Cindy Sheehan, whose GI son was killed in Iraq in 2004, has become a leading figure in the US anti-war movement. The following is abridged from a speech she made to a public meeting at the January World Social Forum in Caracas.
It's great to be here at the World Social Forum. I get a lot of hate-mail for what I'm doing against the war. They also try to marginalise my message, to cut me off from the people of the United States.
One of the ways they try to marginalise me is to say, "Oh, she's just a grieving mother". This tells me I'm being successful. Another variation is to say, "She's just a woman, so she can't have an original thought in her head. Michael Moore or George Soros must be telling her what to say." That's how they try to marginalise us.
One of the right-wing hate blogs wrote the other day that "Venezuelans detest Cindy Sheehan". If they detest me so much, what do they do to people they love? I have never felt so welcome in a country.
I'm called Peace Mom, Mother Courage and so on. [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez gave me another name: Mrs Hope. After my son was killed in Iraq, I felt all my hope was gone forever, and I really believed that's why people try to commit suicide — because they have no hope in their lives, and it's just awful.
When I did the action in Crawford, Texas [establishing a camp outside US President George Bush's ranch] and thousands of people from all over the world joined us there, with millions of people supporting us, I got my hope back.
I went down to Crawford on August 6 last year to ask George Bush, what noble cause did he send my son, and 2200 other American soldiers, to die for in Iraq? For what noble cause is he killing thousands of Iraqis and destroying a country?
No mention of the peace movement should leave out a reference to Afghanistan. That forgotten war is also a travesty of justice.
George Bush took our tragedy of September 11 and proceeded to invade two countries that were absolutely no threat to the US. And we need to be talking about withdrawing all the troops from all of the countries — not just Iraq.
Dying for immoral profits
What did my son die for? What did people around the world die for? I was reading today that Chevron Oil had its highest profits ever. It became a company in 1879, yet has never enjoyed such a wonderful quarter. I think I paid $45 for a tank of gas recently, and my son died for this.
These people are making obscene and immoral profits. We are not against people making a reasonable profit and making a living, but this is profane — what they are doing to the world to make these obscene profits.
George Bush, with the help of the Supreme Court, has taken over the country and driven it into a black hole. He's tried to take away our freedoms. People are being incarcerated without being charged. He's expanding the Patriot Act. He just says, "I'm the president, and I'm going to do it".
Right now, we are living in a dictatorship in the United States. It's not supposed to be that way, but we don't even have a free press. The mainstream media are just propaganda tools of the war effort.
Another idiotic saying that George Bush always uses is that "We have to complete the mission to honour the sacrifice". So his mission is to kill more people. What kind of mission is that?
I, as a broken-hearted mother, can't let that happen to another mother. The cycle of violence and killing has to stop now. We can't justify anyone killing anyone else. It's a horrible, horrible time in our country, but many of the families did not want an invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan to justify their loved one's death.
There are many families of soldiers who have died. We do not want any more killings. My son Casey died in order to save his buddies' lives. Why would he want more men killed, just because of his death?
People are dying in Iraq because they are resisting an occupation, and it's tragic, but if our soldiers were not there, nobody would be getting killed. My son was not killed by a terrorist, he was killed by a person who wanted the occupying force out of their country.
What if we in America were occupied, and we resisted — we would call ourselves patriots, freedom fighters. I am not for killing or being killed — not for killing the Iraqi resistance or them killing American soldiers like my son. But I don't blame them. I blame George Bush and the insane policies that sent them over there. Bush may just as well have put the bullet in my son's head. You know it and I know it, and this is why we have to hold the US administration accountable to the world for what is happening in Iraq.
Patriotism
George Bush is holding office illegitimately. I think we don't even have to talk about impeachment. Millions of people need to go to the White House and say, "You're evicted! This is our house, you're destroying it, violating it, and we want you out of there." Because he was never properly elected. So, after he is hauled out of the White House, he should be hauled off to The Hague to be tried for violating international law.
But Bush is just the tip of the iceberg. Everyone who lied to the world on Iraq should be put on trial, not just Bush.
I love the USA. I gave birth to two sons there, but a tragedy has occurred. I'm not against the USA. But I love the human beings of all countries, and we can't let our love stop at the borders of our country.
Patriotism can damage our humanity. It is often exploited to get us into wars that have no basis in reality. Patriotism gone wild is allowing our leaders to take our young people and exploit their honour and integrity to make obscene profits, as we have seen in the case of Exxon and the other oil companies. War is always about making the war machine richer.
We have to change the concept of patriotism to one of "matriotism" — love of humanity that transcends war. A matriarch would never send her own children off to wars that make us kill other people's children. Every time Bush says he is protecting life, I wish I could switch off the TV. He does not support life.
We formed Goldstar Families for Peace, which involves parents, brothers and sisters of families who support what I'm doing, and support peace and bringing the troops home. Things were just not happening, and that's when I started the camp at Crawford.
I just read some encouraging polls about Republicans and Democrats saying the same thing: An investigation into George Bush's lies has to happen. It's not going to happen unless we get the Republicans on board as well. It's not going as fast as I would want it to, but it is going forward.
We have to fight against our corporate media, which only tells one side of the story. We have to see an end to killing innocent people for profit.
I believe we have been attacked in the Middle East because of US policy in the region. It's not because the people there hate our freedoms and democracy, but because we have been killing innocent people for so long. And for me to say the Israeli occupation of Palestine needs to end also, does not mean I'm being anti-Semitic in any way.
I'm calling on the Democratic Party to be a true opposition party. Every day I get more fed up. The first thing I do is think about my son, but the second thing I do is think, "What can I do today to help stop the war?" That's what we all have to do.
And to add to all this, we would protest in the strongest possible way if the US decided to attack Venezuela. We would protest the use of military force by the US against any innocent country.
From Green Left Weekly, March 15, 2006.
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