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Edited on Tue Mar-06-07 09:15 PM by babylonsister
Posted in its entirety with permission.
Camp Casey Easter 2007
Cindy Sheehan
Dear Friends
We can relax now. From the war zone of Crawford, Texas, George said that we families of loved ones that have been killed in Iraq can: "rest assured that your loved ones died for a noble cause."
I am going to be in Dallas this weekend for the VFP convention, and I don't care how far Crawford is from Dallas, I am going to that expletive deleted ranch. I will not leave until he explains to me exactly what the noble cause is. I hope some VFP's will join me in the crusade to Crawford. If they don't, I know my sister will, and we will go alone if we have to.
It has to stop. The time is now. I mean it.
Peace soon,
Cindy Sheehan
This is the email that I sent to a group of about 300 people the day that 14 Marines from a reserve unit in Ohio were killed. I was upset. I was heartbroken. I was frustrated, but most of all, I was angry!
After I sent the email, which felt so good and right, I went to a meeting in Sacramento for Sacramentans for Democracy. On the way there, I called my sister and told her that we were going to Crawford. She said: "Okay." Then I called Andrea Buffa from Global Exchange and CODEPINK and asked her to help me with media. She said: "Okay, woman." Then I called fellow Gold Star Mother, Amy Branham, who lives in Houston and was meeting me at the VFP yearly convention, where I was speaking as one of the main speakers, and told her we were going to Crawford and she said: "Hell, yeah!"
When I returned home from the meeting, my AOL mailbox was clogged with emails. My email had apparently been forwarded around the world. The excitement and support overwhelmed me. One of the emails was from a stranger, Hadi Jawad, who said that he was a member of the Crawford Peace House and that they would give me any logistical support that they could. I had never even heard of the Peace House...I thought "what a fabulous idea!" I welcomed the help, but little did Hadi, or I know what an enormous task that help would turn out to be.
My sister, and Gold Star Auntie, Dede and I did not have to go alone. We finally walked up Prairie Chapel Road on August 6th, with about 100 people and 75 members of the media. The rest is, as they say, history!
Nine soldiers, nine of our nation's misled and misused children, nine more were sent to meet their makers far too early today by the same man that I went to confront on that very hot August day. In Baghdad, they are still digging bodies out of the rubble of a car bomb at a book market. Dozens were killed. I am still upset. I am still heartbroken. I am still frustrated. And I am still angry. Even though our country has awakened to the fact that the occupation of Iraq is a quagmire that was fueled by deception, incompetence, and greed. However, the killing continues, and even yes, escalates seemingly unabated.
What will be the flash point for the 77% of our citizenry who think that our nation is insanely skipping down the wrong path to get them our of their shadow lives where food, drink, shelter and comfort is plentiful, and get them on the streets to save our soldiers and the people of Iraq who don't have the barest of necessities, let alone any luxuries.
Camp Casey in Summer '05 turned out to be the factor that turned the lies upside down and shook up a country that hated the war but had no idea what to do about it. I am hoping that Camp Casey, Easter '07, will be the factor that shows our country the way our of Iraq and towards true peace.
As always, everyone is invited, welcomed and needed. Our first annual Camp Casey Peace Awards will be presented in Austin on April 5. This year's recipients are: Willie and Annie Nelson, Jodie Evans and CODEPINK, Ann Wright and Veterans for Peace and the Crawford Peace House. Ava Lowery from PeaceTakesCourage will be honored with a two thousand dollar scholarship and the Casey Sheehan Young Peace Activist Award. We will have workshops on non-violent conflict resolution, an imPEACHment panel (with David Swanson from ImpeachBushandCheney.org and Debra Sweet from WCW, Col Ann Wright and myself) and events (an imPEACHment cobbler baking contest). As usual, we will have rockin' entertainment.
Last Easter was the most glorious Easter that I have spent since my children were little and hunted for their baskets. It was certainly the best Easter since Casey was killed on Palm Sunday in 2004. This upcoming Easter, we will be honored to have our services provided to us by Rev. Lennox Yearwood and his Hip Hop Caucus.
Easter is the best time in Crawford the days and nights are mild and the sunrises and sunsets are the most beautiful.
When will the killing end? When we stand up to make it stop.
Go to The Camp Casey Peace Institute for more info or to donate.
Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Sheehan who was killed in Bush's war of terror on 04/04/04.
She is the co-founder and president of Gold Star Families for Peace and The Camp Casey Peace Institute.
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