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Cindy Sheehan: "I Was Just a Spark That Lit This Fire"
Army Vet Ann Wright Running "Field Operations for Peace,
Not War"
Mother Nadia McCaffrey Showed the World a Casualty of the
Iraq War
State Senator Becky Lourey Lost Her Son in Iraq, Now She’s
Fighting Against the War
Navy Officer Charlie Anderson: "We Don't Need Yellow
Ribbons, We Need Help, We Need Jobs"
F.B.I. Whistle-Blower Colleen Rowley Says No to Occupation
Crawford Peace House Supports Camp Casey
Cindy Sheehan: "I Was Just a Spark That Lit
This Fire"
Broadcasting on location from Crawford, Texas, Democracy
Now bring you the voices of military families and anti-war
activists who are speaking out against the occupation of Iraq.
Cindy Sheehan left Crawford last night to attend to her sick
mother, but we caught up with her on her way out of Texas.
[includes rush
transcript]
Cindy Sheehan had to leave Crawford temporarily after her
mother suffered a stroke. She spoke with Democracy Now! in
the airport on her way to Los Angeles. She said that also
she left her vigil without meeting with President Bush, she
said, "This Camp Casey movement is bigger than me. It's
growing, it's bigger than any of us."
Cindy Sheehan went on, "I believe that it is my right
and responsibility as an American to question our government
when our government is wrong. I'm not one of the immature
patriots who say my country right or wrong because my country
is wrong now, and my country-the policies of my country are
responsible for killing tens of thousands of innocent people,
and I won't stand by and let that happen anymore."
Army Vet Ann Wright Running "Field Operations
for Peace, Not War"
Ann Wright spent 26 years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves.
She was a diplomat in the State Department for 15 years before
resigning in March 2003, protesting the then-impending invasion
of Iraq.
Longtime diplomat Ann Wright is running Camp Casey. She told
Democracy Now!, that in the past, "if you had planned
to come to Crawford in the middle of the hot summer in August,
no one would have come with you, if you had planned it. But
spontaneously, we have now been here 11 days in the most intense
heat that you can imagine of west Texas. Some of the most
intense heat thunderstorms."
Ann White described the new site for Camp Casey on the property
of one of Bush's neighbors. She told us, "The neighbor
of President Bush, a brave man here in Texas, who came to
us and said, you have the right to free speech. We know that
you are in the ditches. You should have a better facility
than just the ditches."
- Ann Wright, longtime U.S. diplomat and Army veteran.
She is coordinating Camp Casey.
Mother Nadia McCaffrey Showed the World a Casualty
of the Iraq War
Nadia McCaffrey’s son Patrick was killed in Iraq in
June 2004. His death received national attention after Nadia
invited the press to Sacramento International Airport to record
images of his flag-draped coffin returning home, contravening
U.S. military policy.
The U.S. military prohibits news media to photograph the
coffins of dead American soldiers returned from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nadia McCaffrey refused to go along with that policy and invited
the press to view her son Patrick’s coffin at the Sacramento
International Airport in 2004. She said, “My son left
for Iraq with a big smile on his face, and he was waving at
us to cheer us up. Now, why should I hide him when he comes
home? I’m proud of him. I love him, and I wanted the
world to witness this.”
Nadia McCaffrey told Democracy Now! that she joined Cindy
Sheehan in Crawford to show her opposition to Bush’s
policies. She said, "I had to be here. I had to support
Cindy and I had to support the mothers. I came because what
she started is very important. I think it’s going to
make history. This is the first time when we have some attention."
- Nadia McCaffrey, her son Patrick was killed in Iraq in
June 2004.
State Senator Becky Lourey Lost Her Son in Iraq,
Now She’s Fighting Against the War
Minnesota State Senator Becky Lourey lost her son Matt in
Iraq earlier this year. She has been one of the foremost voices
working against the war in Minnesota.
Becky Lourey is a Minnesota State Senator. Her son, Matt,
was killed in Iraq in May 2005. Lourey was a leading opponent
in her state of the invasion of Iraq. In March 2003, she authored
an antiwar resolution signed by eighteen other state senators.
She said she spoke out against the Iraq war because “this
war is alienating us from the rest of the world, and I believe
that this occupation in Iraq is making Americans less safe."
- State Senator Becky Lourey, D-MN. Her son Matt was killed
in Iraq in May 2005.
Navy Officer Charlie Anderson: "We Don't Need
Yellow Ribbons, We Need Help, We Need Jobs"
Navy Officer Charlie Anderson participated in the invasion
of Iraq in March 2003. He is at Camp Crawford to ask questons
about how the Bush administration managed the invasion and
to challenge the post-invasion policies. [includes rush
transcript]
Navy Officer Charlie Anderson wants to question Bush administration
about his handling of the invasion of Iraq. He told Democracy
Now!, “I want to know why I was sent into an unnecessary
war without body armor, in an unarmored humvee...and how Mr.
Bush can claim that he supports the troops while he continues
to cut the V.A. Budget and to scale back services.”
We speak with Charlie Anderson about the education and health
care needs of veterans and the lack of support from the Bush
administration.
- Charlie Anderson, Petty Officer 2nd Class, U.S. Navy,
assigned to the second marine division, second tank battalion
5th regimental combat team.
Mom Protests War on Eve of Son's Deployment to Iraq
Mimi Evans came to Camp Casey from Massachusetts because
her son is soon to be deployed to fight a war she doesn't
believe in.
Mimi Evans is anxious regarding her son's impending deployement
in Iraq. She said, “My son is going to Iraq based on
lies, and...nothing has come forward – nothing to show
any of us mothers that our sons are going there to fight for
a noble cause.”
- Mimi Evans, her son is a marine who is about to be deployed
to Iraq.
F.B.I. Whistle-Blower Colleen Rowley Says No to Occupation
Colleen Rowley was named the “Time” person of
the year. She went from F.B.I informant to F.B.I. whistleblower.
She spoke out on the war in Iraq and visits Camp Casey from
her home in Minnesota.
Colleen Rowley retired from the F.B.I and blew the whistle
on pre-9/11 intelligence failures. Time Magazine named her
person of year in 2002.
She says she is visiting Camp Casey with Senator Becky Lourey
of Minnesota because, “I was essentially issuing a warning
that launching an attack on Iraq would prove couterproductive
to the couterterrorism efforst...It is really sad that not
only Bush, but no other federal governmental official really
will take the time to explain exactly what is going on in
Iraq.”
- Colleen Rowley, former FBI informant turned whistleblower.
Crawford Peace House Supports Camp Casey
The activist community center, Crawford Peace House is hosting
Camp Casey. We speak with Peace House spokesperson Hadi Jawad.
Hadi Jawad works for the Crawford Peace House, which was
founded two and a half years ago. Jawad says the Peace House
and efforts like Camp Casey are reaching out locally to residents
of the Conservative town of Crawford.
- Hadi Jawad, Crawford Peace House
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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