"Man of the Year"; a letter from a gold-star mom

[LynnTheDem]

*mods, I have permission to post this letter in its entirety.


Time Editors,

My son, Spc. Casey Sheehan was killed in Iraq on 04/04/04. This has been an extra-ordinary couple of weeks of "slaps in the faces" to us families of Fallen heroes.

First, the Sec. of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld admits to the world something that we as military families already know: The US was not prepared nor had anyone planned for the assault on Iraq. Our children were sent to fight an ill-conceived and badly prosecuted war. Our troops were sent with the wrong type of training, bad equipment, inferior protection, and thin supply lines. Then when we find out that our children have been killed, and we have made the ultimate sacrifice for this fiasco of a war, we find out this week that Rumsfeld doesn't even have the courtesy or compassion to sign the "death letters" as it has been so callously put. Besides the holidays coming up and we miss our children desperately, what else can go wrong this holiday season?

Well let's see: oh yes. George W. Bush awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to three more architects of the quagmire that is Iraq. Thousands of people are dead and Bremer, Tenet, and Franks are given our country's highest civilian award. What's next?

To top everything off; after it has been proven that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction; no ties between Saddam and 9/11; Saddam is in prison: over 1300 brave young people in this country are dead and Iraq lies in ruins, so what does Time Magazine do?: names George W. Bush as it's Man of the Year. The person who betrayed this country into a needless war and whom I hold ultimately responsible for my son's death and who was questionably elected, again, to a second term, is honored this way by your magazine.

I hope we finally find peace in our world and that our troops who remain in Iraq are brought home speedily....after all, there was no reason for our troops to be there in the first place. No reason for my son and over 1300 others to have been taken from their families. No reason for the infrastructure of Iraq to be demolished and thousands of Iraqis being killed. No reason for "happy" holidays to be robbed from my family forever. I hope that our "leaders" don't invade any other countries who hold no serious threat to the United States, and I hope there is no draft. I hope that the 5 people mentioned in my letter (and many others) will finally be held responsible for the horrible mistake they got our country into. I hope that competence is finally rewarded and incompetence is appropriately punished. These are my wishes for 2005.

This isn't the first time your magazine has selected a questionable man for this honor, but it's the first time it affected my family so personally and so sorrowfully.

Mrs. Sheehan

[roguevalley]

1. bless her and her family. I am so very sorry here.

[Florida_Geek]

2. Time editors to Mrs Sheehan ---> Who cares what you think

our profits are doing fine </sarcasms>

[wildeyed]

3. No happy holidays for many families this year.

I am so sorry.

[wicket]

4. Wow

Thanks for sharing, great letter, makes me so sad :( And at the same time, very very angry :mad:

God Bless Mrs. Sheehan and her family.

[LiberalinNC]

5. If this was my MOM, I'd be proud of her!

She told it like it is! I can't imagine the pain she has over the death of her son!

I wish her and her family, and all those who have lost a loved one in this sense war, Peace.

[crasmane]

7. Every political position-holder

in this corrupt regime should be reported for arrest to the ICC immediately.

[SheilaT]

6. Great letter.

Where is it from? Do you know Mrs Sheehan personally? Think it will be printed in next week's Time magazine?

[Karenina]

8. She certainly doesn't mince words!

May they reach around the earth!

[LynnTheDem]

9. Ms. Sheehan is from California

I don't want to give out more than that, as we know the freepers will just add to making her life a living hell, "compassionates" that they are.

I don't know her personally, but Patricia at the ICC does.

[MarianJack]

10. A Courageous Letter From a Mother...

...whom ** had promised to hug for her loss.

Many people don't seem to be making the connection to the contributions of AOL/Time/Warner. Given their beliefs, ** might have been their man of the year even if his loss had been counted!

[WI_DEM]

11. Let's hope Time has the guts to print it

and that this woman didn't get one of their phony "well person of the year can be good or bad..." blah. I read their article on Bush in their magazine naming him Person of the year--it is a fluff piece.

[adigal]

12. Can someone post this on Free Republic??

I have no posting privileges, got thrown off somehow. Mmmmm, wonder why???

[Catherine Vincent]

18. Why?

So you can go back and drop a dime on that poster?

[gratuitous]

13. And as bad as Bush and his corrupt cronies are . . .

I hold the media just as responsible. They know all of this. They're hand-in-glove with this administration, cognizant and willing accomplices. The shortages of troops and armor have been discussed in detail in certain circles, but when a five-part major story is to be run, what do the media feed us? Scott Peterson. Paris Hilton. Why the Lemony Snicket movie is going to be the best gosh-darned entertainment you could possibly see this year. Iraq? Oh, Stupidhead said they're going to have free and fair elections there next month, just like we did last month. But enough about that; look, here's a picture of George Clooney! Isn't he handsome?

And when Ted Koppel does actually dare to step out and spend an evening on his show that nobody watches because it's on too late, the Bobos are out in force with their baffling assertion that mentioning the war dead is an insult to the troops. ABC then bravely goes back to toeing the administration line. Thanks a heap, fellas.

[LibDemAlways]

16. Once around the dial on American

tv is a mind-numbing experience. Infomercials. More infomercials. Home Shopping Network. Runway Models. Beverly Hillbillies Reruns. Oh, here comes a "news" channel. Robert Blake's murder of his "wife," which happened years ago, is topic A. On MSRNC Dan Abrams declares himself "fascinated" - this after his rant that those who don't enjoy being felt up by airport "security" are a goddamn threat to the nation and put us all at risk. Here comes a commercial touting a rerun of The Apprentice finale. All of America is no doubt eager to once again view Trump's newest sycophant's shoe-licking act. Over at MTV America's youth are tuning in to "Pimp my Car." Think I'll linger a while on E and watch the re-enactment of the Paris Hilton sex tape. Paris is very important here in America. The announcer just solemnly intoned that everybody knows who she is. The CNN ticker is mentioning something about an attack in Iraq. Too depressing. Think I'll head over to the Jessica Simpson Christmas special.

[Rambis]

14. Oh Man!

What a waste! I wish a certain conservative read newspapers maybe he would read some people have very low opinions of him, his cronies adn his war.

[hippiechick]

15. Gave me goosebumps.

:hug: What an amazing woman.


:hippie:

[Karenina]

17. Kick!

:cry: :kick: :cry: