TocqueDeVille’s diary suggested that Cindy Sheehan may have lied on the August 15th Anderson Cooper show about the letter she wrote to Nightline. However, a careful reading of the Cooper transcript and the original letter, still posted at Bullyard, show she was telling the truth.
The letter in question was sent from Sheehan’s email to Skeeter Gallagher to Tony Tersch to Bullyard. Here is the controversial passage in question:
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.
However, that was not what Anderson Cooper asked her. Cooper asked her if she had said:
You were also quoted as saying, “My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel. You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine and you’ll stop the terrorism.” How responsible do you believe Israel is for the amount of terrorism in the world?
In the Bullyard post, she did not say, “You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine, and you’ll stop the terrorism.” Therefore, she was telling the truth when she denied saying that.
Here are her other statements on Cooper:
I didn’t — I didn’t say — I didn’t say that my son died for Israel. I’ve never said that. I saw somebody wrote that and it wasn’t my words. Those aren’t even words that I would say.
Let’s go back to the Bullyard post; here are the two sentences she was talking about.
Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC agenda to benefit Israel.
Saying that Casey died for an agenda which included the defense of Israel is different from implying that our forces were somehow at Israel’s beck and cell.
My son joined the army to protect America, not Israel.
This sentence indicates ambiguity, not certainty. She may very well have wondered in her mind if Casey had died for Israel back in March. But it is clear from her recent statements that she does not think that now.
Now, regarding her suggestion that her email was somehow broken into and altered:
I wrote the letter to Ted Bettag and cc’d a copy to the person who gave me Ted’s address. I believe he changed the email and sent it out to capitalize on my new found notoriety by promoting his own agenda. Enough about that.
It would be totally reasonable for her to think that, given the known exaggerations about her statements, of which Cooper’s question contained one.
So, the bottom line is, Cindy Sheehan is telling the truth, accusations of her being an anti-semite are smokescreens designed to detract from her real message, and we should stay on message. Furthermore, we should continue to cover demonstrations like last night’s Salt Lake protests and continue to highlight other families who have lost friends and loved ones in Iraq. This is not just about Cindy, but about them as well.