Home > Cindy Sheehan: My First Time Arrested

Cindy Sheehan: My First Time Arrested

by Open-Publishing - Tuesday 27 September 2005
13 comments

Edito Movement Wars and conflicts Police - Repression USA Cindy Sheehan

by Cindy Sheehan

The rumors are true this time. I was arrested in front of the White House today. It was my first time ever being arrested.

We proceeded from Lafayette Park to the Guard House at the White House. I, my sister, and other Gold Star Families for Peace members and some Military Families requested to meet with the President again. We again wanted to know: What is the Noble Cause? Our request was, to our immense shock and surprise, denied. They wouldn’t even deliver any letters or pictures of our killed loved ones to the White House.

We all know by now why George won’t meet with parents of the soldiers he has killed who disagree with him. First of all, he hates it when people disagree with him. I am not so sure he hates it as much as he is in denial that it even happens. Secondly, he is a coward who arrogantly refuses to meet with the people who pay his salary. Maybe the next time one of us is asked by our bosses to have a performance review, or we are going to be written up for a workplace infraction, we should refuse to go and talk to our bosses sighting the fact that the President doesn’t have to. The third reason why he won’t talk to us is the he knows there is no Noble Cause for the invasion and continued occupation of Iraq. It is a question that has no true answer.

After we were refused a meeting with the Disconnected One, we went over to right in front of our house...the White House (behind the gate of course) and we sat down and refused to move until George came out and talked to us. We actually had a good time singing old church songs and old protest songs while we waited. I tied a picture of Casey on the White House fence and apparently, that is against the law, too.

After three warnings to get up and move off of the sidewalk in front of our house, we were arrested. It is so ironic to me that the person who resides in our White House swears to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. The person who is the (p)resident of the White House now has no concept of the Constitution. He was appointed by the Supreme Court for his first term, invaded and continues to occupy a sovereign country without a declaration of war from the Congress, and violated several treaties to actually invade, Iraq too. Not to mention the condoned torture that pervades the military prisons these days. These are all violations of the Constitution. The Patriot Act and denying us our rights to peaceably assemble are serious breaches of the Bill of Rights. George is so concerned about Iraq developing a Constitution and he ignores and shreds our own Constitution.

Being arrested is not a big deal. We were arrested for "demonstrating without a permit." We were protesting something that is much more serious than sitting on a sidewalk: the tragic and needless deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Americans (both in Iraq and here in America) who would be alive if it weren’t for the criminals who reside in and work in the White House.

Karl Rove (besides just being a very creepy man) outted a CIA agent and was responsible for endangering many of our covert agents worldwide. Dick Cheney’s old company is reaping profits beyond anyone’s wildest imaginations in their no-bid contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and New Orleans. John Negroponte’s activities in South America are very shady and murderous. Rumsfeld and Gonzales are responsible for illegal and immoral authorization, encouragement and approval of torture. Not to mention, violating Geneva Conventions, torture endangers the lives of our service men and women in Iraq. Along with the above mentioned traitors, Condi lied through her teeth in the insane run-up to the invasion. The list of crimes is extensive, abhorrent, and unbelievable. What is so unbelievable is that we were arrested for exercising our first amendment rights and these people are running free to enjoy their lives and wreak havoc on the world.

The fine for Demonstrating Without a Permit is $75.00. I am certain that I won’t pay it. My court date is November 16th. Any lawyers out there want to help me challenge an unconstitutional law??

http://www.livejournal.com/users/mparent7777/3134642.html

Forum posts

  • The ones that should be arrested and prosecuted and sent to prison are Bu$hco and company. What an upside down country where right is wrong, innocents is crime, crime is leadership, leadership is corruption, war is bringing peace, supression is democracy, vote rigging is fair and balanced, on and on...poor Americans you have been fried and lied to and shoved aside.....

  • The “Noble Cause”, Mrs. Sheehan, seems to me to be the implementation of some sort of constitutional democracy after roughly 30 years of kleptocratic thugocracy in a backwards region.

    As far as Mr. Bush not meeting with you, well, he did, and you were there, and it was 2004 and you 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."

    So why should he meet with you again? Because you had a change of heart? Should he meet with everyone in America who demands an audience? What makes you so special, Mrs. Sheehan? I understand your grief, and I don’t mean to sound callous, but when I looked at the pictures of you laughing and smiling and waving while being arrested, I didn’t exactly want you wasting the Presidents time as some sort of pseudo-foreign policy expert.

    “We actually had a good time singing old church songs and old protest songs while we waited”

    That is nice. In Iraq, your family would be murdered by the secret police in the middle of the night and buried in shallow graves if you dared be a dissident in the Saddam era. But that doesn’t matter, right? I mean, you obviously don’t care about them. You tout the casualty figures, which are disputable, when it suits you. What about the hundreds of thousands who did at the hands of the Ba’athists?

    Regarding the declaration of war, didn’t that essentially happen in 1998 under Clinton when the US passed the Iraq Liberation Act? Additionally, Iraq had lost its sovereignty as far as a state can do under international law. There are four conditions under which a state may be deemed or said to have sacrificed its sovereignty. These are: if it participates in regular aggressions against neighboring states or occupations of their territory; if it violates all the letter and spirit of the terms of the non-proliferation treaty, and in other words, fools around promiscuously with the illegal acquisition of weapons of mass destruction; third, if it should violate the Genocide Convention, the signatories to which are obliged without further notice to act either to prevent or punish genocide; and fourth, if it plays host to international gangsters, nihilists, terrorists, and jihadists.
    Iraq met all these four conditions repeatedly, and would demonstrate its willingness to repeat them on many occasions.

    Good luck begging for legal help, although I suspect you’re making enough as a full-time pseudo-celebrity and cashing enough checks from your speaking engagements to pay the bills.

    Hey, why not donate the money you receive to the people of Iraq?

    One last thing Cindy – do you regret this comment?

    “Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the army to protect America, not Israel. Am I stupid? No, I know full well that my son, my family, this nation and this world were betrayed by George Bush who was influenced by the neo-con PNAC agendas after 9/11. We were told that we were attacked on 9/11 because the terrorists hate our freedoms and democracy … not for the real reason, because the Arab Muslims who attacked us hate our middle-eastern foreign policy.”

    • Of course we just skip over your excuses for Mr. Jawbone the cocaine president.....you haven’t the morals or the knowledge to present an informed opinion, but the good thing is that you are way out numbered....Bush "Mr. Jawbone" is tanking in the polls as more and more Americans see him for the piece of shit that he is...so that makes you just toilet paper.

      IMPEACH mr. Jawbone...the cocaine addict dangerous warmonger with his finger on the button.

    • I can quite logically, and with a clear conscience, choose the lesser of two evils here. I am not even American for whatever it is worth, and I detest Bush on a number of levels. As opposed to telling me I lack “or the knowledge to present an informed opinion”, perhaps you could actually try to refute something I posted as opposed to say, calling me toilet paper. No wonder nobody takes the Left seriously any more. Is this really the best retort you could muster? And you have the audacity to question *my* morality and knowledge? You can’t even refute anything I’ve said. you merely call we toilet paper and claim some sort of victory. Well done, junior!

    • You’re basically doing what you just told the guy not to do. So he despises Bush - like you, how does that make him a "left", or anything for that matter? Logical though your points may be, and while it’s true Sheehan is merely a citizen and not a foreign policy expert, the oppertunities for abuse of power as they stand in America are phenomenal.

      Regardless, the stance on this and any other government driven by self interest stand at "might makes right". One can hardly blame her (or any of the American people) for trying to take back power into their own hands when they’re obviously being stomped on. Although of course America doesn’t have it nearly as bad as most countries, it is also the greatest global risk, since it is the seat of greatest power in the world. Psychopaths are naturally attracted to power, and, without a sense of right or wrong forbidding them from taking certain actions, they are most prepared to take positions of power admist stiff competition. Psychopaths are entertained by those prospects, and they take life and death competitions about as seriously as they take games. Ethics be damned. Long term, it is important for power to have restraint. I get the feeling that’s what they’re all afraid of (although most people aren’t smart enough to see it for what it is or pose a tenable solution).

  • We were with dear Cindy Sheehan in Crawford and in Austin. We were saddened to hear of her arrest. Yet a day later we were gladdened to hear of the indictment of Bush crony Tom DeLay. Soon they will line up all the neo-cons and get them ready for jail, including Bush as the biggest thief, liar and murderer since Hitler. How ironic to live in a land where the government arrests Martha Stewart for a little insider trading and lie, and Cindy Sheehan for protesting on a sidewalk owned by the people, when the biggest arms dealer in the world is supported by the most corrupt evil regime this world has even known - the USA! See the movie LORD OF WAR and you will see who the real criminals and killers are. They are not women who trade and protest - they sit in the White House and run the pentagon. We believe in America! We believe that in it’s darkest hour Angels in Flaming Chariots will come to help the just establish peace and liberty, as was done in Jericho ages ago.

    • Why? It was planned and orchestrated well in advance. She didn’t look particularly upset at the time.

    • why should she be? Every advance made against her rallies her supporters and champions her cause.

  • Thank u Cindy for being a much needed DAVEY to help us normal people against GOLAITH.

    Cindy to me has shown great courage, not interest in Celebrity. Having a smile on her face is a ridiculous object for judgement. It’s grasping for straws. The only thing a smile on Cindy’s face communicates to me is CONFIDENCE - in what she is doing is what she feels is right.

    Is the anti Cindy comment above Ironic? His/her 4 points for an aggressor state described the US much more accurately than any other country on Earth.

    • Here are the four points you find ironic:

      ·If it participates in regular aggressions against neighboring states or occupations of their territory

      ·If it violates all the letter and spirit of the terms of the non-proliferation treaty, and in other words, fools around promiscuously with the illegal acquisition of weapons of mass destruction;

      ·Third, if it should violate the Genocide Convention, the signatories to which are obliged without further notice to act either to prevent or punish genocide;

      ·Fourth, if it plays host to international gangsters, nihilists, terrorists, and jihadists.

      Now please, give me some specifics and detail relative to America’s being more guilty of violating these than "any other country". Point by point. Let’s have at it.

      Thanks.

    • Cindy Sheehan is one of the ordinary people. She has no pretenses. She is very down to earth, just one of the folks. She is the kind of person who should consider running for politican office. And I am sure she would win, because people like her and like who she is. They like that she is not being financed by some corporation that gets non-bid contracts for war profiteering or has some profit agends to advance for some military weapons distributors or war time profiteers.

      She should consider running for Hillary Clinton’s seat in New York, it would be the perfect way to get rid of Hillary a phony democrat, or Joe Liberman another republipuke in democrats clothing.
      I think Cindy could easily beat either of these democrat wanna-bes. Let’s face it she couldn’t do a worse job than these two or many of the others. I would vote for her in place of my democrat senators or house reps. all of whom are warmongers and money squanders.

    • How on Earth is she in any way qualified? Becuase her son volunteered for the military twice and ultimately died? Give your head a shake. I don’t want Sheehan anywhere near a mic, let alone in a position of political responsibility. Have you heard her talk?

      Gawd.

    • such a position wouldn’t be bad if she were properly educated... but lets face it, there aren’t any politicians in office with what would have been considered a universal knowledge back when it was plausible (math, physics, law, philosophy.. etc). Most of the people in political power in a number of countries are businessmen and lawyers. They represent personal interests for those individual politicians only. Lawyers in particular, under title of ’esquire’ are not actually allowed to take office. Fact is, people thought they could just start up a democracy (in this case, a democratic republic) and let it run like a machine. They stopped caring. The general public still doesn’t care - it’s entertaining, but it’s not worth booking time off of work for. Of course people want Sheehan in office - so that the majority can sit on their asses and pretend that everything is alright. It won’t happen, for the same reason it hasn’t in governments before this. For being totally neglected in maintenance, government does what it wants. Just desserts.

      How long will it be before America is totally fed up and storms the capital?