Sheehan’s, A Saga of a Fallen Heroes Family

July 9, 2007

From one outlook or another we all have heard of the exploits of Cindy Sheehan, as she became the darling of the anti-war left and the Democrat party, as long as she served their political usefulness. When her antics no longer suited them and failed to garner them all the support they desired, she was dropped like a hot potato, leading her to Announce her retirement in July, after first announcing her resignation in May.

Whatever our personal feelings about Cindy Sheehan’s antics are, lost in the media coverage is her now ex-husband and the heroics of her son, Casey, as he gave his life for the freedoms of others by volunteering for a dangerous mission in Iraq, April 4, 2004.

In bashing President Bush or leveling charges against his administration of “Bush Lied, Men Died,” gone are references to Casey pulling rank and voluntarily replacing a lower ranking person on the truck that carried him to his fate. Gone are references to his being a grown adult man making a grown adult man’s decision. As his Father, Patrick said, “He was an adult, making his own decisions when he volunteered that day. And he would do it again. Nothing can tarnish that. What he did matters.”

Although Casey’s Father is also opposed to this war, he sees his son is an American Hero, deserving of any and all praise and respect that we have ever given to any of our historic heroes throughout history.

While Cindy jetted around the globe making a spectacle of herself, using up the insurance money and government gratuity paid for Casey’s life, his actual grave in Vacaville remained unmarked for some time, in spite of Cindy posing sprawled out over his grave in the January, 2006 issue of Vanity Fair magazine. After receiving some $350,000 in insurance from taxpayers and another untold amount from a Prudential policy on Casey, it became George Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Roves fault that her son’s grave went unmarked so long.

During this time, what I perceive as a quiet and unassuming man, Patrick, Casey’s Father, issued a call, Cindy, go home, as he filed for a Divorce from her. Cindy’s response, as we all now know, was to ignore her family as she stated, "..they're supportive. They understand what I'm trying to do." It was also Patrick that handled all matters concerning Casey’s gravesite, according to Cindy. She also claimed the headstone was very expensive and she had to pay for it herself. Somehow, she missed or ignored that grave markers for deceased Veterans are available free of charge from the government with only the effort of filling out a simple one-page form being required. Then again, the receipt of a $100,000 gratuity from taxpayers for covering expenses related to his death was for what?

Claiming her grief prevented her from purchasing a headstone earlier; Casey Sheehan’s grave was left with no headstone for over two years! Of course, the false cemetery that was set up in Crawford, Texas for public show has white wooden crosses, but her hero son’s actual grave sat with little more than a small marker placed on it with his name.

During the long wait for a headstone to be placed on her hero son’s grave, Cindy wrote a post for the far left Huffington Post in which she said, “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.” Two months earlier she appeared on a radio interview with Amy Goodman where she said of Casey’s feelings about the War, “Casey was against it, but he felt it was his duty to go because he was in the Army. And he felt that he had to go to protect his buddies, to be there for his buddies, to be support, and they are brainwashed into thinking that even if they don't agree with the mission, they're brainwashed into just blindly following it. I begged Casey not to go. I told him I would take him to Canada. I told him I would run over him with a car, anything to get him not to go to that immoral war. And he said, ‘Mom, I wish I didn't have to, but I have to go.’”

What Cindy didn’t say is that her son, who supposedly opposed Iraq, was in the Army when 9/11 happened, having enlisted in May 2000. His enlistment was up as we were preparing to invade Saddam’s Iraq and Casey re-enlisted, knowing his unit was set to go to Iraq.

Mary Mazzocco, Faculty adviser at Casey’s school said, “He was so sweet and so shy and so quiet, you had a hard time seeing him as a soldier, but he really did get into it. The last time I saw him on campus he was in his uniform and very proud of it and very proud to have made it through basic training.” His father, Patrick also said a few days after his death, “One night he came home after running some errands and announced that we were looking at the newest recruit in the U.S. Army,” surprising his family. Even Mother Cindy first said, “He just wanted to go over to fight for his country, and serve his country.”

It doesn’t sound to me like Casey Sheehan “was against it,” or that “he wished he didn’t have to go.” Sounds more to me like he is the type of young man that made America great and free.

Within a few weeks of hero son Casey’s death, the Sheehan family was invited to Ft. Lewis, Washington near Seattle to meet with President Bush. After that meeting Patrick said, "We have a lot of respect for the office of the president, and I have a new respect for him because he was sincere and he didn't have to take the time to meet with us," noting that Bush wasn't stumping for votes or trying to gain a political edge for the upcoming election. Even Cindy said, "I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis. I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith." She even asked the president to “make her son's sacrifice count for something.”

Of that meeting, Cindy later claimed that President Bush seemed "totally disconnected from humanity and reality."

Another parent who was present at that meeting with President Bush, wrote the following email to Melanie Morgan of Move America Forward, which was posted at Michelle Malkin.

“I have an e-mail from Jim Krause, whose brother Elmer was killed in Iraq at the same time as Casey Sheehan. Cindy Sheehan was with Mr. Krause at Fort Lewis, Washington when President Bush joined them in the chapel.”

“Mel, let me tell you his guard was down. He was real. He was genuine. He was sincere. His eyes teared while we told of our loss. He said he was sorry. During that time we all could have blasted out our anger, criticism and contept. He would have stood there and taken it.”

What happened to Cindy Sheehan, while her family and several others maintain their support for Victory? By the account of another Vacaville Mother, John ‘F’in Kerry (who served in Viet Nam) is what happened. According to the poster, Mom of Two Soldiers, Vacaville resident, posted on Free Republic,

“We knew of the John Kerry campaign coming out to visit them just after it occurred, as they tried to do with many other families. We knew of the referral to the Fenton Communications agency. Most of us know how she has been used.”

And

“Most frustrating are the times in which Casey died. In March of that year, John Kerry stood up for Al Sadr, the Muslim Cleric who called in his newspaper for the deaths of U.S. troops. Kerry stated in public radio that Al Sadr had a legitimate voice (to call for the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq) and that the military should not have shut down his newspaper. It was Al Sadr's people who killed Casey Sheehan. It was John Kerry who approached her and used her after that occurred. None of us can understand why Cindy Sheehan would embrace someone after that occurred.”

The saga of Cindy Sheehan appeared to be headed for obscurity when she announced her ‘retirement’ from the anti-war movement. That, or she was out of Casey’s insurance money and couldn’t afford to keep buying all the publicity. Whatever the reason, it was short lived as she is now announcing her plans to organize a march from the Crawford Property she reportedly sold to progressive talk radio host Bree Walker, after refusing to sell it to Move America Forward, who desired to erect a Memorial to Fallen heroes, like Casey Sheehan, on the property. That’s right, she even refused others an opportunity to erect a memorial to her own Son, among others.

On this march, she now claims that Bush’s commutation of L. Scooter Libby’s jail sentence is the “straw that broke the camel’s back” of her short lived retirement into peaceful obscurity. So incensed is she that she has now threatened to run against Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi if she doesn’t seek impeachment of Bush immediately. Somehow, I fail to see wealthy veteran Democrat Pelosi quivering in her leather slingback shoes.

In all of this, Cindy misses and doesn’t ever speak of the heroism of the son she so lovingly misses or his heroic sacrifice the day he ordered a soldier of lesser rank out of the truck so he could take his place on a rescue mission of fellow soldiers that he sacrificed his life for. Missing are the thoughts of his Father, Pat, who wishes his ex-wife no ill will and doesn’t want to be pitted against her, who says, “I would rather that Casey be viewed with dignity.”

We do, Mr. Sheehan, in spite of the actions of your ex-wife.

Lew