Cindy Sheehan Q&A: Peace icon on the mend, looking ahead

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

By Bill Whitaker

Tribune-Herald city editor

CRAWFORD - The growing anti-war movement fueled by last summer's peace
demonstrations in Crawford resurfaces in Washington, D.C., today, but the
peace icon who sparked it all won't be there.

Cindy Sheehan says she's taking a hiatus from her activist role to heal and
re-energize herself after a trying and torrid summer.

Most of the 100 or so anti-war demonstrators who joined her this year had
left her peace camp in Crawford by the close of the Labor Day weekend.
However, Sheehan, 49, remained behind, collecting herself after what proved
a low-profile protest compared to last year's massive, monthlong
demonstration near President Bush's ranch.

This year's protest gathered little steam in Crawford. Bush, who usually
spends the entire month of August at his nearby ranch, cut his vacation to
10 days. And when Sheehan wasn't hospitalized for exhaustion, dehydration
and gynecological problems, she was recuperating at a motel in nearby
McGregor.

Sheehan looked tired and moved slowly when she granted a brief interview to
the Tribune-Herald. Her son, Andy, 22, sat with her. She talked about this
year's protest; her controversial association with Hugo Chavez, the
anti-American president of Venezuela; and her plans for the five-acre spread
she purchased for $52,500 just north of Crawford this summer.

Q: You've spent a lot of the past month in the hospital or on the mend. How
do you feel?

A: Just really tired.

Q: You've been spending a lot of your time in McGregor instead of Crawford.

A: Yeah, when I haven't been in the hospital.

Q: How does Camp Casey this year compare to last year? You became an
international event in 2005.

A: This is more permanent, and we're trying to figure out how to be more
effective and changing this to the Camp Casey Peace Institute. It'll be a
permanent presence here. We're looking at the more long-term goal of never
allowing war to happen again.

Q: Why Crawford? I mean, when the president ends his term in a couple of
years, why keep this out here?

A: Why not? (Laughs)

Q: Because it's out in the sticks, that's why.

A: Because it's a nice place and I have been looking for a place to do my
Camp Casey Peace Institute and it wasn't going to be in the city. It was
always going to be out some place.

Q: Some of your fellow protesters proclaimed it a victory this year when
they apparently kept President Bush from coming back to his ranch near here.
Why would keeping Bush from his ranch be a victory in all this?

A: I don't know why they regard it as a victory. You'd have to ask them. I
don't see it as so much a victory as just proof that our presence is very
effective. I would rather he was here because then he would see us and we
would still be out at the (ranch) checkpoint all the time protesting and
things like that. I believe they (the White House) changed their schedule
constantly when we changed our schedule.

On Hugo Chavez

Q: Well, there certainly was a lot of shifting of schedules going on this
year. Regarding presidents, many who sympathize with your cause question
some of your actions this year, particularly your association with the
Venezuelan president, who is very loud and very declaratory in his view of
the U.S. Some might say this was a Hanoi Jane sort of thing to do. Why would
you associate with someone like President Chavez?

A: I'm not so sure I associated with him as I met with him. I don't think it's
a Hanoi Jane moment because we're not at war with Venezuela. In fact, we
have diplomatic relations with Venezuela, so why wouldn't I be able to meet
with someone from Venezuela? I understand it's getting much worse, but I
think we need to encourage people to talk out their problems. The reason
President Chavez is the way he is is because the CIA orchestrated a coup
against him. The United States has always been very meddlesome in South
American politics.

Q: But doesn't your visit with him digress from what your original message
is?

A: Well, no. My short-term goal is to bring the troops back home from Iraq,
but my long-term goal is to make sure this never happens again, and we have
to model behavior that is diplomatic, not always aggressive.

On cutting and running

Q: Even those leaders who agree with you that it was a huge mistake to go
into Iraq - that it was poorly grounded in intelligence or trumped up or
whatever - even many of them say we can't exactly pull out now, that the
whole region would either collapse or go up in flames.

A: Well, like you say, it was irresponsible to go there in the first place,
but I have met with many, many people who live in Iraq and I wonder how many
other people in America have had the opportunity to talk with so many (of
these) people. As a matter of fact, before Camp Casey, I was in Georgia and
I met with some Iraqi parliamentarians who were saying, "You know, we need
the occupying forces out, we can solve our own problems."

Q: There are very definitely two schools of thought on that.

A: From Iraq? Mostly the people from Iraq - and it is their country - they
say (differently) except for the people who are in power and are protected
by the United States. Actually, the (Iraqi) vice president and national
security adviser of Iraq have asked for a timeline for withdrawal. We've
heard timelines proposed in Iraq ranging from three months to immediately.
This is their country. We've seen polls where 80 percent of Iraqis want the
troops out.

On Camp Casey success

Q: So what would you say is the big gain for Camp Casey this year as far as
the war in Iraq is concerned?

A: Well, if you look at the past year, so many things have happened. When I
came to Crawford last year, 51 percent (of the American public) disapproved
of the war. Now I've seen some as high as 67 percent. I'm seeing so much
grass-roots activism all over the country. Just this past week there were
thousands of people protesting in Salt Lake City.

Q: Yes, and I saw reports about a similar war protest while the president
was in Kennebunkport a week ago.

A: Activism has gone up. And we've seen people like (U.S. Rep.) John Murtha
come out and say, "The troops need to come home." He's not even saying
anything about a timeline, he's saying, "Now, immediately." We're seeing a
lot of that happen. Look at Ned Lamont and (U.S. Sen. Joe) Lieberman in
Connecticut. People are wanting to be involved in the process.

On stepping out of spotlight

Q: It's been suggested that you're not as much of a player in all this as
you used to be.

A: That was suggested by the Waco Tribune-Herald, in fact. But I think it's
great. I think last year I was just part of a bare majority. This year I am
right in the middle of mainstream America.

Q: So it doesn't make any difference if you're gradually becoming a marginal
figure in all this?

A: I never set out to be the face of the anti-war movement. I just got out
to call attention to the fact that our country was waging an illegal and
immoral war and that there are a lot of people in our country and in Iraq
suffering because of it. What happened that I didn't expect was for the
country to become energized around the movement. I think it's just
absolutely fabulous that other people are stepping up.

Q: Things have changed a lot.

A: I've also taken a lot of heat for my position. I've been out in front,
getting all the smears and, well, if anyone wants to share that with me,
that'd be great!

Q: Do all the smears bother you?

A: It doesn't hurt me at all.

On funding the movement

Q: The news media, of course, keeps track of the financing of political
campaigns of all spectrums as well as the cost of the war in Iraq, so let me
ask you this. How can you keep this grass-roots anti-war campaign of yours
funded? How did you purchase this property out here?

A: I bought the property myself with my own money.

Q: How about the rest of this peace movement?

A: It's grass-roots donations to our nonprofit group.

Q: You don't have any major backers at all?

A: No.

Q: Really?

A: Not this year.

Q:You had some big ones last year.

A: I had some big ones last year.

Q: What happened to them?

A: I don't know. I think this year a lot of people are concentrating on the
elections coming up. I think that's where a lot of the energy is going.

On not being silenced

Q: I've read a lot of different things about your son, Casey, for whom your
peace campaign is named. How did your son feel about the war?

A: He was against the war.

Q: He was against it?

A: Yeah, he was against the war, he was against George Bush. He never voted
for him. Our family has always been pretty liberal. He didn't want to go to
the war, but he felt it was his duty.

Q:What is that printed on your T-shirt?

A: It's Arabic. It means, "We will not be silent."

On Camp Democracy

Q: I understand the peace campaign Camp Democracy starts up immediately
after this in Washington, D.C., and that it will last the better part of
September.

A: It starts Tuesday, but I won't be involved in it. I have to go home and
get my health back. I'm not recovering as quickly as I hoped.

Q: Well, a hysterectomy is major surgery.

A: Yeah, that's what people keep telling me - "It's major surgery, what's
the matter with you?" Actually, before my surgery, when I was in the
hospital the week before, I almost bled to death from (gynecological)
problems. And then I was fasting for 37 days. And I've been so busy and I
think I just got run down. I need to go home and get my strength back.

On moving to Crawford

Q: Last question. Do you plan to come back next year? The president is going
to be in office till 2009 and our continued presence in Iraq seems fairly
assured.

A: I hope he's not in office till 2009, but this (anti-war presence in
Crawford) is permanent. We're going to start building a permanent structure
soon. This may sound weird, but I'm going to live here. My residence is
going to be a tree house. We've got some plans for amazing tree houses! This
is a flood plain, so we have to build it. But the first structure we're
going to build is a camphouse with a great room and an industrial-type
kitchen and an office and some bathrooms. So we're planning on being
permanent. It's not just about George Bush, it's about ending the occupation
of Iraq and making sure it never happens again.

Q: I guess if you saw that article in the Tribune-Herald a week ago, you
also know the mayor of Crawford isn't exactly rolling out the welcome mat.

A: Well, actually, the mayor helped us get our water (piped to the
property). He was very hospitable about that. We finally got our water.

Q: Do you have electricity yet?

A: No, but we're not sure . . . we want to stay off the grids, so we're
going to look into solar, and we have that amazing biodiesel generator that
the Nelsons gave to us.

On recuperating with Willie

Q: The Nelsons? Who are they?

A: The Nelsons, Willie and Annie.

Q: Oh, how is Willie? I understand you recuperated with his family last
month.

A: I was actually at his house in Abbott right after I got out of the
hospital the first time, and then this week we spent some time at his house
in Austin. He's great. He's an amazing and supportive person, and his wife
is closer to my age so we have a lot of fun together. She was out here for a
few days.