Sheehan quits as face of US anti-war fight

Source: The Guardian

Cindy Sheehan, whose soldier son was killed in Iraq three years ago, said yesterday she was stepping down from her role as the figurehead of the US campaign against the war.

"This is my resignation letter as the 'face' of the American anti-war movement," she wrote in a sometimes bitter diary entry on the website Daily Kos. "I am going to take whatever I have left, and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children, and try to regain some of what I have lost."

Ms Sheehan, 49, rose to prominence when she voiced her discontent with President George Bush's policies when he met her and other grieving members of military families.

Announcing her decision on Memorial Day, the anniversary on which the US remembers its war dead, she said that her announcement had been prompted by the recent hostility she had faced from Democrats.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2090192,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

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I was surprised not to find this up here. I was wondering what people are thinking on this.

I checked the first couple of pages, where I supposed it must be.

i vote for "everyone" to replace Cindy. I don't believe in having any particular person in that role. Every one of us who believes in ending US imperialism against the peoples of the Middle East should be doing as much as they can. We can all of us take over the role. Next time the news asks whose in charge, there should be giant response from all present "We are!"

We don't need no leaders. we need us.

Not to be read at all as a slap against Cindy, but just a reminder that this is our work, and we should not delegate it to others.

Evidently they think they can do better.
I prey they don't need to lose a son in Iraq for inspiration.

neocon piece of ...well, whatever.

to suspect what I suspect.

Kevin and I have known Cindy for three years. We know the system, the politics, the games and the attitudes as well; those that stand to destroy anyone who isn't strong enough to see through the illusion -- and believe me -- Cindy's strength came from her grief - the illusion of strength coming from the power of not wanting to let go of her son, and that illusion finally lost its power.

It's time for everyone to stand back and think seriously about what is happening in this country - how - why - and be honest with themselves about their role in the madness.

Many people have criticized me for addressing the responsibility of the American people in the situation we now find ourselves in. I have heard from people blaming Congress, the administration, the military - but these same people write and tell me that the "American people" were hornswoggled - duped - misled. I would be ashamed to think that the American people were so ignorant that they could be so easily duped.

Ignorance comes from being willing to be led. Ignorance comes from being lazy. Ignorance comes from not wanting to make a single decision for fear of it being the wrong decision. By counting on others we put in "leadership" positions to make our decisions for us we always have someone else to blame if they don't work. But I can guarantee -- if this war had done what we were told it would do in the time we were told it was going to do it, 90% of the people now blaming Congress would be accepting credit for voting them into office.

There is a reason Kevin and I continue to tell soldiers and families -- DO NOT LET YOURSELF BE LED BY THE MOVEMENT -- make sure you take care of yourselves, speak as you feel you must, not allowing yourself to be led by the promises of those who only want someone else to do their work for you. DO NOT ALLOW THOSE IN THE MOVEMENT TO LEAD YOU TO DECISIONS THAT COULD EVENTUALLY DESTROY ALL YOU HAVE WORKED FOR.

That is what happened to Cindy -- it is what cannot happen to another American willing to step out and try to make a difference.

THIS COUNTRY is addicted to letting others do their work for them. That has got to stop if we want to make any headway at all in
a positive direction. This country is addicted to money, drugs, alcohol, and all the trappings - the superficial illusion of doing work -

The mistake Cindy made was in thinking that any of the people who claimed to be by her side were her friends. How could they be?? They never knew her. Cindy was and continues to be a grieving mother -- and this country, in its inevitable way of glorifying the macabre, lost sight of her humanity and her grief and used her in the most severe way possible.


Here at Fort Stewart this past month we are watching soldiers deploy for their third and fourth times. In one year between deployments there were 191 cases of child abuse due to combat related stress. In one year between deployments there were 138 cases of spousal abuse due to combat related stress. There are flashing signs proudly announcing 29 days since the last alcohol related driving fatality ON FT. STEWART -

My husband, Kevin Benderman, went to prison for over a year -- because he actually cared enough to write and speak about what the soldiers he served with were facing -- and neither one of us would shut up, even when threatened with all that we were -- horrific stories were related over two years -- even as Kevin was incarcerated in a Loss of Privilege bay to keep him from talking we still did found ways to tell the truth --

WHO CARED ENOUGH TO LISTEN???????????????

Kevin and I understand completely what Cindy was dealing with -- the American People haven't the first clue what it means to work hard for something -- to put everything you have into something -- only to realize you are doing it for people who just don't care.

Well -- it's time for things to change. It's time for those who do the real work to be given the credit they deserve -- because real work is being done - even when those who claim to be working are taking the credit they most assuredly do not deserve.

In February we began a project designed to bring real benefit to the soldiers who return so disheartened by the very same issues Cindy has discussed - an American public who never did care about their service.

Our soldiers join -- my husband joined -- because he believed in this country. He felt it his sworn duty to uphold and defend the LAWS of this country -- for it is by following the Constitutional LAW that we are all kept free. But even as he and the soldiers he served with went to war believing in defending our freedoms, we learned that was not what this war was. The American people quickly forgot the reasons our soldiers volunteered to serve -- and became enamored with the issues of the war leaving the humanity and trust of our soldiers by the wayside.

Every single soldier who is now serving, every single veteran who has died in that service -- serves, and has died, in vain until the American people wake up and figure out -- freedom means accepting the responsibility that is theirs -- to live responsibly, with common sense, and with the same commitment to the LAWS of this country and respect for their fellow citizens that they are now trying to hold our government accountable to.

We can work together to make the changes necessary -- but no one has the right to sit back and write letters of support to those on the frontlines of this movement and believe that is work equal to their effort. If that is the belief -- then it is a miserable failure of a belief.

We need the American people to work with us --- we can lay out a plan - we can show what our experiences have taught us is needed -- but we need people who make the promises of committing to help us to actually keep their word.

Kevin and I are asking the American people to stand up -- and to take the action necessary to see that the work gets done.

It is time for action -- of a very real kind.

Only the truly serious need apply -- and we have enough experience to know if you will keep your word.

http://www.BendermanDefense.org http://www.BendermansBridge.com

We need to do this for all those who have given -- and given -- and given -- and did so when they really had nothing left to give.

Monica and Kevin Benderman
info@bendermansbridge.org

If people didn't care, why are Bush's approval numbers so low? Why are Congress' approval numbers so low? Why do polls consistently indicate that people are sick of this war?

Americans care. But they're mostly helpless. Who can go to rallies when the economy's so bad, they can't get good-paying jobs so they can take care of their families? Who can go to rallies when you can barely afford gas just to go to work? The American people spoke out at the polls, giving the Dems a mandate...but what more can they do, when the Dems won't do what the people sent them to Washington to accomplish?

Americans aren't the problem here. Politicians are. I'm not sure what we can do to change this, but I *am* sure that Americans cared--and still care--enough to want this war stopped.

Cindy's efforts and her son's death were NOT in vain, and I'm so sorry to read that she thinks this is the case. It's hard to see the big picture when you're exhausted, ill, in debt, and the criticism starts to sound louder than the praise. But if she were to take a good, hard look at the bird's-eye view--how Americans view the war TODAY, as opposed to when she started--she'd see the huge difference she's made.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Quoting Cindy Sheehan for the linked article:

she's absolutely right, and it's disgusting :(

She was correct to take on the Dems as well. DAMMIT, WE HIRED THEM IN NOVEMBER (or REHIRED MOST OF THEM) TO STOP THIS FUCKING WAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK DON'T THEY GET???????????????

WHAT did they not understand about OUT OF IRAQ, NOW!!!!???

I hate to admit this, but sometimes I wonder myself if it's worth staying and fighting, when the people you count on just give you lip service and cave when it really matters. My own rep, Henry Waxman, voted against that damned bill last week, as did Barbara Boxer, but fucking feinstein (let her earn her capital letter) went along with it.

I do find myself wondering, and asking when I called Congress so many times last week, WHY THE HELL I BOTHERED TO WORK MY TAIL OFF ALL LAST YEAR, to get to THIS?

I can understand and sympathize with her, completely. I support her. And I'll miss her on the front lines.

She lasted longer in it than was even possible. One strong & brave woman. Bless her heart.

A charismatic leader who is willing to sacrifice everything they have, and a sufficient number of people to follow them.

by people here at DU, quite viciously in fact, for my public work on voting machine reform, I can tell you the CIA has nothing to do with my contemplating quitting the liberal movement and election reform. It gets damned old real quick when you are trying to make a difference and you get attacked by clueless assholes who disagree with what you are doing.

I can tell you that as bad as it was, it was NOTHING compared to the smearing Cindy got.

But God knows *I* appreciate the work that you, and others like you, have done on voting reform. It's one of the most important issues we face, and I'll never understand why so many people bury their heads in the sand and refuse to understand how important it is.

Oh, wait--I just understood. It's too terrifying for them to face the fact that our very democracy is being undermined by those who steal votes en masse. :mad:

Most of the grief I got were from other "activists", ones who were out raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for their efforts, who then accused those of us taking NO money as working for Diebold, Karl Rove, Free Republica, etc.

As bitter as I am over the issue, I only lost money, time and layers of skin. I can't imagine being in Cindy's shoes and having to bear this after having lost a son.

after the dems made theirs last week...if so, i wouldn't blame her.

Cindy Sheehan.........."I am leaving the Democratic Party."
Sun May-27-07 01:28 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3286716&mesg_id=3286716

Cindy Sheehan Quits Democrat Party Over Iraq War Funding Bill
Sun May-27-07 10:08 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=984754&mesg_id=984754

Cindy Sheehan's response to DU (courtesy of Daily Kos)
posted Mon May-28-07 10:09 AM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3287772&mesg_id=3287772

Cindy Sheehan resigns from anti-war movement??
Mon May-28-07 11:17 AM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=986984&mesg_id=986984

edit to add Will Pitt's thread:
The last time I saw Cindy Sheehan.
Mon May-28-07 11:59 AM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=987221&mesg_id=987221

I've been busy with other things and haven't seen any news. I'm clueless about what's been going on with current issues, this will help alot in bringing me up to speed. THANKS again!

Anyway, bye Cindy. It was nice to have you as teh "face" of teh anti w4r movement? I guess? WTF is this article about anyway. The whole world is anti-Iraq war at this point. It doesn't need a face ... it needs it's own chapter!

I fear this announcement will merely fuel rethuglican pundits.

I can understand her desire to step back, take a break, and let others stand at the forefront. That simply makes sense. But it'd be better if she'd just let someone else's exposure take the spotlight, and slip out for some well-earned R&R.

I sincerely hope she returns to the fight, and that we, as supporters of peace, can keep our efforts unified rather than knocking our brethren for petty reasons.

I value her and her service to humanity.

"Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months."

She is correct!

As her spokesperson pointed out Cindy stepped up when it was convenient and safe to keep quiet. She helped to literally flip the public's opinion on this war completely around pointing out the facts of the war at the present and what was predictable and predicted before the war, by those supporting the troops by being against the war.

Howard Dean was the first national figure to step up and say "this is wrong and we told you it was going to be" taking off the cover that many had been cowered under for a time.

Both Cindy and Howard were viciously attacked for this but it didn't work.

Last week's vote was unconditional surrender by the reps of the anti-war movement. There is nothing more to be done except get ready for another 8 years or more of right-wing rule. There is absolutely no reason for anti-war people to go to the polls next November.

Godspeed, Cindy. You are among the very few who can claim to have done their all.

democrats use veterans as political sound bites just as good as the republicans. there is a growing unrest within veteran group towards the democrat party. cindy has left the demcorat party and i think many veterans will follow her.

enjoy your brief stay.

most on DU have been talking about the past day or so. I guess you didn't go to GD--just as well as some of the many many threads have been pretty dismal and many more locked. They don't refer to GD as "fight club" for nothing....:eyes:

Do go and check out Will Pitt's posting there though-- a nice tribute to our Cindy.

elitist pricks wanting to demonstrate their vast knowledge and utter contempt for anyone not as sophisticated as themselves, fuck everyone who bad mouthed this hero, I hope they are satisfied.

She will always be a hero to this former Marine.

She's been through more than most of us and I can't imagine how much it hurts to have tried so hard to change the direction of this silly and useless war. I mean, her life, Casey's life, they are extremely done with and that is exactly the fault of george w bush.

So I think about Cindy and that poor woman's life ... and then that makes me think of the thousands of other lives that Bush directly ended with his war - not just the casualties, but the family members, friends, survivors ... these otherwise healthy, functioning people drifting along in their own course of life ... and all of them now terminated because of Bush. And to that end I'd say Cindy was successful, and I give her my own personal thank you.