[From the diaries by susanhu.] Larry C. Johnson
The clueless right wing is up in arms over the momentum of the Cindy Sheehan anti-war movement. There appears no depth they will not plumb, nor mudpit they will not enter in their effort to smear a mother who gave her son in service to our country. I cannot award a Chutzpah prize because there are too many deserving schmucks. Take wheelchair bound Charles Krauthammer’s recent vicious attack:
She says she wants to ask the president why her son died. She already knows her own answer, and her answer is — and she’s said this openly — to enrich the president’s friends, meaning oil companies and contractors. There are a lot of honorable reasons and thoughtful reasons to oppose the war in Iraq. That’s not one of them. And to advance the idea, as she has also, to the press of the entire world that we are in Iraq as a matter of imperialism is to demoralize our troops, encourage our enemies, and to encourage those who say that we are there as conquerors and not as liberators, which can only endanger our troops, which I think is a disgrace.
Well, well. What does Charles say about President Bush’s multiple misrepresentations of why he took our nation to war? Nothing! In fact, according to Krauthammer’s reasoning, to even challenge the President over what we now know to be as patently false reasons for going to war, you are disloyal and demoralizing the troops. The same specious reasoning has been echoed by rightwing apologists like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter.
These apologists for Bush’s war ignore the lapses in leadership by George Bush and his Department of Defense that truly demoralizes the troops; things such as inadequate force strength on the ground in Iraq to control the battlefield; insufficient supplies of body armor; lack of fully armored vehicles for conducting patrols; and lack of a plan for victory in Iraq. George Bush, with the acquiescence of a pliable Congress, has sent our men and women to war in Iraq that he chose to start. Whether Cindy Sheehan’s explanation for why Bush took us to war is correct is irrelevant. What we know for certain is that George Bush lied to the American people and continues to lie about the reasons we are at war.
Initially, at least, we went to war to prevent another 9-11. While the intelligence community made mistakes about the status of Iraq’s efforts to rebuild its stockpiles of nuclear and chemical weapons, it got it exactly right that Iraq had no role whatsoever in supporting or promoting Al Qaeda’s attack on 9-11. But Bush and his Vice President chose to ignore the intelligence community and have continued to insist on the lie that Saddam was working in tandem with Bin Laden.
Bush’s misguided invasion of Iraq not only resulted in the death of Casey Sheehan and more than 1800 other U.S. military men and women, it diverted scarce military resources from the hunt for the Al Qaeda. If Cindy Sheehan does get a chance to sit down with the President I hope she asks him why the masterminds of 9-11–Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Zwahiri–are still on the loose and issuing videotaped threats to attack our country again.
If her son had died during an operation to kill Bin Laden than Cindy would at least have the peace of mind to know that her son died trying to make America safer. Instead, her son died in Iraq in an operation whose rationale still remains unclear. But we now know for certain that at least one of the President’s claims, i.e., that we are “fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here”, is no longer true. Instead of a safer America the President has made America at greater risk of a terrorist attack by the Islamic extremists who struck our shores almost four years ago. Since 9-11 the number of international terrorist attacks have soared to unprecedented levels. Last year, for example, there were almost 700 separate terrorist attacks in which someone was killed or wounded. This marks the highest level of terrorist activity since data was first recorded in 1968.
So, as of today, Cindy Sheehan’s son is dead along with the sons and daughter of almost 1900 other families. The insurgency in Iraq is growing in strength and the level of international terrorism is growing. That Cindy Sheehan is angry should not surprise us. That all Americans are not up in arms over the recklessness of George Bush should.
Mom’s are organizing into the MMOB! And we all should join them.
I saw this elsewhere earlier today, and enjoyed it both times! Thanks for posting it here.
His writing seems to get splattered everywhere across the blogosphere, huh?
An that is definitely a good thing!
Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Zwahiri–are still on the loose and issuing videotaped threats to attack our country again.
You hear so little about them these days… I worry less and less about criminals in other countries each day we have to live with the criminals in our country.
But hey! That’s just me…
Osmama who? Which Zarcopy? Who are they? Are they in some kind of rap group?
The fact that Bush failed to protect America on 9/11 and has failed to take out the people who planned the attack on America pisses me off no end. I was in Manhattan that day, and each and every day that Bush ignores the terrorists that attacked us is a day I get angrier. Bush doesn’t care about America or Americans! All he cares about is Halliburton’s profits! If he cared about America, he would have finished the war on al Qaeda before he even considered any other priority. But no. He let bin Laden go and invaded Iraq instead. What a loser!
Osama’s given us his playbook and obviously the game plan works…he’s said in public statement time and time again that he will bleed U.S. out drip by drip, dollar by dollar, troop by troop.
Looks to me like we need to stop playing into his hands…
Problem is, Osama’s game plan and Bush’s game plan seem to dovetail. I am NOT saying that Bush was in on 9/11. I do NOT believe in those kinds of conspiracy theories. But Bush sure has taken full advantage of bin Laden’s plans to further his own agenda, and he sure has shown a reluctance to actually fight al Qaeda with our full resources.
Bush’s game plan–use Osama’s game plan as an excuse to destroy the Constitution, create a one-party state and use the treasury to enrich Halliburton and associates.
Larry you ROCK! God, if you weren’t married why I’d…lol! It is so refreshing to hear someone, especially one that has worked within the ranks of the government, is familiar with its inner workings, someone that is/was a republican speak the GD truth.!! Thank you for supporting Cindy!
What GD noble cause George!
You are way too kind. I just frigging hate bullies.
Thanks
LJ
Yeah well, don’t we all!
And don’t let the friggin bullies win! Keep fighting Larry. We need you.
I don’t know how Charles Krauthammer being in a wheelchair is relevant, but he’s disingenuous to say the least on the reasons for the Iraq invasion. Many of his national newspaper colleagues agree with Cindy Sheehan that it’s always been about the oil.
Thank you Mr. Johnson, for coming to our site to say a few things of great importance.
I have to remind everyone, that Cindy is a Gold Star Mother. NO matter what her politics is she is one of those wonderful women we need to shield and protect for all the rest of their lives. That is what we vets do to them..I do not ask their politics before I give them respect!!!!!! I just give them respect….Their loss is so great that we will never have more to give to them but respect. They do not ask for anything but respect.
Cindy has her right to address GW and he should give her the time for this too. This goes without saying but we all know what kind of man this man is. and what group of ppl he is from. What ever she says is to be known as a grieving mom..not a political player. Yes she has her thoughts…dont we all, but she is after all a Gold Star Mother. Plain and simple!
That jerk that brought down the crosses should have to be near her for as long as she is there. Carrying her water and shinning her boots….but no, he will get the gop and others like them to make nothing out of this….he damned my veterans name and symble. He is more than a jerk..do you know what they would do to him if he were to do that in Arlington???!!! NOthing changes cuz he is not in Arlington…the same goes no matter where…I do not care about his politics..I care about his heart..he is a bad soul and many more are out there thinking of doing the same thing but worse….thsi is a hate crime in my opinion….nothing worse, ever to hate the veterans…and their mothers…
PS: if she wanted to have audience with him to give him a big check foR LOTS OF $$$$$$ THEN HE WOULD BE SITTING RIGHT BY HER SIDE DAY IN AND DAY OUT!!!!!
I can see it now: “Since the Resident refused to meet with me but did go to a barbecue fund-raiser, we thought we’d have a barbecue fund-raiser for him. Maybe if we raise enough money for him he will spend some time with us, too!”
The idea that “we have to fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here” is, quite frankly, a crock of dingo dung. To say that implies that this is some sort of 19th-century conflict, with battle lines clearly demarcated, and if only we can draw a line in the sand at the Iraqi western border, the slavering hordes of the Hun — or whatever demonizing image you care to use — our enemies will somehow magically be held behind that line while we are free to go shopping.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
If we take for the sake of argument the idea that this war is about terrorism — a claim I don’t think holds up — we are talking about people who fight, not in long lines of uniformed soldiers behind battlements, but in ones and twos. Who can ignore US forces in Iraq and strike American interests anywhere they choose. In fact, one could make the argment that having our troops in Iraq makes us less safe, because we can’t use them to defend other hot spots. Remember, a great many of these troops are activated National Guard units. If, God forbid, a skinhead militia were to rise up and try to take over Idaho, those troops wouldn’t be available to keep the peace domestically. (Yeah, I know, it sounds like a silly example — but these days, you don’t know.)
Snitchens and Israpundit are now calling Sheehan anti-semitic.
Via Max Sawicky:
“Am I emotional? Yes, my first born was murdered. Am I angry? Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel.”
The descriptions in question:
Christopher Hitchens: “. . . announcing that he [Casey Sheehan] was killed in a war for a Jewish cabal? (A claim that has brought David Duke flying to Ms. Sheehan’s side.)”
Israpundit: “[S]he believes that a dark cabal of Jews is running the US government”
I don’t even know what to say in reponse to this. There is truly no depth to which the assholes will not lower themselves.
The War Moms are coming to town!
Two more moms are on their way to Texas.
MN State Senator Becky Lowrey – one of our most outspoken critics of the war who also lost her son in Iraq.
Colleen Rowley – whistleblower and future US Congresswoman.
A link to the article in the St. Paul paper is here
And it’s not just the professional right wing smear machine – I post on a China related blog where you get a real cross-section of political opinions. Some of the posters are big Bush supporters, and the level of vitriol that comes out of their keyboards is pretty astounding – “deranged harpy” was one choice appellation. And some of these guys I even like otherwise. It’s hard for me to understand what fuels this, other than she presents too great a challenge to a world view that does not hold up well under intellectual scrutiny.
Thanks again, Larry, for your post and for fighting the good fight!
— forwarded to her list of contacts by Marilyn Pollock, the county Democratic chair in Sequim, Wash.
I see a “picture” is still worth a thousand words… or more
That cartoon is just too funny. Washington Post has an article about Cindy this morning. She is feeling the pressure of the media glare they say and is trying to stay on message and distance herself from some of the groups that are tacking their causes onto hers. I was so afraid this would happen. You can read the whole thing here.
link
Hey Susan, I think I finally got it, an embedded link…yahoo! Thanks for your help!
This little bit from O’Reilly is pretty telling:
So as long as you were able to ignore or dismiss her, that was okay, but now that she’s getting as much attention as you — more, given your recent ratings — she’s doing something wrong. Gotcha.
O’Leilly kept flashing a picture inbetween his email portion of the show last night of Michael Moore and Cindy pictured together and the caption was Left wing radicals or something like that. What a poor excuse for a human being! What does he think that it’s a subliminal message? Only the Kool Aide drinkers are still buying it.
The Washington Post article that you have linked to says:
Consequently, she has asked that her campsite near Bush’s ranch be restricted only to organizations of military families, or those who have lost loved ones in the war.
[Emphasis mine] If that is really what she said (not sure because it isn’t a direct quote, but the writer certainly implies that she said it, I am of two minds about that.
On the one hand, I can certainly understand that she wants to stay on message and not have people hijack what she is doing for their own purposes. On the other hand, it is a bit disrespectful to all of us who do not meet these requirements but went to stand beside her and offer support with NO other agenda, and were planning to do so again….if this is really what she wants, of course I’ll stay away, but really, I guess my sincere feelings about all of the people/soldiers/families being “my skin in the game” don’t count? I’m sure I am overreacting, but that just pissed me off a bit.
Anyone know how I can find out if this is really what she wants now?
Ok, I just called the Peace House and talked with a woman named Paula…the intent of what Cindy said is that she wants to stay on message NOT that she doesn’t want other to come— the reporter may have legitimately misunderstood what she meant and they’re working on a press release right now to clarify it…..glad I decided to give a call instead of stitting here stewing!
heh.
That’s the first time in a while I’ve actually laughed at loud at a cartoon!
I’m enjoying very much your diaries here, very glad booman has asked you to join in over here. And giving us a different perspective and insider view of how government works.
Hard to believe anyone would take issue with Cindy S.’s request to have an hour with bush but should have known she’d be swiftboated by the right.
I just saw a White House reporter saying something about Cindy demanding to talk to Bush….as always those assholes are reframing this in a slanted way….demanding?…since when has she said she’s demanded a meeting with bush..maybe that reporter should be demanding why the president who works for us won’t meet with a gold star mom for one hour? One lousy stinkin hour.
Cindy can’t win with the Bully boys. If she had ended up down there all by herself with no one else showing up then they’d be saying no one supports her crackpot vigil, that the public wasn’t behind her etc etc…now with all these people showing up-she’s still a crackpot it’s just that a bunch of other crackpots etc etc have shown up.