# Cindy Sheehan

Cindy Sheehan (born July 10, 1957) is an American anti-Iraq war activist and the mother of US Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, who was killed in action at age 24 in Sadr City, Iraq, on April 4, 2004, just five days after arriving in the country for duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
She gained national attention beginning on August 6, 2005 when she traveled to the Prairie Chapel Ranch belonging to President George W. Bush just outside Crawford, Texas during the President's vacation there, to demand a second meeting with the President and a longer explanation of the war and its causes.

## Quotes
### 2004

* I didn't say that my son died for Israel. I've never said that. I saw somebody wrote that and it wasn't my words. Those aren't even words that I would say.
** Cindy Sheehan Sheehan says someone else made up the "my son died for Israel" quote that has been attributed to her Interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN CNN.com (4 March 2004)
* I'm finished crying for Casey. I'm crying for all the other mothers.
** While visiting Her son's cross at the Arlington West memorial in Santa Barbara, California, on Mother's Day, Newspress.com (7 May 2004)
* George, it has been seven months today since your reckless and wanton foreign policies killed my son, my big boy, my hero, my best-friend: Casey.
** Cindy Sheehan An Open Letter to George W. Bush from Cindy Sheehan Free Republic, (4 November 2004)

### 2005

* We are waging a nuclear war in Iraq right now. That country is contaminated. It will be contaminated for practically eternity now.
** At a [Pro-Lynne Stewart rally at San Francisco State University http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/Articles/Stewartrally.htm Sponsors included National Lawyers Guild, Campaign to End the Death Penalty, the International Socialist Organization, and the Campus Antiwar Network] (27 April 2005)]
* Iraq was not involved in 9-11, Iraq was not a terrorist state. But now that we have decimated the country, the borders are open, freedom fighters from other countries are going in, and they [the U.S. government] have created more terrorism by going to an Islamic country...
** Interview with CBS News' Mark Knoller, upon her arrival in Crawford, Texas(6 August 2005)
* This is George Bush’s accountability moment.
** Blog entry, Huffington Post (11 August 2005)
* How many more of our loved ones need to die in this senseless war?
** Gold Star families TV Commercial, Huffington Post, (12 August 2005)
* 1) We want our loved ones' sacrifices to be honored by bringing our nation's sons and daughters home from the travesty that is Iraq IMMEDIATELY, since this war is based on horrendous lies and deceptions. Just because our children are dead, why would we want any more families to suffer the same pain and devastation that we are.
* 2) We would like for him to explain this "noble cause" to us and ask him why Jenna and Barbara are not in harm's way, if the cause is so noble.
* 3) If George is not ready to send the twins, then he should bring our troops home immediately. We will demand a speedy withdrawal.
** Press release from Gold Star Families for Peace, (August 2005)
* They can't ignore us, and they can't put us down. Thank God for the Internet, or we wouldn't know anything, and we would already be a fascist state.
** Media conference call National Review (11 August 2005)
* The people who are slamming me have no idea about what it feels like to unjustly have a child killed in an insane war.
** Blog entry huffingtonpost.com, (13 August2005)
* First of all, I was having fun. I was with a group of good-humored, cheerful, happy people. We were singing old protest songs and old Sunday school songs and clapping. I felt I had to be cheerful to set the tone. We didn't want any trouble or to do anything non-peaceful. Secondly, when I got arrested and the officers lifted me out I was afraid that America would see my underwear and that tickled me.
** Why I Was Smiling and Hurricane Rita, Huffington Post, (27 September 2005)

### 2007

* Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not afraid of anything.
** Sheehan, in Cuba, protests Guantanamo prison," MSNBC (6 January 2007)
* I am tired of the warmakers making war with our children. I am tired of our tired troops being sent over to do the dirty work for mob bosses who are going to squeeze the life out of Iraq and not leave until every asset and every natural resource has been raped from the country. I am tired of seeing Iraqis burying their loved ones and hearing the reverberating screams of mothers all over our country who are being destroyed for the benefit of a very few.
** Blog entry (15 January 2007)
* I don't speak for anyone but Cindy.
** (Chico CA May 2007)

### 2017

* Presidents are humans, too… it is really awkward to be with parents who have buried a child. There isn’t really anything anyone can say that isn’t somewhat hurtful. However, since I publicly opposed the wars and U.S. empire, I have heard, “He knew what he was signing up for,” many times. It’s simply not true, like I said before.
** ‘Bush Was No Better’ Than Donald Trump, Daily Beast (23 November 2017)
* As far as I know from personal experience and talking to other vets, particularly since 9/11, recruiters promise all kinds of benefits and promise young people that they won’t have to go to war at all. That’s what Casey’s recruiter told him in 2000. “Tell your mom, even if there is a war, you won’t see combat, because you are such a high-value recruit.” Casey was killed in combat a few days after arriving in Iraq.
** ‘Bush Was No Better’ Than Donald Trump, Daily Beast (23 November 2017)
* Many U.S. troops occupy countries that are no threat to the U.S. and many innocent civilians have been killed. I don’t find that heroic at all. But most “grunts” are from poor, working-class.... So they believe the recruiters and join the military. I see most of the U.S. military as victims, not heroes. Of course, no one statement covers everything adequately.
** ‘Bush Was No Better’ Than Donald Trump, Daily Beast (23 November 2017)
* War is barbaric. Trump has proven himself to be a loose cannon who doesn’t seem to have very many social graces. But Bush was no better. I wish the conversation was about the barbarism of war... Where is the movement to oppose U.S. wars, instead of liberal handwringing over botched messages of condolence?
** ‘Bush Was No Better’ Than Donald Trump, Daily Beast (23 November 2017)
* What can a president say, “Sorry your loved one was killed so the U.S. could make sure that we had complete control over all of (fill in the blank name of country)’s natural resources and so that Boeing, Halliburton, and Raytheon could have massive profits?” Better that the barbarism of wars for profit ends.
** ‘Bush Was No Better’ Than Donald Trump, Daily Beast (23 November 2017)
* I still get my fair share of hate messages. But the messages from people who outright apologize to me for “hating” me and who tell me they have since changed their minds outnumber those.
** ‘Bush Was No Better’ Than Donald Trump, Daily Beast (23 November 2017)

### 2018

* As a child of the Cold War, my experience with Cuba and its lovely people, has done more than almost anything, except Casey’s murder, to highlight the treachery and viciousness of the U.S. Empire that killed Casey and has oppressed, or killed millions more over the years.
** Cuba Por Vida, An Exclusive Report on her recent inspiring trip to Cuba (26 November 2018)

## Quotes about Cindy Sheehan

* As well as being a vulgar producer of her own spectacle, and an embarrassment to her family, Cindy Sheehan is at best a shifty fantasist.
** Christopher Hitchens, State, Aug. 19, 2005. Slate.com
* I think Mrs. Sheehan bears some responsibility for this and also for the responsibility of other American families who have lost sons and daughters in Iraq, who feel that this kind of behavior borders on treasonous.
** Fox TV commentator Bill O'Reilly (August 12, 2005) Mediamatters.com
* Cindy Sheehan has become the Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement. She's tired, fed up and she's not going to take it anymore, and so now we stand with her.
** Rev. Lennox Yearwood, leader of the Hip Hop Caucus Indybay.org

## External links

* Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox Radio''
* The Charter for Compassion: Anti-War and Human Rights Activists Cindy Sheehan
* Mrs. Sheehan's Facebook page
* This anti-Russian campaign is horrible: An interview with antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan, By David Walsh WSWS (23 October 2017)