Cindy Sheehan, t r u t h o u t, June 21, 2007
To everything there is a season.
A time for war, a time for peace.
–Ecclesiastes, Hebrew Scriptures
I wish I could say I thought of something profound as I saw the picture of the president and his wife’s on that billboard on Highway 317 in my rear view mirror on my way out of Crawford, Texas, today. I will be back for the final weekend farewell to Camp Casey on July 6, but I won’t be back as the owner of property there, or as a leader of the American peace movement.
The protests that were Camp Casey I and II that evolved into the five acres on Highway 317 (Lone Star Parkway), which was known as Camp Casey III, definitely were effective and served a relevant purpose in the national discourse of the pros and cons of the Iraq war. In an occupation that was and still is kept far from apathetic American eyes, summer ’05 was one of the first times the cost of BushCo’s Iraq fiasco was made public, and many people sympathized and resonated with and some even traveled for miles to be with the Mom in the ditch.
When I announced that I was going to put my five acres up for sale in Texas, the horrible anti-peace, anti-American group, Move America Forward, announced it would buy it to erect a “Memorial.” This group still cheer-leads and supports a war where our troops are clearly being misused and maltreated by their civilian leadership, and celebrates each death as a sacrifice for the neocon, obscene and Orwellian idea of “freedom.” Move America Forward is still collecting money for the memorial, which will never be built on my old property, and if they really wanted to buy it, they wouldn’t have sent out a press release. They just wanted a few more minutes of fame off of my misery!
Into all of the drama, radio talk show host Bree Walker enters. She could not bear the thought of Move America Forward or any other right-wing fascist group buying Camp Casey, so she cashed in her corporate buy-ins and bought my land to leave as a legacy to peace – a true memorial to our children and the people of Iraq who have been killed for corporate and political greed. Bree is putting her money where her mouth is, too, and we Camp Casey-ites were relieved and overjoyed when she purchased it!
I was in Crawford this past week to transfer the deed to Bree and to take care of some last-minute business. Selling my land and kicking the Crawford dirt off of my flip-flops was bittersweet. I have had some of my highest highs in that horse town, but also some of my lowest lows.