[Mb-civic] What Kind of Extremist Will You Be?

[Reeeees at aol.com]

Published  on Thursday, September 8, 2005 by CommonDreams.org  
What Kind of  Extremist Will You Be?
by Cindy  Sheehan
Early morning,  April 04, a shot rings out in the Memphis sky,
Free at last, they asked  for your life, But they could not take your pride. 
In the name of  love, one more in the name of love. 
--U2: Pride (In the name of  love)  
Most everyone who is reading this knows what  happened to Dr. Martin Luther 
King, Jr. on April 04, 1968. Some of you may  even know what happened to my 
son, Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan on April 04,  2004. If you don't know, Dr King and 
Casey were murdered by the same  malevolent entities: People and ideologies 
that say that we have to be  mortally afraid of the "ism" du jour and we, as 
Americans who have the  "moral high-ground" in the world can send our innocent 
children to invade  innocent countries and kill innocent people to fight the 
"ists" that go  with the "isms." In Vietnam we were fighting the evil Communists 
and in  Iraq we are fighting the evil terrorists. Our war against Communism  
out-stayed its welcome in the 1980's and the military industrial war  complex 
was running out of excuses to build bombs, tanks, bullets, ships,  submarines, 
and soldiers; so in 2001, our leaders who serve the war  machine had to 
switch our enemy of the state to terrorism.  
Dr. King had the temerity to challenge the war  machine and war racketeers on 
April 04, 1967 in his famous speech on  Vietnam…and he paid for that bit of 
inspired, courageous, honesty with his  life exactly one year later. Casey had 
the naïve gall to join the US Army  thinking he would be making the world a 
better, safer place… and he paid  for that kind of immature (but honest) 
patriotic mistake with his  wonderful life.  
Casey was a brave and honorable man who we were  told volunteered to go on 
the mission that killed him to save the lives of  his buddies. He was shot in 
the back of the head and died a little while  later in a medic's station while a 
medic was trying to hold his brains in  while the doctors tried to keep him 
breathing. We have heard many wildly  disparate stories of Casey's last few 
minutes on earth, I don't know if we  will ever know the truth. One thing I do 
know, however, is that like Dr.  King, Casey's murder will be to advance the 
cause for peace and in the  name of love.  
I am wholly and completely convinced that this  aggression on Iraq is 
illegal, immoral and appallingly unnecessary. I am  also convinced that one drop of 
blood was one drop of blood too much to be  shed for this abomination in Iraq. 
Now oceans of blood—both Iraqi and  American—have been spilled for ruinous 
and disturbing policies of very bad  people in our government who have based 
their reasons for invasion and  occupation on their twisted imaginations and 
their seemingly bottomless  lust for power, profits, chaos and confusion.  
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote this from the  Birmingham Jail in 1963 and it 
is so relevant today:  
We will have to repent in this generation not  merely for the hateful words 
and actions of bad people, but for the  appalling silence of the good people.  
I must regretfully admit that before my son was  killed, I didn't publicly 
speak out against the invasion/occupation of  Iraq. I didn't shout out and say: 
"Stop! Stop this insane rush to an  invasion that has no basis in reality—
don't invade a country based on  cherry-picked, prefabricated intelligence and 
contemptible scare tactics!"   
I didn't stand up and scream: "Congress, don't you  dare abrogate your 
constitutional rights and responsibilities! Do not,  under ANY circumstances give 
the keys to our country to power-drunk,  irresponsible and reckless maniacs!"  
When George threateningly stated in his disordered  and defiant headlong rush 
to disaster: "If you're not for us, you're  against us," I will regret 
forever not calling him on the phone and  screaming: "I am SO against you and your 
repulsive policies, you  self-important man. I am against killing innocent 
people and I am against  you telling me it's unpatriotic to be against you and 
your murderous  philosophy!"  
Why, oh why, was I silent when the cowardly and  capricious arm-chair 
warriors of the Pentagon sent my son and over a  million other brave young Americans 
to an atrocious excuse (that never  should have been fought in the first 
place) for a war without the proper  equipment, armor, training, supplies, or 
planning? I should have boldly  strode up the Pentagon and said: "Look here, 
Donald, not only do you not  go to war with the Army you "have", you make sure our 
precious life blood  is well protected if you do send them off to fight and how 
about not  sending our kids to die in the sand or soil of another country 
UNLESS it  is absolutely necessary to defend our own sand and soil?"  
If I had broken the bonds of my slavery to silence  sooner, would Casey (and 
scores of others) still be alive? I don't know.  There were and still are so 
many good people working for peace and justice  and they have been for so many 
years. One thing I do know, however, is  that no matter how much I scream and 
cry and rail against God, country,  and humanity, I cannot bring Casey back. 
But, I have not shut up since  Casey was killed, nor will I be silent until 
every last one of our  nation's sons and daughters are brought back from this 
morally repugnant  and ill-fated war!! Nor, will I give up when this occupation 
is finished.  I will continue fighting for the children of the world and make 
sure a  tragedy of historic proportions like this never happens again. If I can 
 save even one mother here or there from the pain and agony I'm going  
through, then it will have been so immensely worth it.  
I encourage and challenge every citizen of the  world to do one small thing 
for peace each day. Even if it is to nag your  elected officials to demand the 
keys of our country back from the all but  convicted felons, liars and 
self-proclaimed pro-life hypocrites who have  them now.  
Casey and Dr. King were both violently killed on  April 04 in different years 
and during different wars…two wars that are  really just two different sides 
of the same coin. I want their deaths to  mean something. I want them to count 
for peace and justice, not violence  and hatred.  
I can feel my son's presence urging me on to save  his buddies. I can hear 
him whispering in my ear and in my dreams: "Mom,  finish my mission. Bring my 
buddies home alive" I can hear Dr. King's  words similarly challenging me to 
action: "The question is not whether we  will be extremists, but what kind of 
extremists will we be?"  
Well, Casey, my son, my hero. Well, Dr. King, the  hero of millions, I pledge 
to be the kind of extremist who works for peace  with justice and who will 
never take "No" for an answer. I will strive to  hold the bad people in our 
government accountable for all of the heartache  and emptiness they have caused 
our world by their deliberate lies and  deceptions and by their misuse of power 
and their abuse of our nation's  precious human resources. I will be the kind 
of extremist who believes  that our country can be taken back from the 
corporatocracy and unethical  war profiteers that have control of it now. I will be 
the kind of  extremist who believes that the people of Iraq can rebuild their 
own  country without the dangerous "help" of the American military presence and 
 I will be the kind of extremist who strives to bring our kids home from  the 
Middle East immediately.  
If there ever was a time in our nation's  history that required the passion 
and compassion of extremists, it is now:  This very minute.  
What kind of extremist will you be?  
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