Protest vs. Priorities? Hope This Isn't True?

Question

Wow, just joining Yahoo Answers, and have already gotten a ton of good info. Great site! :) Anyway, ya know how e-mails are constantly circulating on that net with Fwd:Fw:Fw? Well I am friends with a lot of military folk,&got one today from one of my girlfriends whose hubby is in the military. Well the e-mail basically said that Cindy Sheehan, the woman who has been protesting at the Bush ranch...hasn't even gotten a tombstone for her son? Anyone else got this? Is this true? I would think the military would provide those things for their fallen soldiers...so that's why I wasn't sure if I should believe it or not because people lie a lot on e-mails. I honestly didn't want to believe that and i'm not judging the woman cause tombstones are probably expensive. But they have a pic of her son's grave...or what's supposed to be his grave and it looks so...just plain. Are there any funds where money can be donated to help her buy him a tombstone? I would donate for sure.

Answer 1

Don't believe the garbage you read in Internet chain letters. They are mostly propaganda and lies.

While it's true that for the first two years, her son's grave had no headstone, Sheehan herself explained it like this:

"For the first year after Casey was killed, I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to place a tombstone on my son's grave. I didn't want one more marble proof that my son was dead. I couldn't even call where he was buried a "cemetery," I had to call it "Casey's Park." I placed fresh flowers in the cup every week and journaled there almost on a daily basis, and often laid on it and fell asleep and dreamed of my needlessly killed son. "


Does this sound like a woman who doesn't care about her child??


And as for there not being a tombstone on the grave now, that's a lie too. The stone was placed on May 25th, 2006. The inscriptions says,

"Our Casey, Ever faithful, kind, and gentle, good son, beloved brother, brave soldier, dear friend, you loved your family and lived your life serving others to the end."

Answer 2

These types of emails either are false, have the facts twisted to fit their agenda, or omit certain facts about the story. It is true that her son's grave didn't have a tombstone for a couple years, but it was not because she was too busy protesting. She couldn't bring herself to acknowledge his death.

Any type of emails like this (forwarded multiple times) can usually be checked out real quickly on the Web. Snopes.com is a good site that list urban legends like this (www.snoped.com).

I also would like to say that I don't like her politics, nor do I support her at all. But I also don't like the propaganda that gets sent around in emails like this. Basically, I support the truth.

Answer 3

Just how callous does a person have to be to criticize how a person buries their loved ones? My precious precious father died suddenly and unexpectedly this year, and per his wishes, he was cremated. We have no stone at all. What can you infer from that about the devastation wrought in our family by the loss of my precious father?

Why don't you donate money to a maimed vet returning from bush's bloody misadventure?

Specifically about Sheehan: I've copied this from the website referenced below:

Comments: As of this writing, it is true that the gravesite of Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, who died in action two years ago in Baghdad, Iraq, is marked only with a simple placard; but it is not true, says his mother, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, that the reason no headstone has yet been placed on the grave is because she "doesn't have time" or "can't be bothered" to do so.

The real reason, Sheehan has explained in a Web-published response to criticism of her handling of the gravesite, is grief.

"For the first year after Casey was killed, I didn't want to believe it," she writes. "I didn't want to place a TOMBstone on my son's grave. I didn't want one more marble proof that my son was dead. I couldn't even call where he was buried a 'cemetery,' I had to call it 'Casey's Park.' I placed fresh flowers in the cup every week and journaled there almost on a daily basis, and often laid on it and fell asleep and dreamed of my needlessly killed son."

Harsh personal attacks

The media-dubbed "Peace Mom" clearly feels stung by the harshness of the personal attacks against her over this issue, attacks whose real motivation has more to do with her outspoken opposition to the Iraq war than with the propriety of her gravesite caretaking. A previous smear campaign falsely accused her of abandoning her family when Casey was young and refusing to participate in his upbringing.

About Poll
Does Cindy Sheehan deserve criticism for her handling of her son's gravesite?
Yes.
No.
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Current Results

"Have any of these people who claim that I am pissing on my son's grave even visited him?" she asks. "Have they visited the grave of any soldier needlessly or senselessly killed in George's war of choice for oil and profit? Have they sobbed uncontrollably for my first born who shouldn't even need a gravestone? No, all they want to do is attack a mother who wants to prevent other people from having to bury their own child."

Sheehan has also charged that funeral arrangements for Casey were complicated by problems securing proper payment for the cemetery plot through a local mortuary, which controlled funds allocated by the government. Steve Nadeau, the owner of the mortuary, denies this allegation.

The small plaque that currently marks the plot is standard on gravesites for which a headstone has not yet been made, says Patrick Sheehan, Casey's father. According to the Vacaville Reporter, one has been ordered and is under construction at a local monument manufacturer.

Answer 4

first before you decide to help this lady ( i use that loosely) you should know that she took the insurance money she got from the death of her son who openly chose to serve his country and she went to crawford texas, which is where the presidents ranch is, and bought herself some land so she could protest the president. so instead of buying her son a tombstone(if that is true) she decided to buy a chunk of land to continue to protest the president. Oh yeah by the way, she called all military people rapeists and murders on national t.v. so what does that make her son....?

Answer 5

Ciondy Sheehan is a anti american communist...her own husband and family want nothing to do with her.

The internet is a big place. You can do your own research...