' on son's grave
AP defends pix of 'lonely' Cindy book-signing
Cindy book-signing a very 'lonely affair'
Sheehan thrashing 'war hawk' Hillary
Cindy Sheehan arrested at White House
Iraq War smackdown: Donahue vs. O'Reilly
Sheehan: Get troops out of 'occupied New Orleans'
Sheehan: Other moms of slain 'brainwashed'
Hawks, doves descend on Texas town
White supremacists claim Cindy's cause
Casey in heaven 'calls Bush idiot'
Pat Boone shreds Cindy 'peaceniks'
Cindy: Terrorists 'freedom fighters'
'Best of left' in Congress writes Bush on Sheehan
Cindy's face 'magically appears on baseball'
IRS: Mum's the word on Peace Mom's taxes
Hold your appaws: Dogs for Cindy
Backlash! War moms attack Cindy Sheehan
Bush shown kissing Cindy in family pix
Cindy's husband seeking divorce
Man defends firing shots near Bush protesters
Cindy Sheehan: I won't pay tax