Banana Republics: In Search of Peace with Cindy Sheehan

Posted in its entirety with permission.

Banana Republics
In Search of Peace
with Cindy Sheehan

Gerald Ford, our 38th and first ever un-elected President is dead. All of the networks and cable news are rightfully filled with stories on his legacy and life. The pundits are analyzing his presidency and I have heard comments like: “great sense of humor,” “gentleman,” and “protector of the Constitution.” The first two, are nice, but not such urgent Presidential qualities, and really are objective traits. Being someone who protects the Constitution, as every president swears to do, but few (especially the current resident of the Oval Office) actually do, should be a mandatory item in every president's job description.

First of all, I would like to extend my condolences to Mr. Ford’s family. Even though he was an ex-President, he was also a husband, father, grandfather, and friend. He was a human being who had private relationships in a very public life and I am sure his loved ones will miss him deeply.

However, Mr. Ford was 92 years old. He lived a full and long life. He spent a very lengthy retirement from public life: golfing and doing whatever else former presidents do. Usually, burying a 92 year old loved one is sorrowful but, I believe his pardon of Richard Nixon is one of the factors that have led to the untimely deaths of over 3000 American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in the Middle East. Just this month alone, 91 of our young people have met early, avoidable, unnecessary and tragic deaths in Bloody George’s horrific war. In a month when most people picked out Christmas trees and had joy-filled celebrations in the season of lights, 91 of our nation’s families went shopping for burial plots or urns and their holidays will never be the same again.

One of the talking heads on one of the cable news shows (does it matter which?) said that it was a “great thing for America” that Gerald Ford pardoned the crooked war criminal, Richard Nixon. He said that we don’t make public spectacles out of trying our presidents in criminal courts. After all, we are not a “banana republic.”

No, the United States of America is not a “banana republic” Mr. Talking Head, but since Nixon got away with his blatant crimes and every President since Nixon has skated away from office after having committed overt and covert crimes, we have on our hands, here, a situation that I am forced now to call: “Bloody George.”

Bloody George struts around in a cloud of denial with his fake cowboy swagger, breaking our nation’s laws and international laws as if he were immune from life's woes and above any law. What Mr. Talking Head was pointing out to us in his ridiculous commentary was that presidents are above the law that they swear to uphold. Presidents of other countries who are found guilty of murdering 148 people are not apparently above the law---Bloody George plays banana republic justice in other countries while countenancing none of the same here in the US of A.

Bloody George definitely has a valid reason for believing that he is above the law because no president in our history has had to pay for any crimes that they have committed. Wars keep occurring because the ones who entangle our citizens in these bloodbaths for profit leave their office and go on to lead comfortably splendid lives surrounded by people who love them.

Tens of thousands of young people who had plans for their futures and loving families who wanted them around until they were 92 (at least) were sentenced to early graves by politicians who receive no sentences for their earthy transgressions. We who have had to bury our children, instead of them burying us in the natural way, will be doing penance for the rest of our lives in a purgatory of pain and regret for the sins of others. How can we prevent such profound grief in the future?

The 110th Congress which will be sworn in shortly has a unique opportunity to reverse this cycle of un-repented and un-punished violence. Bloody George and Dastardly Dick not only deserve to be impeached, removed from office and tried for their malevolent crimes against humanity, but these steps in the sane direction of justice and peace are essential to true justice and true peace.

The only way the Oval Office will be cleansed of the gore that has fatefully for so many manifested itself in Bloody George is to hold him accountable. I repeat: That is the only way. Maybe, just maybe, there are a few pages out of the Banana Republic playbook that are relevant for our country right here and right now.

I have to disagree with many progressives in and out of the blogosphere. Accountability is not retribution for the past but a gaurantor of peace in the future. Accountability is not revenge it is justice. Accountability is not a distraction but a mandatory Constitutional remedy. Accountability is not an optional course of action for Congress' plate, but a mandatory step towards a new baptism of hope for our world.

If Bloody George is only this generation's manifestation of non-accountability, I shudder to see what future incarnations of war-lords will bring us!

In Search of Peace is a series of reflections on Cindy’s journey towards peace.





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.
She is the author of three books, the most recent is: Peace Mom: A Mother's Journey Through Heartache
to Activism.

there is some sloppy writing -- ford is not the first unelected president no matter how often the media says it and apparently he is 93 not 92 but the heart of the essay is correct

if we do not seek accountability from the highest in the land, then we do not have a nation of equals or a nation where law is to be respected

we have a nation where "justice" and the law are only enforced against those of the wrong color, class, and wallet size -- where the powerful know full well they never have to answer for abuses of power and so they go forward and do as they please

i agree that this belief of the GOP, that they never have to answer for their crimes, is one of the reasons we have a blatantly illegal war in iraq today

All the dirty tricksters, including some junior ones like Rove, would have been exposed. THEN Ford could have pardoned him. But I still feel that it was wrong to pardon before a trial.