Everybody's certain in Crawford

When I got to Camp Casey (there is a gigantic sign now that says Camp Casey), I had to park even further away, about 300 yards past the port-a-pots (there are now four of them).  The long line of crosses was back up (somebody mowed down about 500 of them in his pickup truck). And Jim, who has been here from the beginning, was laboriously trimming 35 dozen red roses and putting them in Aquafina bottles.  Somebody from Florida had sent them and the plan was to place one by every cross until they ran out.  PETA has come to show their support for free speech.  They were grilling barbecued veggie ribs and offering them to everyone.  Cindy looked much better today, she looked like she had a nights sleep.  And Camp Casey looks better too.  It’s much more organized.  There are people with bull horns assigned to keep people out of the road. There is a media van.  The sheriff’s department (in the person of the omnipresent Patrol Sergeant Kolinek) is always on site.  He is frequently seen conferring with two buff guys, with tidy hair and Banlon shirts.  I surmise they are Secret Service since they have wires in their ears. You know how the astronauts look in Apollo 13? That’s how they look.

The counter protest consisted of three people.  At times during my visit it swelled to four.  By the time I left it had stabilized at one.

Once more I walked across Prairie Chapel road to listen to the supporters of the war.  It was a hundred degrees again, they had a lot to say again, and I unhappily augmented my farmers tan (again).

“She is using her son”, said Christie Carter.  Christie had driven up from Fort Hood with her twin sister, Stephanie Sanders. They were two-thirds of the counter protest.  I spent about an hour and a half talking with them before the media onslaught.  I would give anything to have video of the media smack down between KEYE (KEYE always says they are from CBS, not Austin) and a lady doing a German documentary.  She didn’t appreciate KEYE horning in on (her) territory.  Bad words were exchanged. 

They are lovely, adamant young women.  Christie is a widow.  Her husband Curtis Carter was a Calvary Scout 3^rd Battalion, stationed at Fort Hood and originally from Lafayette, Indiana. He died in Kuwait, on February 27^th, 2002. And I feel safe in saying, she feels…ahem…strongly about the war in Iraq.  She thinks it is a noble cause and she thinks it is preserving our freedom.  She thinks Cindy Sheehan should be ashamed of herself.  She’s proud of her husband.  “I’m sorry he didn’t get to go to Iraq, he would have loved it”, she said.

Christie is young and confident, she knows what she thinks. This doesn’t surprise me, everybody’s certain in Crawford.  When the real media showed up, an interesting thing happened.  As the KEYE guy offered his quiet sympathy for her sacrifice, she stopped saying that her husband died in Kuwait, before the war in Iraq began.

I get this completely. I don’t know how she feels; I imagine she feels really crappy. “He was happy to die for a cause, any cause”, she told me.  I imagine everybody wants/needs/yearns to feel that the death of their husband, wife, daughter, son, or loved one has meaning.  Cindy lost her son and she is now constantly accused of promoting her own “agenda” using Casey’s memory.  Christie lost her husband; though I doubt anyone is accusing her of anything. Does everybody have an agenda?  And if so, are all agendas equal?  But what I really wonder is - who owns the memory of the dead? 

 

Comments

[Jeff]

"War is the answer!" Hummmm. Maybe that person shoule go sign up then?

[Karl K]

If you get a chance, you might query the ladies on the significance of November 21st, 2001.

This was the date on which Bush -- with bin Laden holed-up in Tora Bora, barely 2 months after 9/11 -- ordered Rumsfeld to draw-up a plan for invading Iraq, diverting planning and combat resources from the effort to capture bin Laden.

On receiving the order from Rumsfeld, it is reported that Tommy Franks, understandably, cursed.

[Karl K]

Interesting blog on the 2 "pro-war" ladies.

Curious, though... If Christie's husband died in February 2002, in Kuwait, then he died in support of the Afghanistan war -- a cause most all would agree upon. However, does Christie realize that the Iraq war diverted resources from the war in which her husband died, to the detriment of its objectives (i.e. capturing bin Laden and producing a stable, democratic government for ALL of Afghanistan)?

As for the gal with the "War *is* the answer" sign, not much can be said.

War for war's sake is NOT the answer. *If* a war is initiated, its objectives must be clear and focus upon them maintained -- lest precious resources be wasted in unproductive tangential pursuits. Christie may someday realize that Bush's diversion in Iraq effectively nullified her husband's sacrifice in the campaign against bin Laden, al Qaeda and the Taliban.

[Bryan]

I'll give you credit. I couldn't talk to one of these dunderheads for a MINUTE and a half let alone and hour and a half. "War is the answer"???? Idiotic!

Sorry, my allegiance is to ideas not a particular nationality. Ideas like honesty, compassion and common sense. Nobody gets a free ride from me just because they're "American".

Great blog and keep up the good work!!

[An Angry Old Broad]

I'm glad you reached out to the pro war folks.It's a contrast to the general media coverage,and reminds us some folks are still Americans first,politics should fall behind that.Thanks for going to Camp Casey and blogging about it too.