Karen McCarthy (March 18, 1947 – October 5, 2010)

[proud2BlibKansan]

In October, 2002 most U.S. Senators and Representatives followed a script and voted "aye" in favor of a joint resolution that led to the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, over a million dead Iraqi people, 4 million refugees, 4,424 (and counting) American women and men in uniform killed, and a $3-5 trillion price tag waiting to be paid .

Karen McCarthy agonized over briefings, recalled a friend lost in Vietnam, pondered lessons of past wars and, despite pressure from friends in the House to bend to the prevailing winds, voted "no."

Body of War is a film about that scripted "debate" in Washington interwoven with the tale of Kansas Citian Tomas Young, a soldier grievously injured in Iraq. As part of the credits at the end of the film, producers Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue listed all the Senators and Representatives who voted "no" on the 2002 joint resolution.

Body of War opened in the Spring of 2008. After one screening during the opening week in Kansas City, Tomas Young rolled down to the front of the theater in his wheelchair to take questions and comments from the audience, and one of the audience members who rose to speak said that she was proud that her name had scrolled across the screen as one of the "no" votes. It was Karen McCarthy, and she said she wished that every member Congress would watch the film.

In July, 2008, I arranged to meet McCarthy at her Kansas City home. We sat at her kitchen table and I asked her to talk about how she came to her decision in Washington, D.C. in October, 2002. Part of this conversation was re-aired on the June 16, 2009 edition of Tell Somebody.

In the summer of 2009 it was revealed McCarthy was suffering from an advanced form of Alzheimer's Disease and was living in a Kansas City area nursing home.

The segment with Karen McCarthy comes about 45 minutes into the show.

****CLICK HERE**** for link to audio of this show

http://tellsomebodyradio.blogspot.com/

[w8liftinglady]

1. Thank you for sharing this.her braveness can not be understated...

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. She was an awesome lady

[Hissyspit]

2. kick nt

[blondeatlast]

3. What a courageous American. May she rest in God's embrace.

:patriot:

k/r

[Smarmie Doofus]

5. K and R n/t

[hfojvt]

6. thanks largely to Kucinich, a majority of House Democrats voted no

This kinda makes it sound like she was one of only a few.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. The point is - it was a brave stance and she took a lot of crap for it here in red state hell

And she died this week.

She was a wonderful lady. We need more reps like her. I was blessed to have known her. She was a treasure. One of the few willing to stand by her beliefs and vote her conscience.