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United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) Conference, Stamford, CT March 25, 2012 Selected audio from plenary sessions and panel discussions


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Cindy Sheehan Reflects on the Cost and Legacy of the Iraq War

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Posted Dec. 21, 2011

Interview with Cindy Sheehan, peace activist and mother of slain U.S Army specialist Casey Sheehan, conducted by Scott Harris

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The "official" U.S. war and occupation of Iraq came to a close last week, with the last American combat troops crossing the border into Kuwait on Dec. 18. At least 4,485 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war that was launched by President George W. Bush in March 2003. More than 32,000 U.S. servicemen and women have been wounded in hostile action, during the course of the nine years of war. Estimates of the number of Iraqis killed during the war range from 100,000 to over 1 million. Despite the end of America’s combat mission in Iraq, the U.S. continues to operate the largest embassy in the world in Baghdad, maintaining a staff of more than 15,000 and 5,000 private security guards.

Although President Obama honored the agreement signed by the Bush administration that designated the end of 2011 as the deadline for the withdrawal for all U.S. combat forces, the White House and Pentagon had attempted to leave in place a residual “training” force of thousands of American troops in Iraq, but that plan failed when the Iraqi government refused to grant legal immunity to American soldiers that remained. As the official conflict ends, Iraq remains a shattered nation, facing difficult challenges in the post-war period with ongoing ethnic violence, a government racked by internal conflict, high unemployment and a broken infrastructure.

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan who was killed in Iraq in April 2004. When she set up a peace encampment outside President Bush’s Texas ranch in August 2005, Sheehan became the voice and conscience of the anti-war movement. She publicly and repeatedly asked President Bush, for what noble cause had her son died? Between the Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Cindy Sheehan, who reflects on the end of the Iraq war and the legacy both for Americans and Iraqis.

CINDY SHEEHAN: It was very emotional because of course it was and is a war based on lies and deception for control of Iraq's natural resources and for profit and besides the fact that we have an embassy there that's the size of 94 football fields, the largest embassy in the world. The U.S. is maintaining that with about 16,000 employees and half of those employees will be private military contractors and I read that 3,000 troops are staying in Kuwait just right across the border from Iraq, and of course, we still have a lot of military installations and troops inside the country and surrounding the country. So, I mean just with the death of Kim Jong Il, we have 30,000 troops still in Korea, and that police action can never officially ended. So those thoughts are going through my head, but of course, the Iraqi people – he never mentions them, he mentions the sacrifice of our troops, but not the 2 million Iraqis that have been killed by the U.S. since the war and sanctions from the first Bush administration, and the millions that have been displaced and their country is in ruins.

I think we owe the people of Iraq so much, but the very least we owe them is building supplies, and jobs to get the infrastructure back and their universities fully-staffed and fully-equipped. Their country is contaminated with depleted uranium. So, even if the war did end, it's not going to end for me. It's not going to end for the people of Iraq, and the other people who have paid such horrible, unnecessary sacrifices for this – the homeless vets, the vets that brain injuries that aren't getting diagnosed and things like that. It's just a needless tragedy.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Cindy, it seems that officials of the Bush administration who advocated for this war and executed this war in the name of getting rid of weapons of mass destruction that were not there and may be have been a false pretext upon which this war was fought in the name of gaining public favor for the war, there does seem to be no accountability for any of them. Higher ups and those lower officials who lied to the American public about this war. What are your thoughts about accountability at this moment when most U.S. troops have left Iraq?

CINDY SHEEHAN: First of all, the Obama administration they're preventing and blocking investigation and prosecution or indictment for war crimes and crimes against humanity, of the Bush administration. And this would also be a good time to speak about Bradley Manning, who allegedly exposed some of those lies and war crimes and he's on trial. If he's found guilty, he's charged with a capital crime, or he could spend the rest of this life in prison when he exposes those crimes. So, instead of going after the people who committed this profound international crime and war crimes and crimes against humanity, they're prosecuting and persecuting somebody who exposed those crimes. So that just shows the hypocrisy of this empire.

BETWEEN THE LINES: As we hear the drumbeats for a new war with Iran, based on the idea that Iran is developing nuclear weapons capability, and we're seeing that heat up with the 2012 election campaign and a lot of criticism of President Obama by the Republicans and certainly he's responding by taking a harder line on Iran. What are some of your thoughts about those drumbeats for a new war?

CINDY SHEEHAN: We have to remember this has been something that has been discussed for years now about Iran and the U.S., maybe Israel invading Iran and I'm not giving the Bush administration any passes and I'm not going to give the Obama administration any passes either. I mean, when Obama when he was running for president, he said that no option was off the table for dealing with Iran. And seriously, I think that the entrance of China and Russia into this debate may force the U.S. and Israel not to deal with this militarily because the other countries won't let that just slide, and there will be repercussions if the U.S. or Israel invades Iran. So, I'm hoping that first of all, that's just a scary prospect.

I read the other day where an analyst said he thinks we're going into a new cold war, which is better than a hot war, if there's some tension there that prevents us going into a World War III, because you know, it seems like with the buildup of military and the buildup of rhetoric in the Middle East and Africa, if the U.S. just doesn't stop, then that might be where we're heading.

For information on Cindy Sheehan’s radio program, blog and forthcoming book, visit http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com.

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