1. “It’s an illegal war!”

Bullshit. Let’s look at the timeline:

• On August 2, 1990, Saddam (having just fought a decade-long war against Iran, and running low on cash) invades Kuwait.
• Four days later, the UN begins sanctions against Iraq. (Remember this, it’ll be important later.)
• Operation Desert Shield began the next day, running through January 15th, 1991, hoping to prevent Saddam from continuing south into the oil fields of Saudi Arabia.
• On 29 November, the UN Security Council passes Resolution 678, authorizing the US-led coalition to use military force to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait.
• On January 15th, Desert Shield became Desert Storm, and, in the words of the Commanding General, “In 100 hours, Iraq went from the fourth largest army in the world to the second largest army in Iraq.”
• Saddam, having been so thoroughly spanked that the persuing Coalition troops hesitate to fire on fleeing troops, and with Iraqi troops surrendering to unarmed news helicopters, accepts a Cease-Fire, as defined by UN Security Council Resolution 687. (Pay attention, now… This is a CEASE-FIRE, not a Peace Treaty.)
• That Cease-Fire had several conditions which Saddam was required to fulfill - to return anything stolen from Kuwait (Paragraph 15), to stop researching WMD programs (and submit a report of anything they already have, for removal and destruction - Paragraphs 8 & 9), to stop supporting International Terrorism (Paragraph 32).
• Not only did Saddam not fulfill any of them, he also attempted to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush, and fired on American jets patrolling the No-Fly Zones.

That first war, started by Saddam, never legally ended. It was a conditional Cease-Fire, but none of the conditions were met. Disregarding that fact, he was firing shots at our military forces and tried to kill a former Head of State. These are Acts of War anywhere on the planet.

So much for it being “an illegal war”. Moving on…

2. “Our troops are dying!”

Not to be flippant to those tragedies (for tragedies they are, for both the immediate family and friends and the nation who has lost its best and brightest), but “well, duh!!”

Look, the job of being a soldier is inherently dangerous. As we have already seen, we were losing military members to training accidents at a MUCH greater rate than we are losing them in Iraq.

“Between 1983 and 1996, 18,006 American military personnel died accidentally in the service of their country. That death rate of 1,286 per year exceeds the rate of combat deaths in Iraq by a ratio of nearly two to one.”

Not to mention that Janeane Garofalo (Left-wing talk show host)admitted it wasn’t “cool” to protest military action under Clinton. Those deaths do not include the ones in Somalia or aboard the USS Cole.

So let’s not kid ourselves, because it isn’t that soldiers are dying. Moving on…

3. “Bush lied, people died”. Funny when asked, the best (and in many cases, ONLY) reason they can come up with is the lack of WMD in Iraq.

But that implies that they supported the war up until that lack had been investigated and proven wrong, doesn’t it? Yet I have not seen a single case in which these people supported the war on Iraq up until the issuing of the Final Report of the Iraqi Survey Group, which came out less than a year ago - September 30, 2004. No, they were against it from the very beginning. So it wasn’t because “Bush lied”.

Moving on…

4. “The inspections were working! We just needed more time!”

Hans Blix disagrees with you.

The substantive cooperation required relates above all to the obligation of Iraq to declare all programs of weapons of mass destruction and either to present items and activities for elimination or else to provide evidence supporting the conclusions that nothing proscribed remains.

Paragraph 9 of Resolution 1441 states that this cooperation shall be “active.” It is not enough to open doors. Inspection is not a game of catch as catch can. Rather, as I noted, it is a process of verification for the purpose of creating confidence. It is not built upon the premise of trust. Rather, it is designed to lead to trust, if there is both openness to the inspectors and action to present them with items to destroy or credible evidence about the absence of any such items.

On 7th of December 2002, Iraq submitted a declaration of some 12,000 pages in response to paragraph 3 of Resolution 1441, and within the time stipulated by the Security Council. In the fields of missiles and biotechnology, the declaration contains a good deal of new material and information covering the period from 1998 and onward.

This is welcome.

One might have expected that in preparing the declaration Iraq would have tried to respond to, clarify and submit supporting evidence regarding the many open disarmament issues which the Iraqi side should be familiar with from the UNSCOM documents 9994 and the so-called Amorim report of March 1999. These are questions which UNMOVIC, governments and independent commentators have often cited.

While UNMOVIC has been preparing its own list of current unresolved disarmament issues and key remaining disarmament tasks in response to requirements in the Resolution 1284, we find the issues listed in the two reports I mentioned as unresolved professionally justified.

These reports do not contend that weapons of mass destruction remain in Iraq, but nor do they exclude that possibility. They point to a lack of evidence and inconsistencies which raise question marks which must be straightened out if weapons dossiers are to be closed and confidence is to arise. They deserve to be taken seriously by Iraq, rather than being brushed aside as evil machinations of UNSCOM.

Regrettably, the 12,000-page declaration, most of which is a reprint of earlier documents, does not seem to contain any new evidence that will eliminate the questions or reduce their number.

Even Iraq’s letter sent in response to our recent discussions in Baghdad to the president of the Security Council on 24th of January does not lead us to the resolution of these issues.

Moving on…

5. “This was a job for the United Nations.”

I’ve actually heard people say this with a straight face. But let us stipulate that the UN was actually capable of ousting Saddam from power, and actually NOT accepting bribes from Saddam. Would the UN have been capable of passing such a war resolution with France threatening to veto - sight unseen - any UNSC Resolution authorizing force against Iraq.

Of course, we now know WHY France didn’t want him deposed, but if the UN couldn’t do it, who’s next? It’s a dirty job, and who else is actually capable of it?

6. “The US military is overstretched"/"what about Iran/North Korea/Saudi Arabia/Syria/anywhere else?”

Ah, yes, the “if we can’t take care of them all at once, we shouldn’t do anything at all” argument. I wonder how they would feel about the criminal justice system having that attitude - cops not allowed to arrest anyone until they can arrest them all, prosecutors not allowed to punish any one criminal until they can imprison them all at once. Firefighters not allowed to put out fires unless they can put them ALL out at once.

That also presumes that the lessons of History don’t matter anymore.

Moving on…

7. “This war is too expensive”

I would argue that it would be more expensive to our economy if we didn’t fight it, but that can’t have been the reason the Libtards were against it before it ever began, since that cost was not determined until the needs were identified and the Supplementary Spending Bills were drafted. Besides, in a Global Conflict of this magnitude, are we going to let a bunch of ragtag cowards hiding in the shadows chase us off the planet (nothing else will satisfy them) because it cost us money? Meanwhile, let’s spend it on National Health Care!

Moving on…

8. “This is a war for oil!"/"No Blood for oil!”

Funny how we’re still buying all that oil, isn’t it? At prices they set, no less…

And if that’s how you really feel, let’s examine all of the ways that you need that oil. Let’s accept that you are driving a car - no, we can’t have that, since you are using gasoline in order to move that car down the road.

Let’s assume that you are taking public transportation - no, we can’t have that, either, since they use more gas per mile than the average car, and pollute more than a fleet of cars. (Have you ever seen the gouts of black smoke they pump out?)

Let’s assume that you are riding a bike - no, we can’t have that, since the tires are rubber. It takes oil products to produce and shape those tires/inner tubes, not to mention all of the plastic parts.

Let’s assume that you don’t use electricity, since that requires oil products to produce that energy, plus all of the lubrication of the generators. You only wear cotton clothes and leather shoes (that you made yourself). You only eat food products that you raise yourself (but without any of those pesticides and fertilizers available through the use of oil products). You do all of these things because to do otherwise would only prove that you are a hypocrite, and we can’t have that, can we?

Moving on…

If Libtards out there want to give up some other reasons why they were against this war in Iraq, rather than just doing anything and everything to bash Bush (because it’s “cool” again to bash the President for using the military), please feel free.

UPDATE: I’ve heard that someone was disturbed by the “Mission Accomplished” carrier landing on May 1, 2003. I’m not sure how this counts as a complaint against the war itself, since all that Bush did was to announce the “end of major combat operations”. And, amazingly enough, there haven’t been any “major combat operations” since that day. So hearing the President tells the truth doesn’t seem to be a valid reason to be against a war that was already over.

Unless they are upset at the political realities of the display, in which case it reverts to a hatred of the man himself, to the point where that “anti-war” individual isn’t against the war so much as against the man who got the ball rolling. Since none of these people were protesting Clinton’s use of the military (sans personal military experience, sans Congressional authorization, sans UN support) because it “wasn’t cool”, then it all boils down to their perception of the Party in Power. If Democrat, all is forgiven. If Republican, nothing is ever good enough.

Which eliminates the need to argue, since it is all about emotion. But only their emotion.

I got up really early today to head back to Camp Casey. On the way, I had some amazing conversations with people. In one of those conversations, I was talking to Tyler who was sitting next to me on one of the planes.

We were not talking about me and what I have been doing. Randomly, he told me he had just been in Texas about an hour north of Crawford. I said: “Wow that’s where I am going and that’s where I have been all month.” He said: “I know I own a television.” I thought that was pretty cute.

Aw, isn’t the little man who recognizes me cute?  And, isn’t it cute that we weren’t talking about me?  Tyler, sorry you had to endure that.  The glow from her saintly halo might have given you 3rd-degree burns.  And, ‘wow’, I said randomly, she sure managed to make sure her stroke-suffering mother was ok.  Hint, Cindy, at the risk of sounding harsh, you can’t bring your son back....take care of your mom!  Oh, sorry, that wouldn’t land you on Page One.  Do I sound as if I think you’re grandstanding?  Yes?  good!  You can hear me.  Let’s move on.

I got to Camp Casey and I arrived with a mom whose son, John, was killed on January 26, 2005, and his wife and baby, who never met his dad. We arrived in Waco at about 4:30 to the local press. The White House Press Corps was still with the president.

DAMN THOSE PRESS PEOPLE!  WHY AREN"T THEY HERE WITH ME?  I RATE NATIONAL PRESS!  Why is the White House Press Corps with the President?  Um....because they are the FRIGGIN WHITE HOUSE PRESS CORPS, NOT THE CINDY SHEEHAN PRESS CORPS!  BTW, there is the Cindy Press Corps...they are called by several names.  CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, and others.  Clamp the pie hole about this....unles you want this to be made into nothing but a national publicity stunt, meant to make the POTUS look bad.  Oh...sorry, that happened...it was called ‘the year 2004’.

When I arrived at Camp Casey II this afternoon I was amazed at what has changed since I was gone. Now, we have a huge tent to get out of the sun; caterers; an orientation tent; a medic tent (with medics); a chapel, etc.

Yeah...isn’t it neat that your socialist allies have money to help you with this?  All the donations from MoveOn.org people and the International ANSWER anti-Americans?  And, isnt it amazing that these people that scream about Christians trying to push their views on other people put up a CHAPEL?  Oh, for the Patron Saint of Suffereing, it isn’t a chapel, it’s a shrine.  I bet they find a holy icon there.....a miraculous protest sign, or something.  And, Camp Casey II?  What the heck is that?  I’ll guess...a place that protestors against Cindy’s little stunt can’t go, or be heard, is included here.  Camp Casey II....did someone check her out for a special permit to erect the tent near the right of way, or something?  who’s land is she on, anyways?  Isn’t it dove season, yet? 

The most emotional thing for me though was walking through the main tent and seeing the huge painting on canvas of Casey. Many things hit me all at once: That this huge movement began because of Casey’s sacrifice; thousands, if not millions of people know about Casey and how he lived his life and the wrongful way in which he was killed; but the thing that hit me the hardest was how much I miss him. I miss him more everyday.

OK...key words...’Casey’s sacrifice’.  Casey’s sacrifice.  he owned it.  he decided on it.  If he didn’t want to put himself in that situation, he didn’t have to do it.  Cindy is out of the loop by her own admission.  Everything else here is her purposeful broadcast....’Oh, he died because Bush was wrong/evil/war for oil/Israel-Palestine/et al.’ Second set of key words:  “...wrongful way in which he was killed..” if you were truly concerned about that, you political self-martyring mobile puty-party, don’t you think you might be a little more angry at the STUPID ISLAMOFASCIST PIECES OF SHIT THAT ACTUALLY KILLED HIM?  No, of course not.  You hate Bush. 

It seems the void in my life grows as time goes on and I realize I am never going to see him again or hear his voice. In addition to all this, the portrait is so beautiful and moving and it captures Casey’s spirit so well. I sobbed and sobbed. I was surrounded by photographers, I looked around until I finally found a friendly face, then the news people crushed in on me and I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t mean to have such a dramatic re-entrance to Camp Casey, but the huge portrait of Casey really surprised me.

This is someone that is having a really hard time dealing with the death of a loved one.  Mature people grieve, then they accept the loss, and move on with love and life.  This woman hasn’t been able to do that....probably because she will not allow her environment to change.  Fact is, if you stay the same, surround yourself with the same people, and never accept change, you will not grow.  Cindy Sheehan has been surrounded by the same anti-Bush and anti-American mongrels for most of the time since Casey gave his live for his country.  They haven’ changed their message....and she’s in that trap.  It’s comfortable, and it garners her all sorts of pity and attention.  Why do you think she basically rushed back to Crawford?  Because they (the support system of leftists, America-haters, and ‘peace’ protestors) are more important to her feelings and emotions than her mother is.  Note the paragraph....her grief is the attention-getter.  If there’s a chapel, go grieve to your God.  He understands.  If the cameras are bothering you, get away from them...but, oops, we just heard you complain that the national press corps weren’t there.  Seems to me those cameras are ecactly where you want them, Cindy.

I can take all of the right wing attacks on me. I have been lied about and to before. Their attacks just show how much I am getting to them and how little truth they have to tell. What really hurts me the most is when people say that I am dishonoring Casey by my protest in Crawford. By wanting our troops to come home alive and well, that I am somehow not supporting them.

OK.....allying yourself with people that support the killers of your son is a bit of a dishonor.  Is that clear?  If not, let me say this:  The truth of the matter is that if we do pull out immediately, so that you’re precious emotions are smoothed, we get Vietnam Mk II.  It doesn’t matter what you want....don’t you get that?  This is bigger than the touchy-feely-hold me-emotional mastubation you crave so much.  This is war....a war that is a world war...and not by this President’s choosing, but by the choosing of Islamofascist dictators that kill millions in a grab for temporal power.  You want emotional pain?  Talk to the millions of Iraqi and the thousands of Afghani mothers that lost sons and daughters.  go to Ground Zero, ask those mothers.  Talk to the vast majority of mothers that get it.  And, they all volunteered to be in the military...a good number now since after 9-11.  THINK, Cindy!  Quit feeling your way through life.  That’s a sign of someone who is at least partially blind.....and that is a great metaphor.  I’ll use it again sometime. 

So, after Joan Baez gave us a great concert tonight, I got up and I talked about Casey.

Oh, THAT’s not a quaint scream for a return to the Vietnam Era, is it?  Can you say, “Living in the past”?

About the sweet boy who grew up to be a remarkable young man. Casey was not always a brave, big soldier man. He was my sweet, sweet baby once. I told the people at the Camp named after him, that when he was about 2 years old, he would come up behind me and throw his arms around my legs, kiss me on the butt and say: “I wuv you mama.”

He was your sweet baby...once.  And, then, he wasn’t.  He was a man, and he decided to go serve his country. 

I also talked about the loving big brother and wonderful, nearly perfect son. Casey was a regular guy who wanted to get married, have a family, be an elementary school teacher, and a Deacon in the Catholic Church. He wanted to be a Chaplain?s assistant in the Army, but was lied to about that also by his recruiter. The last time I talked to him when he called from Kuwait, ! he was on his way to mass.

She can’t come to grips that he was an adult, can she?  He was so ideal, the very idea that he would want to join the Army can’t be looked at rationally through her eyes.  He HAD to have been manipulated.....he HAD to have been tricked somehow.  It is no different than the parents of the children that my wife teaches....when they screw up in class, and get disciplined, the parents go nuts, and say, “NO...my baby would NEVER do that.” He was an adult, and her neurosis is that she cannot accept that.  Because she hates the President, and is a leftist, he could NEVER be like that!  He was an innocent child!  That Bush character misled him!  My baby boy would never do that!  Please....and the careers he wanted to follow...all a little perfect, arent they?  All wholesome and good and holy.  Lastly, to be a Chaplain’s assistant, don’t you have to strike for that rating?  I don’t think there is a school for that right out of Basic training, is there?  Someone let me know.....

For Casey to even join the Army, let alone being killed in battle was the thing that was most uncharacteristic of him. He was a gentle and kind soul who only wanted to help others. What did his untimely and unnecessary death accomplish? It accomplished reinvigorating a peace movement that was sincere, but not very active—or if active, not well covered by the main stream media.

“He was the perfect son...he would never just up and join the Army.” What.  A.  CROCK.  He DID!  At the age of 20! Then, at 24, he did it again!  And as for the peace movement....it is still waning, still the refuge of American anarchists, socialists, and anti-American interests, and still licking up all the vomit that comes from your mouth.  And, he didn’t do that, Cindy, YOU did...or, at least you tried to do that.  That’s why I have said it’s all about you....because it is.  All about Cindy, and how she is grieving for her baby boy.  All about the liars that killed him.  As I said, WHAT A CROCK.

Joan sang the song Joe Hill In it Joe Hill says: “I never died.” Well, looking out at the faces here at Camp Casey, and knowing that for everyone who is present here, there are thousands of others who support our work, I am convinced that Casey never died, and he never will. When I look into the eyes of the kind and gentle souls who have come here, I see Casey and the faces of all the others killed in George Bush’s war for greed and profit. We will never forget them and we will honor them by working for peace.

Joan also performed it at Woodstock.  And this is just like that...with the people that are here to share the groove, man....to share in the love and the feeling and the real deal, man.....the man is wrong, dude...he just wants to put you DOWN!!!

Please.  Bush isn’t a damned copper baron, and your boy isn’t Joe friggin’ Hill.  You WANT him to be, and you NEED him to be, but he isn’t.  Sorry, Cindy, but he wanted to serve.  You are the one that wants to be the martyr, Cindy.  Trying to change your son’s memory, and his very person, doesn’t say much for you, as a mother, or someone that desires honesty and peace.  It defines you as a opportunist, and somewhat as a hypocrite. 

Joan also sang “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” A thousand angels waiting there for me? I know Casey will be waiting for me when it is my turn, and I know when I finally get there he?’s going to hug me and say: “Good job, Mom.”

No...she’s not looking for attention.  Nope.  Not a bit.  Here’s what I think will happen.  She’ll get to Heaven, her son will meet her, be glad she’s there, and when she makes this pitiful request for attention, and he’ll say, “Mom...I was enbarassed by what you did.  You did it for YOU, not ME.” Maybe then she’ll understand.  A good example?  This Star Trek episode. 

Comment freely.  It makes me happy.  And I don’t need a chapel, or a painting, of the WHPC to do that for me.