God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

 

Not One More Mother’s Child

By Cindy Sheehan

 

 

 

I will never, ever forget the night of April 4, 2004, when I found out that my son Casey had been killed in Iraq.

I will also never forget the day when we buried my sweet boy, my oldest son. If I live to be a very old lady and forget everything else, I will never forget when the general handed me the folded flag that had lain on Casey’s coffin, as his brother and sisters, standing behind me, sobbed.

I think of Casey every day.

I waited outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, for nearly a month, determined to meet with him.

I want to let the president know that I feel he 1)recklessly endangered the life of my son by sending our troops to attack and occupy a country that was no 2)imminent threat to the United States.

And I want to let him know that millions of Americans believe that the best thing we can do—for our own security, for our soldiers and for the Iraqi people—is to bring the U.S. troops home from Iraq now.

Just because it’s too late for Casey and the Sheehan family, why would we want another innocent life taken in the name of this ever-changing and unwinnable mission in Iraq?

I did get to meet with President Bush two-and-a-half months after my son was killed, but I never got to say any of these things to him. I was in deep shock and grief at the time, and all I wanted to do was to show him pictures of Casey and tell him what a wonderful man our son was.

But today things are very different. My shock has worn off, and now I’ve got a lot of anger along with my grief.

I’m angry because every reason the Bush administration gave for the invasion of Iraq has been shown to be false.

The September 11 Commission Report concluded there was no link between Iraq and the September 11, 2001, attacks.

The weapons inspectors gave up searching for weapons of mass destruction and wrote in the Duelfer Report that there were none to be found.

From the Downing Street Memo, we learned that the Bush admini-stration “fixed” intelligence to justify the Iraq invasion.

And after every supposed milestone in Iraq—the capture of Saddam Hussein, the transition to Iraqi rule, and most recently the Iraq election—things just don’t get better. U.S. soldiers and Iraqis continue to be killed in greater and greater numbers, the cost of the war 3)skyrockets, and there’s no end in sight.

After thirty U.S. service members were killed in late July 2005, the president 4)reiterated his pledge to complete the mission of our fallen soldiers. But that mission originally was to protect the United States from a 5)lethal attack by Saddam Hussein—with weapons it turns out he did not have.

I don’t want the president to use Casey’s memory to justify continuing this war, which will end up only needlessly killing more wonderful young men like him.

Thousands of people streamed into Crawford to support my 6)vigil and persuade the president to listen to the people who want an end to this war. We camped out in a 7)drainage 8)ditch, in 100-degree weather, but it was worth it.

If and when I do meet with the president, it will be for all of the Gold Star Families for Peace who lost children in this war, for all of the mothers and fathers and husbands and wives who are grieving and who want to tell the president to end this devastating war.

No one else—not one more mom—should have to lose her son in Iraq.

 

 

1) recklessly [5reklisli] adv. 鲁莽地，不顾一切地

2) imminent [5iminEnt] adj. 即将来临的，逼近的

3) skyrocket [skai 5rCkit] v. 飞速上升

4) reiterate [ri:5itEreit] v. 反复地说

5) lethal [5li:WEl] adj. 致命的

6) vigil [5vidVil] n. 守夜

7) drainage [5dreinidV] n. 排水系统

8) ditch [ditF] n. 沟

 

 

我永远不会忘记2004年4月4号的晚上，那天我知道了儿子凯西在伊拉克阵亡的消息。

同样，我也永远忘不了埋葬大儿子凯西时的情景。如果我变成了老太婆，会忘记其它一切事情，我也忘不了葬礼上的悲伤。凯西的棺木上被覆盖了美国星条旗，后来一位将军将折叠好的美国国旗交到我手上，而凯西的弟弟妹妹们在我身后抽泣。

我每天都在想着凯西。

我在德克萨斯州的克劳福德布什总统的农场外等候了将近一个月，下定决心要和总统见上一面。

我想告诉他，出兵攻打和占领伊拉克的决定是非常卤莽的，伊拉克对美国并没有造成迫切的威胁，而他的这个决定却将我儿子推向危险的境地。

我还想让他知道，几百万美国人相信目前最好的做法——对国家的安全，对我们士兵以及伊拉克人民来说——就是美国从伊拉克撤兵。

对于凯西和希恩一家来说，这已经太迟了。这场战争变幻莫测而且永无取胜希望，为什么还要无辜的生命为之牺牲呢？

在我儿子阵亡两个半月后，我确实和布什总统见了一次面，但我不曾对他说这些话。那个时候我深受打击，悲不自胜，我想做的一切就是给他看凯西的照片，告诉他我们的儿子是多么出色的人。

但今天情况不一样了。儿子的死带来的震惊在消退，而现在我的悲痛中已经加上了许多愤怒。

我很愤怒，因为布什政府为入侵伊拉克捏出的各种理由后来都被证明是站不住脚的。

9·11委员会报告总结说，伊拉克和9·11恐怖袭击没有联系。

武器核查人员放弃在伊拉克搜寻大规模杀伤性武器。他们在《迪尤尔费尔报告》中写道，搜查没有任何发现。

从唐宁街备忘录中，我们知道布什政府如何“修改”情报，为出兵伊拉克找借口。

在伊拉克我们取得了一系列既定“里程碑式”的胜利——逮捕萨达姆·侯赛因，伊拉克政权过渡，还有最近的伊拉克选举——可情况并没有任何好转，反而有更多的美军士兵与伊拉克平民丧命，战争的成本在节节飙升，根本看不到战争要结束的任何兆头。

2005年7月下旬，在三十名美国士兵被杀之后，我们的总统重申，要完成牺牲士兵未竟的使命，可是这个使命原本是为了保护美国免受萨达姆·侯赛因杀伤性武器的袭击——事实是他根本就没有那些武器。

我不想让总统利用我们对凯西的怀缅作为延续伊拉克战争的理由，那样只会导致更多像凯西一样优秀的年轻人作无谓的牺牲。

数千人涌进克劳福德支持我守夜，并规劝总统要听取民众的意见结束伊拉克战争。在接近38摄氏度的高温天气下，我们在排水沟里露营，但这是值得的。

如果我真的见到总统的话，这将是代表了所有失去子女的“金星和平之家”与总统的对话，为了所有痛心的父母、夫妻们，我们一致呼吁总统立刻停止这场毁灭之战。

没有人——没有任何一位母亲——应该让自己的儿女在伊拉克战场送命。