A Gold Star Mom visits Crawford, TX, Seeking Answers from the President

[copied wholesale from Renee in Ohio's diary on DailyKos, because it's so important.]

Last night, I turned on The Laura Flanders Show on Air America Radio just in time to hear that Cindy Sheehan would be interviewed after the break. I recorded most of the show--only missed about the first half minute. Below the fold you can see what Cindy had to say (if you missed it last night) and how you can help.

We were setting up our little camp and all of a sudden like 6 secret service SUVs come pulling up and screeching to a halt, and they all jump out and kind of surround us, and I'm like "Oh my gosh, what did we do?" You know? And then these two men get out and walk over. It was Steve Hadley and Joe Hagin. They sat down with me and were talking with me asking "What do you want to do?" I said I want the president to explain what was the noble cause that my son died in, because that's what he said the other day when those 14 marines were killed. He said their families can rest assured that their sons and daughters died for a noble cause. And I said, "What is that noble cause?"

But anyway, I finally got to a point where I just said, “You know what? I might be a grieving mother but I am not stupid. I don’t believe your lies and I really don’t believe you believe them either.”

Laura: Then what happened?

They just said, “Well, we didn’t really expect to come out here and change your mind about policy.”

...

They thought maybe I’d be so impressed and so intimidated by who these men were that I would be like, “Oh my gosh, I’ve never thought of it that way. We’ll just pack up and leave right now.”

I said I want to speak to the president, and they said, “Okay, we’ll convey your concerns to the president.”

Laura asks, “So, are you happy, satisfied, going home?”

(Laughter) No, I think I probably will be here for the whole month of August, because we know how George is. He’s so arrogant, and he’s so foolish and he won’t listen to reason. And he would rather have a Gold Star Mother and her supporters swelter in the hot, August Crawford sun than to bring me in. Because, you know what? He’s afraid of me. He’s afraid of what I represent. I represent opposition to him, and I represent the truth. And that frightens him, and we all know that he’s a big coward.

I really probably shouldn't have talked to these two men because they just spewed their lies to me about “George Bush really believed there were weapons of mass destruction” And what we’re doing by occupying Iraq is protecting America. I argued back that, knowing the true facts of the WMDs, we’re not protecting America or keeping America safer. They also said, if we don’t fight them over there we’ll have to fight them over here, which I think is very arrogant and very racist to take our battles to Iraq and kill tens of thousands of innocent people.

Like last night, the Secret Service kept warning us that if we stayed we’d probably be hit by a car. I called my friends and had them post on the Daily Kos what the Secret Service was saying. Because I just wanted America to know that if we got hit by a car last night, it probably would have been the Secret Service.

They were intimidating us into leaving, that’s for sure. So we put that out on the internet, because I know that the more people know I’m here and what’s going on, the less chance of anything happening.

Laura asked how many people, and what groups, are with Cindy.

About 20 people. Veterans for Peace , people from the peace group in Austin, Code Pink , and Diplomats for Change.

How can people support you?

We need more people here…we’re getting a lot of press attention and it would be nice for as many people to come whenever they can come. To show them that, truly, 61% of American people want this war over and believe it was a mistake to begin with. So lets show them that. There’s also vigils and protests and demonstrations being organized around the country. People should go to the Progressive Democrats of America site, or After Downing Street. Daily Kos is posting a lot of events that are happening and ways to support us.

Laura noted that a way to make sure Cindy and her supporters were safe would be to have some police protection for her, or put up some of those wooden horses, and asked if they have been offered any such support.

Absolutely none. And the Secret Service didn’t even stop by today. If they did, I was planning to say you better make sure nothing happens to us, because if anything does happen, the world is going to think that you did it.

Joe Hagin told me yesterday that the president really cares for the soldiers and really cares for the families. Well, if he does, why am I sitting out here in the heat? One way to protect us would be to meet with me so that I can go home.

Laura mentions that the White House was going to put out a press release saying that Bush had already met with Cindy.

They didn'’t even know that until yesteday when I told them. Joe Hagin told me that he goes with the president when he meets with families, and that George Bush really cares about the soldiers and the families, and I said, “Don’t even tell me that! Because I met with him before, and that man doesn’t even have an ounce of compassion in his body.” And he looked really surprised. Don’t you think that’s something they would have known about before they had this little tete-a-tete with me yesterday?

Besides, why is my meeting in June of 2004 relevant, over 1100 more soldiers are dead since then, the Downing Street Memo report came out, the Senate intelligence report has come out, and the 9/11 Comission report has come out. Saddam is gone, they’ve had free democratic elections in Iraq, and our troops are still there.

So him meeting with me in June of 2004, when I was still a mother who was deeply in shock has no relevance on today.

Laura says that Texans often get a bad rap, but wanted to note that there are Crawfordians there supporing Cindy, and the local paper, The Iconoclast has got a reporter following her every move.

Yes, yesterday they were posting hourly updates. I don’t know if they still are, but The Iconoclast is great. They endorsed John Kerry for president and they have been very supportive. Also, the Crawford Peace House has been very supportive, and I think they’re doing something amazing, to have a peace house in the middle of Bush country. And that’s another thing people can do. Tomorrow the Crawford Peace House is going to set up a PayPal account, and if people want to they can donate money there, because they are MY support. They’re feeding me, I can go take showers—it’s my house while I am here.

Laura says that Wednesday August 10 there will be a press conference, march and rally in Cindy’s support in Washington D.C. That’s being organized by United for Peace and Justice, Code Pink and others. She asked Cindy if she was surprised by all of the support she is getting.

I am totally amazed, but I’m not surpised because I’ve traveled the country, and I know a lot of people care about this issue and just wanted something that they could do.

Laura ends the segment by telling Cindy that a lot of people around the country have her back.