Sheehan protests near Bush home

George Bush took an oath to preserve and protect the Constitution, and then he proceeded to destroy it, along with the lives of over a million human beings (and he desrupted the lives of hundred of millions more). Cindy Sheehan has done more to preserve and protect our Constitution from enemies, foreign and domestic, than the vast majority of Americans, including American soldiers and politicians, who took similar oaths. She is a true hero, and we should learn from her example. Human life is precious, and we must hold our leaders accountable when they exploit our military for ignoble purposes.

DAY OF THE DEAD

By Cindy Sheehan

May 26, 2009 - I was on an airplane flying to Orange County from Sacramento to attend the al-Awda Conference; which is a Palestinian Right’s Conference. Al-Awda translates to “The Returning,“ when the Pilot voice filled the cabin to make an announcement that I think went unnoticed by most of my fellow passengers, but I heard it.

As the plane was on the approach to John Wayne airport, the Captain came on the intercom to remind us all to “remember our brave troops who have died for our freedom.” Even in this post 9-11 paranoid paradigm, if I wasn’t belted in for landing, I would have popped out of my seat at 13D and charged up to the cockpit to let the pilot know that my son was killed in Iraq and not one person anywhere in this world is one iota more free because he is dead.

As a matter of fact, the people of Iraq, the foreign country thousands of miles away where my oldest child’s brains, blood, and life seeped into the soil, are not freer, unless one counts being liberated from life, liberty and property being free. If you consider torture and indefinite detention freedom, then the Pilot may have been right, but then again, even if you do consider those crimes freedom, it does not make it so.

Here in America we are definitely not freer because my son died, as a matter of fact, our nation can spy on us and our communications without a warrant or just cause and we can’t even bring a 3.6 ounce bottle of hand cream into an airport or walk through a METAL detector with our shoes on. Even if we do want to exercise our Bill of Rights, we are shoved into pre-designated “free speech”(NewSpeak for; STFU, unless you are well out of the way of what you want to protest and shoved into pens like cattle being led to slaughter) zones and oftentimes brutally treated if you decide you are entitled to “free speech” on every inch of American soil.

If you watch any one of the cable news networks this weekend between doing holiday weekend things, you will be subjected to images of row upon row of white headstones of dead US military lined up in perfect formation in the afterlife as they were in life. Patriotic music will swell and we will be reminded in script font to “Remember our heroes,” or some such BS as that.

Before Casey was killed, a message like that would barely register in my consciousness as I rushed around preparing for Casey’s birthday bar-be-que that became a family tradition since he was born on Memorial Day in 1979. If I had a vision of how Memorial Day and Casey’s birthday would change for my family, I would have fled these violent shores to protect what was mine, not this murderous country’s. Be my guest, look at those headstones with pride or indifference. I look at them, now with horror, regret, pain and a longing for justice.

I can guarantee what you won’t see this holiday weekend are images of the over one million Iraqi dead. Say we assign, in an arbitrary way for purely illustrative purposes, an average height of 5 feet for every person killed in Iraq and then lined those people up from head to toe. That gruesome line would stretch from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon…950 driving miles up Interstate 5. If we count the Iraqis who have been forced to flee, we would have to go back and forth between L.A. and Portland another four times.

(Continued at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/arti... )

LT COL. ROBERT BOWMAN:

•from a video 9/11/04: "A lot of these pieces of information, taken together, prove that the official story, the official conspiracy theory of 9/11 is a bunch of hogwash. It’s impossible... There’s a second group of facts having to do with the cover up.... Taken together these things prove that high levels of our government don’t want us to know what happened and who’s responsible....

Who gained from 9/11? Who covered up crucial information about 9/11? And who put out the patently false stories about 9/11 in the first place? When you take those three things together, I think the case is pretty clear that it’s highly placed individuals in the administration with all roads passing through Dick Cheney.

I think the very kindest thing that we can say about GEORGE W. BUSH and all the people in the U.S. Government that have been involved in this massive cover-up, the very kindest thing we can say is that they were aware of impending attacks and let them happen. Now some people will say that’s much too kind, however even that is HIGH TREASON AND CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MURDER."

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Lt. Col. Robert Bowman, PhD, U.S. Air Force, is the former Director of Advanced Space Programs Development, U.S. Air Force fighter pilot with over 100 combat missions.(PhD in Aeronautics and Nuclear Engineering, Cal Tech). Former Head of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering and Assistant Dean at the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology. 22-year Air Force career. Also taught Mathematics and English at the University of Southern California, the University of Maryland, and Phillips University.

http://www.patriotsquestion911.com

WILLIAM CHRISTISON -

•Book Endorsement 3/30/07: "David Ray Griffin’s [book]'Debunking 9/11 Debunking' is a superb compendium of the strong body of evidence showing the official U.S. Government story of what happened on September 11, 2001 to be almost certainly a monstrous series of lies. Tragically, the entire course of U.S. foreign and domestic policies since that date has grown out of these almost certain falsehoods. This single book could (and should) provide the basis for the United Nations‚ International Court of Justice, or some specially constituted global body (independent of the U.S.) to investigate with highest priority, and publicly report its findings about, the charge that unknown elements within the U.S. Government, and possibly some individuals elsewhere closely allied to the U.S., caused or contributed to causing the events of September 11 to happen."

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William Christison is a former National Intelligence Officer. Former Director of the CIA's Office of Regional and Political Analysis, a 250-person unit responsible for political analysis of every country and region in the world. 29-year CIA veteran.

www.patriotsquestion911.com

The 9/11 victims' families, first responders and survivors want a new investigation into the September 11 attacks. Here is a short video in which some of the family members endorse an effort currently underway in New York City to open a new investigation with subpoena power:

http://www.youtube.com/watch...

Here is their statement in support of NYC Coalition for Accountability:

STATEMENT OF SUPPORT

We, the Families, First Responders and Survivors of September 11 raise our voice with those from across our country and around the world in support of NYC CAN and the establishment of an independent, impartial subpoena powered investigation into the events surrounding the September 11 attacks on our nation.

We believe a new investigation is our only path forward to the answers and accountability every American deserves and our only path back to the moral high ground upon which our great nation was built.

We unite with NYC CAN and the citizens of the City of New York in support of an unbiased nonpolitical rendering of evidence and fact wherever they may lead and ask every American and every concerned citizen of the world, in defense of our nation and in defense of freedom, to join with us today.

"We, the [undersigned] Families, First Responders and Survivors..."

THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW.

See http://www.nyccan.org/

Why do we need a new investigation into 9/11, one might ask? We need a new, honest and independent investigation because there is a great deal of very compelling evidence that the previous investigations were "set up to fail" (in the words of 9/11 Commission Co-chairs Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton!).

One of the most important pieces of evidence involves recent discoveries of high-tech pyrotechnic material in the World Trade Center dust. Advanced pyrotechnics and pyrotechnic residues have been discovered IN ABUNDANCE in the dust by a team of nine international scientists (and independent teams have confirmed the discovery). They published their findings recently in the peer-reviewed journal Chemical Physics:

"Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe"
http://www.bentham-open.org/pages/content.php...

This discovery CONFIRMS that the World Trade Center towers and WTC Building 7 were destroyed with pre-positioned explosives and pyrotechnics, COMPLETELY UNDERMINING the official 9/11 narrative!! The demolition scenario requires insider involvement and prolonged access to very secure buildings (whose tenants included the security-conscious CIA, Department of Defense, Secret Service and Securities and Exchange Commission). Also, insider involvement is required to steer official investigators away from incriminating evidence. In fact, nearly all of the steel evidence at the World Trade Center site was destroyed before if could undergo metallurgical testing by investigators, a very obvious example of obstruction, tampering and fraud (for which no one was ever held responsible).

Here is Architect Richard Gage, of the group "Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth" on Fresno, California news recently:

http://www.youtube.com/watch...

Here is Dr. Niels Harrit, the lead author of the paper describing the discovery of advanced pyrotechnics in the World Trade Center dust, on mainstream Danish news (with sub-titles):

http://www.youtube.com/watch...

Geoge Bush and other members of his administration have a lot of explaining to do.

Dirty Jack wrote:

WHY DON`T SHE PROTEST OBAMA HE PROMISE TO END THE WAR IN IRAQ AND HAS CHANGED HIS MIND TO SEND ALL IRAQ TROOPS TO THE OTHER WAR WERE IN

Obama is continuing George Bush's criminal policies, now expanding the bogus "War On Terror" into Pakistan. Cindy is well aware of Obama's crimes. From the "Information Clearing House" essay I posted earlier:

"There are obscene amounts of people who have been slaughtered for the US Profit Driven Military Empire who do not count here in America on any day. People in Vietnam are still dying from the toxins dumped on their country by the US, not to mention the millions who died during that war. Let the carnage escalate in Afghanistan while we protect our personal images by turning a blind eye to OBAMA'S WAR CRIMES. Are you going to feel a lump of pride in your bosom when the coffins start to be photographed at Dover for this imperial crime of aggression? Will you look at those flag-draped boxes of the lifeless body of some mother's child and think: "Now, I am free." Is it better to be dead when Obama is president?"

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/arti...

If Americans prove incapable of holding their own leaders accountable for their crimes, of cleaning up their own garbage and demonstrating that this nation is a nation of laws, perhaps we will have to rely on international efforts to prosecute George Bush and his criminal entourage. Here is one effort now underway in Spain:

(From Spanish translation)

U.S. LAWYERS POINT TO BUSH FOR THE TORTURES

Pere Rusiñol in Madrid (Público)
Translation: Lynn Strother

A group of lawyers in the United States, led by William F. Pepper, the veteran human rights lawyer linked to Martin Luther King’s family, have joined the Spanish lawsuit about Guantanamo and the tortures of the Bush administration. Pepper has contributed a 121 page document to the prosecution, in which he defends Spain’s right to investigate, and suggests that the proceedings be widened to charge former president GEORGE W. BUSH directly.

The U.S. lawyers also contribute 45 documents to the lawsuit – some, declassified recently; others, of public knowledge for years – that permit the "tracking of the process of decision making" that led to the application of methods equivalent to torture with the detainees of the "war against terrorism".

All of these documents are now part of the lawsuit that the judge Eloy Velasco is preparing in the National High Court against six lawyers who built the "legal scaffolding" which led to Guantanamo. They will also be included in the twin process being prepared by Baltazar Garzón, in which, besides the charge against the lawyers they demand action against political figures of the Bush administration, like the former head of the Pentagon, Donald Rumsfeld, and his advisor on national security and later Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.

The extensive document of the U.S. lawyers requests the investigation be widened to include Bush and his vice-president Dick Cheney. "It would be an injustice not to prosecute those who occupied the highest positions of authority. It would be like processing Eichmann and overlooking Hitler", wrote Pepper before presenting his legal position.

Translation continued at http://www.911blogger.com/node/20202

Cindy, Cindy, Cindy,

As a friend, it is time to let go of the hatred which has consumed you far to long. There is a time to grieve and then there is a time to move on with your life.

Casey wanted to serve his country in a war he believed it. He made the choice to go to war, he reenlisted and specifically asked to be sent back to Iraq.

Why aren't you equally upset with the Democratic Party? They used you, plain and simple, for their own political agenda and then they tossed you aside like last weeks garbage.

Casey is a true American hero and deserves better.

Honor your son with a park or some public shrine. Casey would be proud of you for doing something constructive to maintain his legacy for future generations; not as the son of some crazy woman who died in a cause her son would never have endorsed.

Casey wanted to be there.

I am sorry for you loss Cindy.

Move on. Do something more constructive. Bush has retired. Obama needs your support.

Maybe you can protest Obama for not being born in the US.

Good luck and Peace be with you.

I am sorry for both Bill's and Cindy's loss. Saying that, I believe both of these people are in serious need of grief counseling! And yes, Casey re-enlisted and felt the need to be there and that it was important! Bill, you need to quit listening to the far left hype. There are many people in Iraq who feel and are more free after Saddam's ouster than before. As far as whether we had a right to be there, that's another question that will be debated for years to come!

funny guy wrote:

Cindy, Cindy, Cindy,
As a friend, it is time to let go of the hatred which has consumed you far to long. There is a time to grieve and then there is a time to move on with your life.
Casey wanted to serve his country in a war he believed it. He made the choice to go to war, he reenlisted and specifically asked to be sent back to Iraq.
Why aren't you equally upset with the Democratic Party? They used you, plain and simple, for their own political agenda and then they tossed you aside like last weeks garbage.
Casey is a true American hero and deserves better.
Honor your son with a park or some public shrine. Casey would be proud of you for doing something constructive to maintain his legacy for future generations; not as the son of some crazy woman who died in a cause her son would never have endorsed.

This isn't about "hatred for Bush." It is about holding Bush accountable for his egregious crimes. The lives of our service members are being wasted in criminal wars. They are not "serving our nation" or "defending our liberties." Cindy Sheehan is a true and rare hero for going after our criminal leaders.

ExWaianae wrote:

I am sorry for both Bill's and Cindy's loss. Saying that, I believe both of these people are in serious need of grief counseling! And yes, Casey re-enlisted and felt the need to be there and that it was important! Bill, you need to quit listening to the far left hype. There are many people in Iraq who feel and are more free after Saddam's ouster than before. As far as whether we had a right to be there, that's another question that will be debated for years to come!

I agree, we should listen to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan and find out what they think of the U.S. military presence in the region. The following was written by RAWA, the oldest political/social organization of Afghan women struggling for peace, freedom, democracy and women's rights in Afghanistan since 1977. Like Cindy Sheehan, they have a very personal connection to the wars:

"THE U.S. AND HER FUNDAMENTALIST STOOGES ARE THE MAIN HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATORS IN AFGHANISTAN"

The US and her allies tried to legitimize their military occupation of Afghanistan under the banner of “bringing freedom and democracy for Afghan people”. But as we have experienced in the past three decades, in regard to the fate of our people, the US government first of all considers her own political and economic interests and has empowered and equipped the most traitorous, anti-democratic, misogynist and corrupt fundamentalist gangs in Afghanistan.

In the past few years, for a thousand times the lies of US claims in the so-called “War on terror” were uncovered. By relying on the criminal bands of the Northern Alliance, the US made a game of values like democracy, human rights, women’s rights etc. thus disgracing our mournful nation. The US created a government from those people responsible for massacres in Pul-e-Charkhi, Dasht-e-Chamtala, Kapisa, Karala, Dasht-e-Lieli, 65,000 Kabulis and tens of mass graves across the country. Now the US tries to include infamous killers like Mullah Omer and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar into the government, which will be another big hypocrisy in the “war against terror”.

The reinstatement of the Northern Alliance to power crushed the hopes of our people for freedom and prosperity into desperation and proved that for the Bush administration, defeating terrorism so that our people can be happy, have no significance at all. The US administration plays a funny anti-Taliban game and pretends that a super power is unable to defeat a small, marginalized and medieval-minded gang which is actually her own product. But our people found by experience in the past few years that the US doesn’t want to defeat the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, because then they will have no excuse to stay in Afghanistan and work towards the realization of its economical, political and strategic interests in the region."

The the sake of the children...just ignore her.

ExWaianae wrote:

I am sorry for both Bill's and Cindy's loss. Saying that, I believe both of these people are in serious need of grief counseling! And yes, Casey re-enlisted and felt the need to be there and that it was important! Bill, you need to quit listening to the far left hype. There are many people in Iraq who feel and are more free after Saddam's ouster than before. As far as whether we had a right to be there, that's another question that will be debated for years to come!

Journalists/filmakers Molly Bingham and Steve Connors went to Iraq in an attempt to "know thyne enemy." They interviewed members of the Iraqi resistance to find out more about their backgrounds and motivations. Here is a brief excerpt of their film "MEETING RESISTANCE:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch...

What they found are people who above all else are defending their nation from foreign invasion and occupation. This defense of their homes and families is completely justified and legitimate. The U.S. invasion and continued occupation is not.

From the "MEETING RESISTANCE" film website:

"Given the information people receive each day from even the most reputable news organizations the general public can be forgiven for believing that the Iraqis are primarily fighting each other. But the reality is quite different and much more complex. Our response to this question has several layers: one that explains the US military 'Information Operations', one that reveals public opinion about occupation and sectarianism in Iraq and one that reveals the targets of attacks in Iraq.

INFORMATION OPERATIONS: The source of most of the information that leads us to that conclusion reflected in the question above is the United States military. A very important - if not the most important "battle space" for an army that is involved in a protracted counter-insurgency war is the 'information battle space'. That is, "Information Operations". The purpose of IO is to drive a wedge between the insurgency and its support base in the community.

The US military can attempt to achieve this wedge by putting out releases to the Iraqi public indicating that the United States is engaged in a struggle with fringe elements of Iraqi society: Foreigners, religious extremists, anti-Iraqi forces and common criminals, and that those elements are waging war on the community. If the US military can undermine the ability of the insurgency to effectively function within the society, they will have had a significant victory in the information battle space. The fact that the military is doing this shouldn't be heard as a criticism of the military - it's expected of them. However, it is a detail of which many people are unaware.

We see at least two drawbacks in this approach. The first is that consistent polling among the Iraqi public suggests that either they know a different story or simply don't believe the US military - hence it has so far been ineffective. Second, in this information age, the military can't carry out 'information operations' to be consumed by the Iraqis alone. Everything the US military says also gets picked up by the Western mainstream media. As a result the United States public has become a primary consumer of IO, but we do not having the same local knowledge the Iraqis use to dismiss it. Hence, the US public has come to believe that the insurgency is composed of fringe elements of the Iraqi society that can be isolated and killed."

More from the "MEETING RESISTANCE" website:

"PUBLIC OPINION: Having done the reporting for Meeting Resistance and learned so much about the foundations and motivations behind the insurgency much of what we read each day just doesn't make sense and is highly contradictory to what we came to know about the rich social culture in Iraq. When we see something that doesn't make sense we ask more questions.

We have managed to remain reasonably up to date by not being so reliant on conventional sources and looking a little further afield for information and data that better answers the questions we have on a daily basis.

Two of the most recent opinion polls we have seen - and polling has been quite consistent throughout the war - are:

Commissioned by BBC/ABC in August 2007. The full pdf of the report is halfway down the page.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/698302...

Commissioned by Worldpublicopinion.org in September 2006. There is a link to the full pdf at the top of the page.

www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/brmi...

**** Some examples of what these polls reveal are that more than three quarters of Iraqis believe that US-led coalition forces provoke more violence than they prevent and 71% want those troops out of Iraq within a year. The majority of Iraqis approve of attacks against coalition forces (92% of Sunni's, 62% of Shi'a and 15% of Kurds) but disapprove of al Qaeda in Iraq. We also learn that 98% of Iraqi Arabs reject the idea of the division of the country along sectarian lines and demand a single unified country with a strong central government rather than the heavily de-centralized political future that has been drawn up for them under occupation. 100% of those polled unequivocally condemn the targeting of civilians in Iraq."