HEART OF STONE

Mother of killed soldier tells of meeting she had with Bush. Our president has a heart of stone, it seems.

This is a wonderful piece sent by Ken. Thanks for keeping the relevant news flowing, Ken! LS

MILITARY MOM SANDBAGS O'REILLY DURING INTERVIEW ON FOX

The descriptions of Bush meeting with the parents of soldiers killed in Iraq, such as Cindy Sheehan last year and with the lady you'll read about below are just amazing. Apparently he doesn't take the time to learn the name of the soldier, and calls them 'the loved one' to the parents of the soldier. Cindy Sheehan said that he kept calling her 'Mom.'

It's not that he doesn't take the trouble of learning a couple of names, it's that he is so stupid and removed that he doesn't realize how offensive and cold this is - how terrible it would be to hear this kind of impersonality coming from the guy who sent your child to their death. They could hardly do worse just sending a form letter with the blanks filled in in a different font.

Now, this is really great. After reporting the Cindy Sheehan story with all manner of left handed slams at her, he brought on a woman who lost her son in Mosul almost two years ago. They clearly wanted to show a mom who would mouth the words Fox viewers long to hear - and this woman must've seemed like she was going to play ball. Instead, they got another brave woman who was willing to talk truth to power - on Fox's air. The entire transcript is below. I've bolded and blued the part I recommend you read, if you don't have time for this whole, great, interview. It concerns her encounter with Bush, where he uses 9/11 to justify sending her son to his death in Iraq. -K (I can't bold and blue on this blog site, unfortunately.LS)

August 10, 2005 Wednesday

HEADLINE: Interview with Delores Kesterson

BILL O'REILLY: Now for the top story tonight. Although Cindy Sheehan will not speak with us, Delores Kesterson will. She lost her son, Erik, in Mosul, Iraq in November of
2003. Ms. Kesterson also had a short meeting with President Bush, just like Ms.
Sheehan. She joins us now from Mountain View, California.

Your son, Eric, was a military professional, eight years in the Marine Corps,
two years in the Army. He's learning how to fly choppers. And he went down in
Mosul. Before he was killed, did you object to the Iraq War?

DOLORES KESTERSTON, SON ERIK WAS KILLED IN IRAQ: Yes, I did. I did not
believe that we should have taken the detour into Iraq, that we should have
finished the job in Afghanistan, and gone after the real killers, bin Laden and
al Qaeda. And it would not have escalated to a worldwide -- you know, war
against us the way it has.

O'REILLY: OK. So you from the get go were against going in to remove Saddam
Hussein. Did you discuss this with Erik? Did he feel the way that you did?

KESTERSON: Erik answered the call. He would answer the call to go anywhere
the president sent him. He knew how I felt, yes.

But Erik was strictly military. And he thought he was going to save the
world.

O'REILLY: He's a professional...

KESTERSON: He was a brand-new pilot, very professional.

O'REILLY: Very professional.

KESTERSON: Brand new pilot. He was co-pilot on the Blackhawk that had five
survivors in the double helicopter collision over Mosul.

O'REILLY: OK, so...

KESTERSON: And their helicopter hit them. And it seems that he probably
landed that aircraft on the roof. But sadly, he did not survive.

O'REILLY: All right. And we think your son, as well as all of the other sons
and daughters that have been killed and wounded are -- is a great patriot and
died in a noble cause.

KESTERSON: Right.

O'REILLY: And we believe that.

KESTERSON: It was.

O'REILLY: Do you believe he died in a noble cause, freeing people? I think
that's a noble cause.

KESTERSON: Well, if they were really free, if they were really going to be
free...

O'REILLY: OK, I mean, we deposed a dictator, who was a brutal killer and his
two sons, who were brutal killers. They've had an election there. The people in
Iraq overwhelmingly want to be free. We all know that. They have taken...

KESTERSON: It would have been nice to do that after, after taking care of al
Qaeda.

O'REILLY: OK, all right. But what I'm trying -- let's take it one step at a
time. I believe your son died in a noble cause, that your son died to give other
people freedom, all right. And if you're a Christian, you know, there is no
greater sacrifice to give your life for someone else. So I believe your son died
in a noble cause. Do you believe that?

KESTERSON: He was willing to do that. I don't believe that, you know, we're
freeing these people when we're building all kinds of major military bases in
Iraq.

O'REILLY: OK. So you don't believe that we're freeing anybody in Iraq.

KESTERSON: No, I don't.

O'REILLY: Do you believe that they were better under Saddam than they are
now?

KESTERSON: No.

O'REILLY: We're not free?

KESTERSON: But there was a time for that, after we took care of the real
business of getting the real terrorists and the real killers from 9/11.

O'REILLY: OK, I got you. Now you met with President Bush. And I understand
that you've had just a short time with him because your ex- husband also met
with him. And you had to divide the time. Tell me about that meeting?

KESTERSON: Well, what happened was I asked -- you know, I was lumped in with
them, his father, Erik's father and his wife and her granddaughter. And I felt
that I really shouldn't be lumped in with them. I'm a family of one. I'm a
family of my own. And I asked, you know, to meet with the president privately --
or personally.

And what happened was the general who presented me the flag at my son's
funeral happened to pop his head into the little cubicle or -- it was a draped
off stall that we were all lumped in there together with. And I jumped at the
chance. And I asked him, I said, I feel I'm a family of one and I would like to
meet with the president on my own. And he said, well, I'll see what I can do.

So what they did is they took me out, stood me by a post. And the president,
he said, was going to give us each six minutes. They could have three and you
can have three. And I said I'll take it before they could say anything.

So actually, you know, it did come about. They put me into a cubicle by
myself, took everything away from me. I also came prepared with a letter to give
to the president about how I felt about the war and, you know, the loss of my
son, my only child for a cause that I thought, you know, was not worthwhile at
that point in time.

And so President Bush came marching in, to make a long story short, came
marching in to the room, got right in my face, eyeball to eyeball, nose to nose
this close, toe to toe. And he said, "I'm George Bush, president of the United
States. And I understand you have something to say to me privately."

And I said, "Yes, I do respect the office of the presidency of the United
States, but I want to tell you how it feels to lose your only child in a cause
that you don't believe in, in an unnecessary war." And you know, we talked about it from there just like you and I are talking about.

O'REILLY: Right.

KESTERSON: And you know, I just felt...

O'REILLY: Was he respectful to you?

KESTERSON: Yes, he was. But he did, you know, come at me a few times with
trotting out, "Delores, did you realize we've been attacked on 9/11?"

O'REILLY: All right, so he was trying to make his case.

KESTERSON: Who doesn't?

O'REILLY: All right, now at the end...

KESTERSON: Yes, exactly.

O'REILLY: ...he hugged you at the end, did he not?

KESTERSON: Well, yes, he asked if he could hug me. And I thought, well, you
know, that's a human thing. I know I'm human. You know, so I agreed to it.

But my personal feeling is that he really doesn't have a conscience about all
this death and destruction. And that was the essence I took away from looking
him in the eyes and meeting with him that there just is no conscience there.

O'REILLY: OK. Now I have a few more questions for you. And we really
appreciate you coming on and speaking with us tonight. So we'll have more with
Ms. Kesterson in a moment.

And then, more threats from al Qaeda. This time they're in English. And we'll
play them for you as "The Factor" continues all across the USA.

(NEWSBREAK)

TIME STAMP: 2013:30

O'REILLY: Continuing now with Delores Kesterson, who lost her son, Chief
Warrant Officer Erik Kesterson in Iraq a couple of years ago.

Now I respect your opinion. And that's why you're on the program. I wanted
you to talk to millions of people all over the world about your experiences, why
you feel the way you do. Obviously, we respect your son, who I think is a great
patriot.

And I don't want you to be used. You know, I think Cindy Sheehan is being
used by very far...

KESTERSON: I have a question about that.

O'REILLY: OK. Well, and I'll let you ask that. But let me make a statement.

I think she's being used by very far left elements in this country, elements
that not only object to the Iraq War, but object to basically our way of life
here, America as we know it.

And if you look at it logically, everyone knows Hillary Clinton knows, I mean
on and on, that if we cut and run from Iraq, if we pulled out of there, it would
make the war on terror twice as dangerous as it is now. And that's just a fact.

So ask me your question. I'll be happy to answer it.

KESTERSON: I don't believe, you know, what you're saying about there are
forces behind her, because I know there's nobody behind me. I've been relatively
anonymous.

O'REILLY: Well, you're a different story. But if you don't believe me, all
you have to do is go to the Michael Moore Web site. And all you have to do is
call the Fenton Group, which is a left-wing group in Washington, which puts out
press releases.

And here I have an Internet thing where she told us - I mean, these people
are off the chart left. Cindy Sheehan says Bill O'Reilly is an obscenity to
humanity. OK?

I mean, Ms. Kesterson, if you don't want to believe me, you don't have to
believe me. All I can do is report what we know to be true. And if you don't
accept it, you don't accept it.

But we have Michael Moore involved. You know Michael Moore.

KESTERSON: Yes.

O'REILLY: We have the most far left elements in the country involved with
telling the woman what to say, how to say it, and monitoring what she goes on
and what she doesn't go on. You know, there's nothing else I can tell you.

KESTERSON: Nobody tells her what to say.

O'REILLY: Well, how...

KESTERSON: Nobody tells me what to say.

O'REILLY: How can you say that?

KESTERSON: You know, I mean, she speaks from the heart, as I speak from the
heart.

O'REILLY: All right.

KESTERSON: I mean, she lost the most precious thing in the world to her.

O'REILLY: Would you go on the Michael Moore Web site, madam?

KESTERSON: Probably. I mean, I will now. I mean, I don't go do that, you
know, voluntarily, but you know...

O'REILLY: But I mean, do you respect Michael Moore? Do you believe in the
things that Michael Moore believes in, that we're a bad country, that we're an
evil country...

KESTERSON: Now see, you're putting words in...

O'REILLY: ...that we brought this war upon ourselves?

KESTERSON: You're putting words in his mouth the way I look at it.

O'REILLY: OK, so you don't -- you believe -- well, wait...

KESTERSON: I believe he has made a documentary.

O'REILLY: Hold it.

KESTERSON: Mm-hmm. Go ahead.

O'REILLY: Do you respect Michael Moore's view of the United States?

KESTERSON: I don't know his entire views of the United States.

But you know, there are a lot of things that Michael Moore has brought up
that I think needed to be brought up. And I do believe them. But I can't say
because I don't know what he has, you know, said across the board. I don't
follow him.

O'REILLY: If you had to throw in with one person, President Bush or Michael
Moore, if you had to make a decision on who I'm going to back here, who would it
be?

KESTERSON: Michael Moore, if he has lied or not, has not killed thousands of
people, possibly hundreds of thousands of people.

O'REILLY: OK. So you believe that President Bush has killed hundreds of
thousands of people?

KESTERSON: Yes.

O'REILLY: So you believe that the president is an evil man?

KESTERSON: I believe he's responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands
of people, our soldiers included.

O'REILLY: And...

KESTERSON: In an unnecessary war.

O'REILLY: ...there's no justification. Self-defense isn't a justification.
War on terror....

KESTERSON: It wasn't self-defense in my eyes.

O'REILLY: So you would have been OK with letting Saddam...

KESTERSON: We weren't attacked by Iraq.

O'REILLY: No, that's true...

KESTERSON: We were not attacked by Iraq.

O'REILLY: We were not attacked by Iraq, but Kuwait was. And he signed a
treaty that said he would abide by the U.N. sanctions and violated them 17
times.

So I mean...

KESTERSON: I feel that they...

O'REILLY: ...you either enforce the treaty or you don't. And that's what it
came down to. I'm going to give you the last word, Ms. Kesterson. And I want to
really tell the audience that I appreciate you coming on and speaking with me
today. Go ahead.

KESTERSON: I feel that if Saddam was such a threat, they should have taken
care of him in the first Gulf War after he had done the scorched earth program,
where he set all those oil wells on fire and he did kill his own people. And he
was allowed to fly those helicopters to gas the Kurds.

So that would have been the time to have taken care of Saddam Hussein.

O'REILLY: Ms. Kesterson, thanks very much. We appreciate -- you're welcome on
this program any time if you have anything else you want to say.