Mother of slain soldier demands audience with Bush

Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, Calif., accused President Bush of lying to the nation
about a war which has consumed tens of billions of dollars and claimed ...
HTTP://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/11888623.htm

Mother of slain soldier demands audience with Bush
By Thaddeus DeJesus Tribune-Herald staff writer
Sunday, August 07, 2005
http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2005/08/07/20050807wacsoldierdeath.html

CRAWFORD – Cindy Sheehan shrugged off the Texas heat Saturday afternoon as she sat in the shade a mere four miles from the Western White House.

“It's hot in Iraq and our children are suffering there, and the Iraqi people are suffering,” said Sheehan, whose son was killed in action in Iraq. “If they can do this day after day, month after month, then I can stay here for a few weeks. This is nothing compared to what they're going through.”

Sheehan, 48, of Vacaville, Calif., vowed to stay in Crawford through August until she could get an audience with President George W. Bush, who is spending the month vacationing at his ranch nearby. Earlier in the day, she lead a group of about 50 anti-war demonstrators calling for an end to the war in Iraq.

The protesters were kept at bay by law enforcement officials as they got near Bush's ranch, but they were eventually allowed to gather about four miles from the president's Central Texas retreat. Secret Service agents, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and McLennan County Sheriff's deputies took turns watching the group.

Sheehan's son, 24-year-old U.S. Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, was killed April 4, 2004 in Baghdad's Sadr City when his unit was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. What's made her son's death all the more painful, she said, is the subsequent revelations that there were no ties to Iraq and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the intelligence flaws surrounding Iraq's weapons program. In the prelude to war, Bush administration officials warned that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction posed an imminent threat to the United States and allies.

While coalition forces have found caches of conventional weapons, reserves of nuclear and biological weapons have yet to be found.

“I want him to tell us what honorable cause our sons died for and I don't want him to lie,” Sheehan said.

Some protestors, including Sheehan, got into a heated exchange with peace officers during the gathering. The demonstrators had been asked to keep off the road as they marched toward Bush's ranch house.

But some ignored that order and received a stern warning from law enforcement.

“They wanted to change the rules of engagement, for the lack of a better word,” said McLennan County Sheriff Larry Lynch. “My job is to make sure everyone's safe.”

Despite name-calling and belligerence from some demonstrators, the protest continued without violence or arrests, Lynch said.

The White House responded to the protest, saying the president wants to bring the troops home.

‘‘Many of the hundreds of families the president has met with know their loved one died for a noble cause and that the best way to honor their sacrifice is to complete the mission,'' White House spokesman Trent Duffy said Saturday. ‘‘It is a message the president has heard time and again from those he has met with and comforted. Like all Americans, he wants the troops home as soon as soon as possible.''

Shortly after her son's death, Sheehan helped found Gold Star Families for Peace, which serves as support group primarily for those who have had a family member killed in the Iraq war. As the name implies, the group also moves to end the war.

Sheehan's outspokenness has made her a target. On a memorial Web site for her son, a few posts chastise Sheehan for criticizing the war. A couple of messages even wish death on Sheehan, who was a Catholic youth minister prior to becoming a full-time activist.

Amy Branham said such attitudes are common. Branham's only child, U.S. Army Sgt. Jeremy R. Smith, was killed in a car accident five days before his Fort Hood unit was set to deploy to Iraq.

Branham, 43, of Houston, said she tried to persuade her son to quit the Army, but he believed in the war. Anti-war activism and dissent doesn't denigrate the troops, she said. Rather, the purpose is to save lives and to keep other parents from having to bury a child, she said.

Sheehan and others gathered near the ranch acknowledged that they have “zero percent” chance to see the president. But they said their protest is necessary to highlight the more than 1,800 U.S. troops who have died in the Iraq war.

“This is the best thing we can do for them,” Branham said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

tdejesus@wacotrib.com

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THE REAL REASON WE ARE AT WAR!
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/iraq_reason.htm

TIME MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 13, 2000 - Page 34
FOREIGN EXCHANGE

SADDAM TURNS HIS BACK ON GREENBACKS

Europe's dream of promoting the euro as a competitor
to the U.S. dollar may get a boost from SADDAM HUSSEIN.
Iraq says that from now on, it wants payments for its
oil in euros, despite the fact that the battered
European currency unit, which use to be worth quite
a bit more than $1, has dropped to about 82 cents.
Iraq says it will no longer accept dollars for oil
because it does not want to deal "in currency of the
enemy."

The switch to euros would cost the U.N. a small
fortune in accounting paperwork changes. It would also
reduce the interest earnings and reparations payments
that Iraq is making for damage it caused during the Gulf War,
a shortfall the Iraqis would have to make up.

The move hurts Iraq, the U.N. and the countries receiving
reparations. So why is Saddam doing it? Diplomatic
sources say switching to the euro will favor European
suppliers over U.S. ones in competing for Iraqi contracts,
and the p.r. boost that Baghdad would probably get in
Europe would be another plus.

-By William Dowell/ New York City

====================================================================

The Euro And The War On Iraq
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/iraq_reason.htm