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| 6.1.07 |
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NOW on the News with Maria Hinojosa |
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» More about this interview
DAVID BRANCACCIO: We're joined now by Cindy Sheehan, who has just announced she is leaving the anti-war movement. You'll know Ms. Sheehan as the woman who camped outside of President Bush's ranch in Texas back in 2005. She was demanding to meet with the President to talk about the death of her son, Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, who was killed in an ambush in Baghdad.
Since then, she's become one of the most recognizable and at times most controversial, faces in the anti-war movement in both the United States and around the world. But now she says she had had enough. Cindy Sheehan, welcome.
CINDY SHEEHAN: Thank you.
BRANCACCIO: You were so heavily involved in the anti-war movement. Then just the other day, you quit. What happened?
SHEEHAN: Heavily involved I think might be even an understatement. You know, this had consumed my life. It was a 24/7--mission to me. And I--you know, I just feel after last week when the Democrats, you know, just voted to give George Bush more money to wage his war without any conditions on it, just gave him another blank check. And then when I was so disgusted with the Democratic Party, you know, I just cut all ties.
And I sent a letter to Congress, the Democratic Congress--telling them why I was cutting the ties. And I was really discouraged at that point, thinking that I, you know, have been really spinning my wheels. And when I did that, I started getting attacked. And--and this is--you know, not a new thing for me, being attacked from the right and being attacked from the left. But when the people on the left started, you know, calling me the same names that the people on the right do, I just thought, "I'm going to go home."
Another event that happened is I got a phone call from my oldest daughter. And it was Memorial Day, she had just been to--in the cemetery and had put flowers on Casey's grave, and she was really upset. And I thought, "I should be home with my kids." And it's not a decision I came to lightly. It's one I've been thinking about since last summer when I had--really bad health issues and almost passed away.
BRANCACCIO: It sounds like you feel that you're under pressure from the left to direct your specific criticisms toward the Bush administration. And if you started saying things about Democrats who are now quite powerful in Washington, then you're being sort of pushed out of the camp.
SHEEHAN: Exactly. I think my behavior and my philosophy, my goals, my mission has been very consistent. I think now I wasted my efforts against the Democrats. But why would I be still working--with Republicans? They're not in power any more. The Democrats are in power. So they're the ones that we have to direct our activism towards.
BRANCACCIO: Now, you say "wasted your efforts." Now, I know the vote didn't go your way last week, and that was a very key vote, about continuing or not continuing funding for the war in Iraq. But when you began your public protests, one poll I saw had 55 percent of Americans against the war. These days it's 72 percent. I mean, from your perspective your efforts have not been completely in vain.
SHEEHAN: We were super effective in bringing the face of pain and suffering to the forefront of America to let America know the cost of these wars. We were effective about exposing the lives on a very national public platform. You know, I think my mission, my activism has reached a brick wall.
And, you know, that's fine. You know, we've exposed a chink in the Bush armor. And we've ex--I think we've exposed that and exploited that as far as we can. I mean, George Bush's approval ratings are--historically low for any President. And, you know, that's what--one thing that really, really discourages me, is that George Bush has no popular support. His administration is crumbling, you know, from corruption and--from deceit, and the Democrats still couldn't--couldn't send him a stronger bill?
And, you know, if you vetoed it, fine. He would be the one that quote unquote was "not supporting the troops." But when the Democrats sent him that weak bill, they're the ones that bought the war now. They're the ones that own the war.
BRANCACCIO: I have to ask you this, though. There are many people who are furious about the reasons given for going to war, think the war effort was a colossal mistake. But these same people also feel that the United States military has to stay in for the long haul to prevent a horrible situation from getting even worse.
SHEEHAN: Well, I just want to ask those people how long do we let the country of Iraq get worse and worse and worse? It's getting worse every day. No matter how many troops infuses into that situation, it just gets worse. What--you know, what would it have to look like before people would say, "Oh, this isn't working." Is it going to have to go ten or fifteen years like Vietnam did? Are we going to have to lose 60,000 of our soldiers? Are we going to have to--decimate the country of Iraq further before we finally wake up and say, "This occupation is not working?"
BRANCACCIO: Are you still angry about how personal a lot of the criticism of you has been? I mean, some people have said that you brought harm to our troops with your outspokenness. Some have even gone so far as to say that you--you've seen this, exploited your son's death. Are you angry about that? What do you say back to them?
SHEEHAN: When I was getting attacked by the right, that was one thing. I expected that. It didn't hurt me at all. In fact, it bounced off me. And, you know, a lot of it was amusing to me.
When people like Bill O'Reilly would--get on the TV and say that, you know, I was being backed by the big money of George Soros. And he was talking about how, you know, he had to expose me because I'm being backed by big money. And I looked at my assistant and I said, "No, really, Tiffany. Could you get George Soros on the phone and find out where that check is?"
BRANCACCIO: Did you ever get the purported George Soros check?
SHEEHAN: No, I never have gotten any backing from George Soros, that's for sure.
BRANCACCIO: So that sort of criticism from the right, you say bounced off of you. But some other kind of criticism hurt, right?
SHEEHAN: One thing that the piece of criticism, no matter what it came from, was that I was a bad mother. That was probably, you know, the thing that--that would hurt me the most. And my oldest daughter called me one time when she heard that. And she goes, "Mom, your three children love you, and we think you're a good mother, and we're the only ones that count."
BRANCACCIO: You've also mentioned that you were very disappointed by how, as you see it, egos have played out among progressive opposition to the war. What did you mean by that?
SHEEHAN: There's been quite, you know, a bit of that in the peace movement, where people--think that vision of--the right has of me of being somebody supported by big money, somebody who is living in the lap of luxury because of my son's death. And I think maybe some of the people on the left bought into that, and were extremely jealous of me getting what they thought was all of the attention. You know, the smears, the--lies, the--people are very--written entire books lying about me. And--the death threats that, you know, it's just a--was a very arduous life.
BRANCACCIO: You know, you quite famously used that US government check that followed the death of your son to buy some property in Crawford, Texas, so you'd have a--a base that you owned to set up your protest. You still own that?
SHEEHAN: Yeah, I still have Camp Casey. It's up for sale.
BRANCACCIO: Really? You're trying to unload it now?
SHEEHAN: I think it's served its purpose. George Bush will be moving pretty soon.
BRANCACCIO: I travel around the country almost constantly in my line of work and have talked to people about you. Sometimes you do provoke, frankly, fury. And there are a lot of people I've talked to who feel really empowered by you, Cindy Sheehan. A person, a woman, who tragically lost her son in Iraq, and then said that you're going to fight for what you believe is just. But they want to know from you. Really? We're never going to hear from you again? Is this really the end of America's relationship with Cindy Sheehan?
SHEEHAN: I can't see myself sitting on a rocker on my front porch. We're going to pull back and regroup and figure out a better way to come at this now. And I'm grateful that what I did has energized some people. And hopefully that this will energize people to--you know, become more involved or even to become involved in the peace movement. And we--you know, we will be back. And after we get some rest, and after I get some of my health issues taken care of, I think that we'll be able to come back stronger.
BRANCACCIO: What do you hope happens out there in the real world of policy? What is the outcome that you're hoping will finally come from your efforts?
SHEEHAN: I want the people of America to internalize the fact that America is slipping into a corporately controlled government. And if the people of America do not rise up, take ownership of our country, we're going to lose it forever.
BRANCACCIO: Well, Cindy Sheehan, thank you very much.
SHEEHAN: Thank you, David. It was awesome talking to you.
BRANCACCIO: To find out more about Cindy Sheehan, you can visit our website, PBS.org/NOW is the way to do it. You can also send us your comments about our discussion. Again, go to pbs.org/now. This program was produced by Karin Kamp. Thanks for listening. I'm David Brancaccio.
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