Pentagon Turns Away Mothers of Soldiers Killed in Iraq

how disgusting Rumsfeld and the rest really are)

AMY GOODMAN
At the rally outside, family members of soldiers killed in Iraq spoke out against war, protesting President Bush's second inauguration. Among them, Celeste Zappala, mother of Sherwood Baker, killed in Iraq in Baghdad, April, 2004. She is part of a newly formed group of families who have lost loved ones in Iraq called "Gold Star Families."

CELESTE ZAPPALA: Yesterday, as many of us gathered here for the events of the inauguration, Gold Star Families For Peace went to the Pentagon with hope of seeing and speaking with Donald Rumsfeld. Unfortunately, Mr. Rumsfeld chose once again to ignore us, and in my thought he ignores not only those of us who traveled to see him, but he refuses to look at the face, the reality of those you see symbolized in front of us. The gates were shut to us, but had I seen Mr. Rumsfeld, this is what I wanted to tell him -- that I am the mother of three sons.

AMY GOODMAN: Cindy Sheehan, whose son, Casey, killed in Iraq last April also addressed the crowd.
CINDY SHEEHAN: Hi. I have had a very busy day today. Well, yesterday I was with Celeste when we tried to get a meeting with our Secretary of Defense, and we have been trying for weeks. We have been emailing, writing, calling. They finally stopped taking our calls. And I just saw all of these people today cheering for them and their policies, and I think if I had like $25 grand, I would probably have access to everybody in this administration, but I have paid a price that is priceless. You cannot put a price on what I have given to this country.

I gave them my only -- my oldest son -- not my only son, but my oldest son, and they don't even have the courtesy to reply to us to say, no, we're not going to meet with you, or, you know, maybe later, or would you like to meet with another aide. They don't even have the courtesy to meet with Gold Star Families. I was on "Good Morning, America” this morning, and they asked me why I opposed the inauguration, and I said, “While these people are partying tonight, there's going to be more bloodshed. And I just think it's very inappropriate to celebrate when there's millions of people in harm's way.”

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/21/1531225

These individuals paid the ultimate price of war...and this administration is too callous to even return a phone call? Wow! What a great way to win the hearts and minds...!!! Their behavior is sickening! I heard about this ealier today and tears welled up in my eyes. My heart aches for these families! May God have mercy on us all!

Mothers. Story went that they went to see her at her Senate office and were turned away and treated shabbily. Even though the Gold Star mothers quickly stated that the story was untrue.. never happened... no truth etc., the story flew (for years?) around emails sent by conservatives who expressed outrage.

Why do I think that this REAL story will not get the same email pass around rate that the fake story experienced?