By now you all have heard. Would it surprise you to learn that the Gold Star Mom that started all this is with Code Pink?
From CNN:
One of the family members who favors lifting the ban is Karen Meredith of San Francisco, California, who wrote Obama urging him to order the change.
Lt. Ken Ballard left for Iraq on Mother’s Day in 2003. He came home in a casket on Memorial Day 2004.
“I wanted the nation to grieve with me, and if we don’t see those images we don’t know that these young men and women are dying,” she told CNN.
“And to me its an honor to have an honor guard at Dover when they’re bringing these men and women back through the mortuary. But we’ve never been able to see those pictures of the honor being given.”
She’s become friendly with advocacy groups like the Gold Star Families for Peace, Military Families Speak Out and Code Pink. She was asked recently to appear at a counter-military recruitment event, but begged off because it took place on Mother’s Day (although she is quick to note that Mother’s Day started as an antiwar holiday).
She recently participated at a gathering in Berkeley and also traveled to Arlington West, a project by the Santa Barbara Veterans for Peace to re-create the grave sites of soldiers killed in Iraq. Later this month, on Memorial Day, the anniversary of Ballard’s death, Meredith plans to return to Washington to again visit her son’s grave at Arlington.
She also lived in the Crawford ditch with Cindy Sheehan. In an article about Fenton Communications, which ran the ditch bitch fiasco:
Gold Star mother Karen Meredith came here from Mountain View. Her son Ken Ballard died last year.
Karen Meredith, Gold Star mother: “Sometimes things don’t feel quite right to me. They don’t feel wrong, but maybe that’s how they do it in the marketing business.”
ABC7’s Mark Matthews: “You feel you’re part of a marketing business?”
Karen Meredith: “Possibly. Yeah I think so.”
Here is her blog here. She can’t make it a full para on any given post without mentioning her loss. And everyone should know about her loss.
Paul Rieckhoff thinks this is a swell idea as well:
““Less than 1% of the American population has served in Iraq or Afghanistan. There has never been a greater disconnect between those who serve in harms warm and those back home. All too often, the sacrifices of our military are hidden from view,” Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “The sight of flag-draped coffins is, and should be, a sobering reminder to all Americans of the ultimate sacrifice our troops have made and the high price of our freedom.”
Other groups disagree:
But a spokeswoman for a military family group expressed disappointment. “This is a complete disregard for the will of America’s military families and the need for their privacy during this solemn moment,” said Meghan Tisinger, spokeswoman for Families United.
HERE IS THE LINK TO THAT IAVA STATEMENT.
My Opinion:
Had I died over there, my Dad would have made the decision (my mom died the day I joined the Army.) Now, I love my Dad, but we discuss 2 things, New England Sports Teams, and the weather in Maine. My Dad was a delegate for Ted Kennedy. To his credit, my Dad would NEVER openly say something about the War in front of me. And when I had a flag flown over Bagram on the day the Pats won the Super Bowl, my dad refused to fly it from the front porch, but instead went out and hired a guy to put a huge flag pole in the back yard. My Dad loves me, loves the country, but he’s a liberal, and he knows little about what I would have wanted. I would like to think he would have told them to screw off, but I don’t know. I sincerely hope that SRP from now on includes some sort of living will type document where the troop gets to voice his opinion on whether to be pictured or not. I also wonder what happens when one divorced parent supports, and one does not. Or the Mom and Dad want the pictures taken, and the Spouse does not. How do they iron that shit out?
SHIT: I called and asked my dad. I shouldn’t have asked.
More on the Code Pink Gold Star Mom, from BOHICA 22.
“There’s no one left to call me ‘Mom,’ ” Meredith told a teary-eyed congregation at First Unitarian Universalist Church in San Francisco on Sunday. “He left the day after Mother’s Day, and he said he’d make it up to me when he returned. Today is my third Mother’s Day that I will not pick up the phone and hear his voice.”
And still more from the totally on fire BOHICA 22:
Karen Meredith (center), who lost her only son in Iraq, hugs activist Pablo Paredes as Sean O’Neill, who served twice in Iraq, stands by at San Francisco’s First Unitarian Universalist Church. Chronicle photo by Brant Ward
And who is Pablo Paredes? Per Michelle Malkin:
Military deserter and anti-war Left poster boy Pablo Paredes has been denied conscientious objector status. His request for Other than Honorable discharge in lieu of a court-martial trial has also been denied.
Disgraceful!
READ: She made it all about her, just like the Shehag. It makes me sick.
I didn’t think this would happen because of the political ramifications of pissing off a lot of veterans. Disgusting is close, but not near enough.
This shouldn’t be about the families’ choice or publicizing “the cost of the war.” The issue is ALWAYS about winning the war.
These photos will start showing up on Al Jazeera and youtube videos promoting jihad and Al Quaeda. Google “sniper” and “Baghdad” and you’ll find a video produced by Islamic Jihad where the existing photos of flag-draped caskets are woven into scenes of American soldiers being shot.
This is a strategic error on behalf of the Pentagon and the Obama Administration. Thye deaths of these American soldiers will now become images for exploitation by our enemies.
Here is an article about Karen Meredith speaking at an event with deserter Pablo Paredes and Bay Area IVAW president Sean O’Neill.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/14/BAGNHPQDVM1.DTL
I still don’t see how this is “up to the parent(s)”. What if the warrior is married and has children. And the wife says NO! This is a military matter not a civilian one and we all know why they want to take the photos and report – it has absolutely nothing to do with honoring the war dead. It has everything to do with publicizing the ugliness and horror of war and why we should always be passive and accepting of our fate even it means loss of freedom (the left manifesto).
Adirondack Patriot,
If by enemies you mean people in the US, it has already happened. The photos of flag covered caskets that were taken illegally during the Bush Admin were used by the DCCC (the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) in a 2006 video for fund raising.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCUhHlrmFkM
There is ZERO chance that these pictures will not be used politically.
TSO, I would have been @ Dover to make sure it didn’t happen.
BTW,
The head of the DCCC at that time was Chief of Staff Emanual.
BTW,
The head of the DCCC at that time was the current Chief of Staff, Rohm Emanual.
I’m dead set against the MSM leftwingnuts attending the arrival of the fallen troops. You can bet your ass Code Stink will soon follow. They’ll exploit the occasions to spew anti-war, pro-Islamic terrorist rhetoric, and denigrate the service of those far better than they.
As for this:
“I wanted the nation to grieve with me, and if we don’t see those images we don’t know that these young men and women are dying,” she told CNN.”
The war in Iraq and Afghanistan has succeeded past the point of providing fodder for anti-military/anti-U.S. propaganda. The context of sacrifice (i.e. “those images”)was never used in respect for the troops in the first place.
She doesn’t help her “cause” by posing with a deserter.
Code Pink is the organization that raised money to send to the Iraqi “Freedom Fighters” who were busy killing American soldiers. If this woman associates with them, it says all that I need to say about her or her opinion.
Another “mother” walking all over the grave of her son. I sympathize with gold star parents until they use the death of their loved one to shout “Look at me! Look at me!” Then I only say a quiet ‘thank you’ and a prayer for the fallen hero. Fortunately there aren’t many dis honorable, disreputable publicity whores like Sheehan and Meredith.
Disgraceful of these groups to take advantage of a tortured and warped woman like this. I always thought the same thing concerning Cindy Sheehan.
Some of these women can’t handle losing their sons, and they become somewhat demented. Then some 3rd party feeds the flames of this rage inside of them and they end up turning into Cindy Sheehan. They do this until they burn out, like Sheehan did finally a couple years ago. She is just a full-blown wacko now. And of course they abandon her. These people are disgraceful.
Similar thoughts posted at my place. Nice work.
Call me crazy or hard hearted but after 9-11 weren’t the libs telling a grieving, shocked nation(and by extrapolation the families of those killed) to “Move on?” How is it that this absolutely demented woman justifies dragging her son’s willingness to support and defend the Constitution through political mud? Shouldn’t she take the popular lib mantra and “Move on” as well? I would never demand that of anyone. Grief is a highly personal thing with varying lengths of recovery but I think woman’s (and Sheehan’s) is excessive. She’s an attention whore. I think there’s a name for it: Munchausen’s syndrome except instead of facilitating her son’s death, she’s just capitalizing on it. There is treatment available.
This is how you respect someone who has served. You acknowledge that he volunteered, acknowledge that he didn’t refuse to fight in Iraq, acknowledge that he was undoubtedly proud of his decision to serve, and acknowledge that no matter your opinions on the war that he, no matter what his political opinions, decided that it was his duty (patriotic, moral, whatever you want to call it) to serve.
In other words, your politics should be removed from reference to your son because your son’s noble action of serving is an action that says politics comes second.
The sympathy we have for the families of fallen heroes is never as much as the respect we have for our heroes, and this lady fails to recognize that she lacks respect for her son’s decisions and actions. She can’t understand the nobility of his deeds.
My sympathy for her is all but gone, and whatever remains remains only because of the respect and gratitude I feel for her son.
Ditto, I feel for this woman for the loss of her son, I dislike her for what she thinks now. Like Drie said, we were told to “move on” after 9-11, told we didn’t need to see the images of the videos from that day any more. The media doesn’t need to see what happens at Dover.
I see the same personality as Cindy Sheehan, warped and twisted. She has no clue as to honor, or duty.
“I wanted the nation to grieve with me, and if we don’t see those images we don’t know that these young men and women are dying,”
How absurd.
When things were a rough go in Iraq.
We had the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly death toll counts.
And whenever one of those all important 1,000 level marks were achieved.
We were treating to extra special media attention to those who were dying in Iraq.
The only reason there is a disconnect now is because we are winning.
Let a car bomber pull off an attack killing multiple soldiers and the media will be all interested again.
Brainina hat, you are right.
I checked Meredith’s website and learned about her enlightened worldview. It says:
“It’s about that dang bumper sticker again. You know, the one on my car that says
BUSH LIED
MY SON DIED
1LTKEN BALLARD KIA 5.30.2004 NAJAF, IRAQ
For the record, my metallic gray Prius also sports an Obama 08 campaign sticker and an oval white sticker that says 01.02.09. ”
She takes her son’s honorable sacrifice and turns it into a cheap, tawdry campaign brochure.
Let us not leave out our wonderful “war hero” jon cary who made a formal request that our dead warriors be used for propaganda purposes…..john cary the gift (curse) that keeps on giving.
It’s not about each of your individual rights to decide whether a photo of a casket can be taken. It’s about POLICY, not soldier’s preference. There is no ID on the flag draped caskets. There are no signs telling us who is in the box. No one’s personal right to privacy is violated if a photo is taken. That has never been the issue. Most people, except apparently for you, who can’t see beyond your own ego, understand that it’s a question of national morals and political policy, not about what YOU want. It was never about what YOU or your families want and never will be. The military releases file photos with death announcements and I don’t hear you bitching about that. Ask your unit PR. The discussion of POLICY is about what is the right thing to do in America. Do we bring our casualties back onto our soil under cover of darkness, without witness, without record, without acknowledgment after they have served, sacrificed, for this country as if we are ashamed of them? No one is suggesting or would tolerate disrespect of the coffins or the warriors they carry home. As an American, a veteran, I felt as if my country (under Bush) was hiding from the public the cost of war, using the philosophy of “out of sight, out of mind” so we wouldn’t have the chance to see and possibly to question. That is a shameful practice by our government, contrary to all that this country stands for. It seems as if your point is not to oppose the policy or any potential policy change, but to trash talk all over a Gold Star Mother who is American enough speak her mind. And, I must say, I laughed at your reference to “Michelle Malkin”! Ha! As if she has credibility as a journalist! If you want to be taken seriously in the mainstream discussion, get our head out of the right-wing’s ass. (and yes, that’s a direct reference to Michelle as the RW’s Ass.)
Indivet…. Or should I say “Obamavet”. Go piss up a rope. If the military families were so darn upset about the ban on photos, why are they so opposed to this new “Policy”? The very valid point has been made that such photos will be a rallying cry for the terrorists and will be broadcast ad nauseum in the Al Jazzy world. YOU just want them for political reasons, admit it. You care NOTHING for those families or their pain, only for scoring points on MSNBC. I know quite a few Gold Star Moms from my time riding with the PGR. ( By the way… I haven’t met YOU at any of these funerals… unless you were the one with the “God hates Fags” sign.) I cannot think of ONE GSM I know who would want her son or daughter used as a bullshit political football by you or the Islamofacists.
As for Michelle, well, I don’t know her personally, but so far she’s impressed me much more than your sorry ass. Go crawl back to the Daily Kos and lick yourself like the dog you are. If we want shit from you we’ll squeeze your head.
Indivet,
You MF POS. Cindy Sheehan was asked by the real Gold Star Mothers organization NOT to trade on their reputation.
It was impacting their ability to provide no-partisan and non-political support to families of the fallen. Sheehan refused.
Debra Argel was told by the Veterans For Peace that he request to remove her son’s name from their beach display of crosses would not be “honored” because “families don’t get to make that decision.”
Like wise, a petition signed by 300 families from Fort Hood was rejected out of hand by Marq Anderson of the American Friends Service Committee. It advised that they did not want their loved ones names used in their display.
AFSC’s “Eyes Wide Open” has (probebly still does) allow anyone to write anything and attach it to any pair of boots displayed without regard for what that fallen hero or their families think about it. All for a contribution. It’s bolld money that AFSC collects. Hell, next AFSC will go to Arlington and start grave robbing from the same heros.
Your BS isn’t about honoring the fallen. You want to make a “cost of war” arguement, especially because you recognize that the public really has an emotional soft spot for the wounded and fallen. You hope to steal the goodwill that the public affords them. You are a grave robbing ghoul of a bastard too.
Indivet,
After your photos are published, what then? After you have disgraced the memories of our fallen heroes for political gain as Meredith has(http://gsmso.blogspot.com/2008/11/vote.html). After you have whored their sacrifice for profit as GSFSO does soliciting for donations (http://www.gsfso.org/index.html). What will you do then? What will you do if you fail in your attempt to shame Americans into changing their viewpoint to match your own. What if people disagree with you, simply because they disagree with you, and not because they are ignorant. What if the people you assume are ignorant, know all too well of the sacrifice that that our brothers in arms have made. And don’t give me that, “Oh I didn’t mean you, I meant the real chickenhawks” line. When you call one person who doesn’t agree with you ignorant, you call all of us ignorant. So take your holier-than-thou “only I know the true sacrifice we have made” bigotry and cram it up your fourth point of contact.
Ray and Raoul , very well said. I could not agree more.
I wonder, does the media claim a right to walk into every funeral, to wait for every coroner to deliver every body to the morgue and photograph the remains of every casket in the United States?
Or does the media recognize the rights of most Americans to privacy in their time of grief?
I was the 4th Veteran in the blogosphere (to my knowledge, probably the 4,000th or later) to respond to this issue. I agree with TSO, Laughing Wolf and BlackFive in everything they say though the point I made before reading their articles is vastly different.
The current administration, including the holdover from the last one, continues to prove its ignorance and arrogance at every turn. The question is how soon the American electorate will wake up to their poor choice at the ballot box.
I started to cry when I first saw the pictures of the the flag draped coffins
that son, that brother, that sister, that husband.
Someone decided that it was better for us to not see the coffins
So across the United States, private ceremonies were held away from our eyes
leaving us all bereft of reality.
Bereft of seeing the families, the children,
the widows crying or trying not to cry,
holding it together as they receive the folded flag
Keeping us from seeing the children who will grow up
without a father, a mother, a brother.
We should see it so we cannot pretend about the cost, the real cost.
I cried for those who have no witness on our nightly news.
For the over 100,000 civilian Iraqis killed
for they too are husbands, and brothers, and sisters,
and more children than we can bear to admit.
Why have we not seen these images?
Are we worth more?
Are they worth less?
I cried because I remembered watching the dead arrive home from Viet Nam
I remember the flag draped coffins in the thousands – the overwhelming magnitude of it all.
I remember seeing children in flames running screaming down streets
And I remember that it mattered that millions of us were transformed by witnessing—
It mattered so much that they took away the images
They have hidden the coffins and the crying families from view
But we are involved -whether we want to be or not
We need to see the dead arriving every day
as they touch the soil of the country that they died for
No matter who you are, no matter what you think
about this war
The dead still have a right to be seen.
Jonn wrote: Yeah, Micky, why don’t you stick to your area of expertise and let us stick to ours, ‘k? And leave writing poetry to poets, too, for the sake of our culture.
That is the most retarded myopic shit I ever read.
How many of those funerals have you been to? If you have been to 1/4 as many as me, I would be shocked. Has it occured to you that the Dead don’t want to be seen? I think I have a better grasp of that than an adoption advocate from San Fran.
Absolutely retarded.
Well, what can you expect from a San Fran resident? I doubt she’s been to one funeral. Or even turned on the news, such as it is. Every funeral for a couple of hundred miles around us has been covered by the local media. As a matter of fact, the funerals have been done with class, taste and reverence. And if the family declined to be covered, it was accepted graciously. It is, after all, up to the families, not an adoption advocate, or Code pinko, or any of the rest of that lot.
We’ve all seen pictures of the flag draped coffins arriving on the planes, these events do not go undocumented. There are just no AP Photographers on hand to put these images on the wire for the world to create a circus out of them.