In a speach directed as much to “half the population” as it was to President Bush, a military mother drew strong reaction from hundreds of people at the conclusion of a candlelight vigil held at the White House this evening to support Cindy Sheehan’s vigil near President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, TX.
The mother’s printed notes containing the entire text of the speech was obtained by me and is being reported exclusively and simultaneously by joetresh.com and PageOneQ.com [additional report].
The mother, Gilda, who declined to give her last name for publication, said her son was injured by shrapnel from an improvised explosive device (IED) in the assault on Falluja in Iraq. She said he was treated for minor injuries and returned to “the front lines” of Fallujah within days. She is a member of Military Families Speak Out. She said she wrote the speech in the two hours before the vigil began.
The end of the speach drew the strongest reaction when Gilda referred President Bush when he said “But I think it’s also important for me to go on with my life” instead of meeting with Cindy Sheehan.
My name is Gilda. I am a member of MFSO, and I have a son who is an active duty Marine. He was deployed to Iraq during the bloody assault on Fallujah in November. One-hundred thirty-seven of our sons and daughters and countless Iraqis died in that assault.
We are gathered here to support Cindy Sheehan in her quest for truthful answers from President Bush about Iraq. This is a call to conscience! This is about supporting our troops who have served honorably and bravely under impossible conditions. They went under orders of their Commander-in-Chief to a war of choice unprepared and under equipped. President Bush, you owe us an explanation! The only noble thing in this rotten war has been our noble sons and daughters who answered the call to serve their country, something you could not have understood or valued.
President Bush, we are not radical political extremists as the right-wing media would like to portray us. We are citizens - ordinary mothers and fathers who are fed up with painful and insulting lies. We have carried the weight of your disastrous policy on our shoulders while half of the population has been intentionally or unintentionally ignorant of our plight. For many, it has been convenient to believe they are supporting the troops with their yellow magnets.
President Bush, meet with Cindy. Tell that mother in that pathetic ditch by your house just exactly why her son died. Tell her how the war is going and what your plan is. Explain to her that ‘taking the fight to them’ was really a brilliant way to get the naive and ignorant to fall unquestioningly behind you. Tell her how through your incompetence and at great expense in resources and human life, we destroyed Iraq, giving the Iraqis an infinitely worse hell than anyone could have ever imagined.
‘We would send the wrong signal if we pulled out,’ you say, Mr. Bush. What signal do you think we’ve sent the world since we invaded Iraq? You’ve destroyed our credibility and our good standing in the world. Most of all, Mr. Bush, what’s unforgivable is that you betrayed our idealistic American sons and daughters who trustingly placed their lives in your hands. We, their mothers, will not let you ‘move on with your life,’ Mr. Bush. We hold you accountable for their deaths and injuries. And we call now for an immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. Now. Not next year. Not in ten years!
