Cindy Sheehan is better known as The Peace Mom who gave President Bush hell for his illegal invasion of Iraq, in which Cindy lost her son, Casey. I interviewed her to bring readers up to date in June of 2018.
Jack: What are you working on these days?
Cindy: While I am still maintaining the blog and podcast Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox (in our 10th year), I am also organizing the Women’s March on the Pentagon which is a non-partisan march against the bi-partisan war machine.
The march will be October 21st (51st anniversary of the first march on the Pentagon during Vietnam) and while men and others are welcome, we are trying really hard to build something that is radical, different, and from a nurturing feminine perspective.
After eight years of the “left” giving Obama a free-pass on every crime he committed, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, we are having to build this movement from scratch. It’s hard, but it’s also exciting because we get to call all the shots.
Jack: What do you see coming from the meeting between President Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong-un? Will the US withdraw its nuclear weapons and troops from the region (Korean peninsula and Japan) in order to meet the other side half way?
Cindy: The on again off again on again meeting? I see a bad trend happening here. We all know what happened to Muammar Qaddafi when he agreed to US terms—he was brutally murdered and the US (and other, weaker, imperialist powers) has destroyed Libya. If I were Kim, my first demand would be that the US denuclearize and demilitarize the Korean peninsula before it gives up its tiny nuclear program. Of course, the US would never agree to that and if peace and reunification does happen on the Korean peninsula it will be despite the US, not because of it. The US has been actively preventing a peace process for almost 70 years now.
Jack: Do you think most Americans are aware that there is a peace viewpoint when their cable news networks all have a parade of retired generals and admirals promoting war?
Cindy: Not most Americans, that’s for sure. Thank goodness for alternative media and social media, or more of us would be ignorant.
Jack: Is the public aware of how many countries currently have American forces killing people?
Cindy: It’s my suspicion that the public is very unaware, generally, that the US is a violent and Evil Empire.
Jack: Who really runs the USA?
Cindy: Hmmm. . . . . good question. Bankers, war profiteers and deep state operatives, I would guess. They pull the strings of the politicians by coercion, threat of force, or force, if necessary. I suspect coercion probably works just fine, though, because most politicians are pretty corrupt, or easily corruptible by the time they rise to the federal level. This may sound cynical to some, but I think it’s a pretty realistic and understated opinion.
Jack: How can people who want to support your work get involved?
Cindy: Go to Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox or Women’s March on the Pentagon—we are on the web and social media.
Jack Balkwill has been published from the little read Rectangle, magazine of the English Honor Society, to the (then) millions of readers USA Today and many progressive publications/web sites such as Z Magazine, In These Times, Counterpunch, This Can’t Be Happening, Intrepid Report, and Dissident Voice. He is author of “An Attack on the National Security State,” about peace activists in prison.
