Reflections on the 4th Anniversary of Camp Casey

By Cindy Sheehan

So much has happened in the last four years since about seven dozen of us marched down Prairie Chapel Road on August 05, 2005, in Crawford, Tx to confront the now disgraced President George W. Bush!

Our little protest of a few people grew to tens of thousands of people all over the world who resonated with my simple question: “What Noble Cause?” What was a little spark on a hot and dusty small road in Texas turned into a blazing inferno of peace and justice that I never even imagined would happen. From Camp Casey to Peace has been a long road, but after much toil, we have finally arrived.

During that summer in August of 2005 of sweltering in constant 100+ degree-days (and nights), our country also experienced the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and with our protest on the literal doorstep of the Idiot Emperor, George Bush, his regime was killed by his inept handling of both situations.

The part that Camp Casey had in bringing the Bush Regime down is particularly satisfying to me, since Camp Casey was named after my son, Casey Sheehan, aged 24 who was killed in Iraq on April 04, 2004. I believed even before Casey was killed that the war was wrong and I tried unsuccessfully to talk Casey out of going, even telling him, only half in jest that I would run over his legs with the car before he left. Since Casey was killed, I worked overtime to expose George Bush for the liar he was/is and in the Summer of ’05, many people caught on.

As a matter of fact, we caught on so well, that the Democrats were swept to victory in 2006 and despite my skepticism at first, they really started to “clean house” in DC and the end for Dick and George was hastened when under Democratic leadership, the very first war funding bill that George Bush tried to get passed was rejected by a narrow vote, but miraculously, the Democrats stuck together and Bush’s two wars of his choice for profit began to unravel and with it the Presidency of George Bush.

Buoyed by the success of the battle for control of the Nation’s purse strings, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, John Conyers, intrepid Democrat from Michigan, incredibly followed through with his promise to hold George Bush and Dick Cheney accountable, and began impeachment proceedings.

The Chairman, who is the hero of about 75% of everyone here in America, and 99% of world citizens, was supported by such organizations as World Can’t Wait, Drive out the Bush Regime; ImpeachBush.org and After Downing Street, of course I joined all of these organizations in working for accountability.

Once the hearings got rolling, it was the revelation of one despicable crime after the other, that began to really put the hubris and greed of the ruling class in sharp focus for everyone that didn't have a stone for a brain. The rest is history! The ruling class began to turn on BushCo and in one of the finest moments in our Republic’s relatively short history, Bush and Cheney were forced to resign in disgrace in an unprecedented double-dutch treat for the world! We all remember that day…if you weren’t drunk on champagne, that is, like me!

House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi ably stepped up to her Constitutionally mandated roll as 2nd in line to the President and bravely never pardoned George and Dick! Wasn’t that a fine day when we all watched George, Dick and many other members of BushCo reporting to duty at Ft. Leavenworth to serve their imprisonments for life for high crimes and misdemeanors and treason? What a glorious time to be alive!

(Note: Click here to contribute to the Pelosi/Conyers' Monument in DC Fund)

Now that BushCo have been held accountable, our current president is fearful of the power of the people, and rightfully so, because a sleeping giant was awakened, first on Prairie Chapel Road and now throughout this great nation of ours.

Even though, by default, Nancy Pelosi became our first female President, she never wanted the job and gladly handed it over to Barack Obama on January 20, 2009 and then she went back to San Francisco to be a grandmother and community servant.

No one was happier than I when Barack Obama did not turn out to be yet another puppet of the Military Industrial Complex and in his first 100 days, our collective heads spun as he, signed executive orders to: immediately close Guantanamo, Bagram (in Afghanistan) and all other torture prisons; repeal the USA PATRIOT ACT (which we progressives feared that he supported because he voted to extend it as a Senator); repeal the FISA Modernization Act and, in fact, repealed FISA, since we have a Bill of Rights, anyway; repeal the Military Commissions’ Act and restored Habeas Corpus! What less did we expect when he appointed mavericks and wise elders (male and female) to his Cabinet and not war mongers and Wall Street mavens as all prior administrations were wont to do?

President Obama’s bold leadership put the final nail in the coffin of the occupations and during the 2nd hundred days, now, our troops are returning home to, not hero’s welcomes, but sober welcomes befitting the terrible way they were used.

The money being saved on the Death and Destruction of Empire is not only being put to good use, but is healing our economy as untold countless billions (if not trillions) are staying here in America to support good jobs, health care, education, and renewable and sustainable forms of energy.

Just think where this nation would be if instead of taking un-Americanlike action on August 6th, 2005, I had stayed in my safe home for fear of failure or worse?

Then I woke up and realized that none of these things happened and we are still in the Imperial Dog House, but now its roof is leaking and the steps are sagging badly.

I see signs of this country coming out of the “Hope”-nosis of Obama as positive change is not even in the forecast but the reawakening is not happening fast enough and we really need everyone to walk towards the light of truth and peace if we ever want to see any of my dreams become reality!

Stay tuned to Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox for exciting ways we can also hold Obama and the Robber Class accountable as we did Bush coming up in the fall!