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Meet with Cindy Sheehan

Dear Mr. President:

I am writing to request that you meet with Ms. Cindy Sheehan, grieving mother of Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, killed April 4, 2004 in Iraq. Mr. Sheehan was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, at Fort Hood in your own home state of Texas. Specialist Sheehan paid the ultimate price for our country and surely you can honor that sacrifice by meeting with his mother to discuss the issues that trouble her about her great loss.

Mr. President, you asked many Americans to risk the ultimate sacrifice for this great nation of ours and thousands, including young Casey Sheehan, answered your call.  Unfortunately, thousands of mothers now know Ms. Sheehan’s pain; millions more fear it.  Now is the time to honor these young men and women, and to honor Ms. Sheehan’s request.  One way we honor those who died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom is by respecting the needs of the families they left behind.

I understand, Mr. President, that you have seen Ms. Sheehan on at least two occasions as you drove past her encampment near your ranch in Crawford, Texas. Please, Mr. President, don’t drive by a mother who has lost her son in a war you fully support.  America cannot stand another drive by.  Meet with her, Mr. President, or surely she will be joined by many other grieving mothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, brothers, and fathers whose loved ones lost their lives for you in Iraq.  The meeting she seeks is to discuss the circumstances of her son’s death. Her request is reasonable and I support her call to meet with you.

Mr. President, the parents of troops still stationed in Iraq, and the parents of young Americans who may be called to Iraq or who are currently being recruited to join the military are watching you right now. I ask that you reconsider your decision not to meet with Ms. Sheehan and offer her your personal condolences–not just for her, but for our country and the millions who are now watching both you and her.

Sincerely,

Cynthia McKinney
Member of Congress