Benny's World

Sunday, August 14, 2005

"This thing, the wheels are coming off it.”

William Rivers Pitt, one of my favorite cyber-journalists, has written one of the most succinct articles that brings the best of Camp Casey to our screens. He posted a draft of a piece that will be published tomorrow on truthout.org. Here's a little preview of one of the most patriotic works I've read in some time.
From the DU:

Cindy's Victory
August 14, 2005

“This thing, the wheels are coming off it.”

- Gen. Barry McCaffrey, after returning from an inspection of Iraq, 08/12/2005

They are sunburned and storm-lashed. They sleep in tents that sit along the muddy earth of drainage ditches by the side of the road. They have been heckled by ‘counter-demonstrators’ who chanted “We don’t care!” during a rendition of ‘God Bless America.’ They have been attacked by fire ants and hassled by local health inspectors. On Thursday morning, at about 5:30am, they were blasted awake by a fourteen-car convoy of Secret Service SUVs which roared through the camp at high speed while leaning on their horns the whole time.

They have been jolted with fear when a local resident fired his weapon into the air several times to make them go away. When the shooter, a Larry Mattlage, was asked why he was firing his gun, he said, “We're going to start doing our war and it's going to be underneath the law. Whatever it takes.” It is safe to say, therefore, that their lives have been threatened.

The thing is, they’ve already won.

Cindy Sheehan and her ever-growing band of supporters intend to stay in those ditches outside Bush’s Crawford “ranch” until he comes out to talk or until August 31st, whichever comes first. They have been there for more than a week now, garnering more and more attention from the national and international press. Yes, they are tired. Yes, they are uncomfortable. Yes, they have already won.

The nearly 2,000 crosses, crescents and Stars of David that make up the Arlington West cemetery, erected by the demonstrators a few days ago to represent all the fallen American soldiers in Iraq, stretch almost a mile down the country road. Bush had to drive past that on Friday when he went to his fundraising shindig at the Broken Spoke Ranch. It takes a while to drive past them all. This man, who cannot abide hearing or seeing anything in the way of dissent or disagreement, saw those crosses whistle past his window. That is a victory.

Read the rest here. You are guaranteed to be moved.

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