Leave that Poor Man Alone by Cindy Sheehan

Leave the Poor Man Alone!
Cindy Sheehan

I, maybe more than any other progressive Texas outsider, know that not everyone in The Lone Star State is a Neanderthal, Bush-loving, redneck.

Thousands of people from all over the state came out to join me in protest near Bush’s PR Ranch in Crawford, Texas. There is always two things Texans want me to know: 1) Bush IS NOT a Texan, and 2) not everyone in Texas is a Neanderthal, Bush-loving, redneck.

Having said all that, I was treated to some very ignorant statements on a blog about a protest sponsored by the Dallas Peace House in front of the Bush’s new Dallas home this upcoming Monday that I am joining.

This old nugget has been appearing on right-wing blogs with increasing frequency lately: Yes, the same "grieving" mother who didn't even raise her son who has used the life of a valuable soldier and honorable man for her anti-war political rant. She needs her own life...

Just who do these people think “raised” Casey? An au pair? A nanny? We Sheehan’s are not the Bush’s or Pelosi’s…we actually raise our own children. Casey’s dad and I were married for 28 years and had three more children after Casey. This is the Rovian myth that I “left” Casey’s dad when Casey was 3, 4, or 7 and a stepmother raised Casey. In reality, it was the first and only marriage for both of us and neither one of us has children with anyone else. Facts are an easy thing to check, but truth is not as tawdry as their ridiculous lies.

Besides, even if I did leave Casey’s dad when Casey was 3, 4, or 7, my supposed rotten mothering would not give legitimacy to their two illegal and immoral wars.

In the blog there are a lot of inaccuracies, but these people don’t care about fact or reality: they care about propping up and still supporting someone who used his Presidency to enrich his oil buddies and break almost every amendment in the Bill of Rights and shred this country’s laws to pieces. Bush left office with a rating that was even lower than his I.Q. and he probably purchased a house in one of the only neighborhoods in this world where he wouldn’t be guaranteed a nightly flaming bag of dog poo on his porch.

Many people commenting on the blog also wish that I would “Leave that poor man alone.” He’s not president anymore and we shouldn’t be protesting someone who can’t do anything about the war anymore, anyway.

I think the people making the comments really believe that we are going to protest so Bush will bring the troops home. It didn’t work when he was president, so why should it work when he is Citizen Village Idiot?

We are protesting in front of Bush’s Dallas home because we are tired of American presidents committing war crimes and crimes against humanity and getting away with it to live long lives of bar-be-que, golf and revisionist history to repair their scandalous legacies.

We are protesting because HE is the one who ordered our troops into war and is responsible for over one million deaths. Bush is the one who allowed his DOJ? (Department of Justice?) to formulate plans for torture and indefinite detention contravening our own law and international law.

We are protesting because we are tired of the Democrats protecting the criminal Bush administration and we want to keep accountability on our table, even if it’s off the Democrat’s. Don’t worry, we all realize that the Democrats are in power now and won’t and don’t cut those scoundrels any slack, either.

I am protesting because I don’t have the option of “retiring” and leading a normal (whatever that is) life. There are no term limits on the pain of burying a child who was killed and abused by the government of his country. Longing for my son, I still toss and turn at night and ache during the day.

I am protesting because there are hundreds of thousands of mothers in the Middle East who have not only lost children, but also their homes and communities and who have no voice here in America.

I am protesting because almost 3000 Americans were killed on September 11th, and the Bush Administration did nothing to protect them and, in fact, through criminal negligence and wanton disregard for other’s safety, allowed it to happen.

I am protesting because in the guise of “fighting the war on terror” my civil liberties were attacked here at home. From the USA PATRIOT ACT to the FISA Modernization Act to Obama’s doctrine of “indefinite detention,” we are far less free than we were on September 10, 2001.

I am protesting because George planned these crimes even before he became president and he and his colleagues need to be brought to justice.

Why can’t Casey have justice? Why can’t the 5000 other troops who have died have justice? Why can’t all those people who have been killed or tortured have justice?

We can’t “look forward” if we don’t fix what’s behind us. Republicans and Democrats alike flee from justice like rats running from this stinking and sinking ship of state. It is up to We the People to never “Leave that poor man alone” for what he has done to the world.

The only thing that might keep our stinking and sinking ship of state afloat is if We the People demand that the rule of law extend from the top all the way to the bottom and back up again.