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News :: Government Secrecy : International Relations : Iraq : Peace : Protest Activity : Regime |
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Waiting on W to Get His Courage Up: Local Women Join War Protester |
Current rating: 0 |
by Alex Roth
(No verified email address) |
11 Aug 2005
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They intend to stay, they said, until Bush – who is on vacation at the ranch for the next five weeks – agrees to meet Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville in person. |
The idea of making a spontaneous trip to President Bush's vacation ranch was born when Julie Decker read a newspaper article a couple of days ago and immediately called her good friend Tiffany Strause.
The story was about a Northern California woman whose son had been killed in Iraq and who subsequently decided to camp out in front of Bush's Texas ranch until she got a face-to-face meeting with him.
Yesterday morning, a day after reading the piece, Strause, who lives in San Marcos, and Decker, who lives in Carlsbad, were on a plane to Crawford, Texas, to join the woman in her vigil.
They intend to stay, they said, until Bush – who is on vacation at the ranch for the next five weeks – agrees to meet Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, CA in person.
Neither of the two women knows Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son, Casey, an Army specialist, was killed in Baghdad in April 2004. Neither has a child, much less one who has been killed in Iraq. And neither had been active in the anti-war movement. They hadn't attended any "protests or peace rallies or anything like that," Strause said. "Both of us are very busy."
But they share with Sheehan the firm belief that the war is a colossal mistake. And when they heard about Sheehan's story, "it was like the straw that broke the camel's back," said Strause, 29, who works as a consultant in the computer industry.
"We just want to do something," she said. "We're so sick of being on the sidelines. Being busy isn't an excuse anymore."
She called the war "this generation's Vietnam."
After reading the news article, Decker, 40, a health care executive, tracked down Sheehan with her cell phone number, obtained from the Associated Press reporter who wrote the piece. Decker asked what she could do to help.
"I need bodies," replied Sheehan, who had been camping for several days in a sleeping bag not far from the president's compound.
So Decker and Strause booked a flight, packed some clothes and told the men in their lives – Decker is married and Strause is engaged – they'd be gone several weeks.
"I support you," Strause's fiance told her. "I'll take care of the dogs. You just go."
The women landed in Texas yesterday afternoon, rented a car and headed to Crawford, where they intend to stay in a hotel near where Sheehan is camping out. A half-dozen other people had already arrived to camp alongside her.
Not surprisingly, there are those who view Sheehan's protest as counterproductive and an insult to the men and women serving in the military.
"She's not the only one who lost a son or a daughter, but how many other people do you see camping out in front of the White House?" said Joseph Bertolino Sr. of El Cajon, whose son Stephen, an Army staff sergeant, was killed in Iraq in 2003.
Bertolino, 75, a veteran of two wars and a retired meat cutter, said he supports the Iraqi invasion, adding, "It's hard to lose someone in a war, but (my son) knew the consequences in making the military his career."
Decker and Strause say they expect to stay the full five weeks that Bush is on vacation. They both said they expect to suffer financially. Strause and her fiance recently bought a house and "our credit card bills are chock-full right now."
"It'll be a crunch," she said. "I'm not a trust-fund baby or anything like that."
But they took along computers and cell phones so they can get some work done when they're not standing outside Bush's vacation home.
"We brought enough clothes for a week and we're going to keep going to the Laundromat," Strause said.
© 2005 Union-Tribune Publishing Company
http://www.signonsandiego.com/ |
See also:
http://www.meetwithcindy.org
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Copyright by the author. All rights reserved. |
Comments
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Gold Star & Military Families Arrive in Crawford, Texas, Call on President Bush to Meet with Cindy Sheehan and All of the Families |
by Gold Star Families for Peace / Military Families Speak Out
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
11 Aug 2005
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CRAWFORD, Texas - August 10 - Members of Gold Star Families for Peace and Military Families Speak Out are beginning to arrive in Crawford, Texas, to add their voices to Cindy Sheehan's, calling for a meeting with President Bush and for troops to be brought home now.
The following Gold Star and Military Families Speak Out members are available for interview:
* Celeste, Dante and Raphael Zappala of Philadelphia. Celeste and her son Dante arrived in Crawford on Tuesday Aug. 9; son Raphael will arrive Friday night Aug. 12. Celeste's son Sgt. Sherwood Baker (Dante and Raphael's brother) was the first Pennsylvania National Guardsman to die in combat since World War II. He was killed in action in Baghdad on April 26, 2004 while searching for non-existent WMD's. Celeste is a co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace.
* Tammara Rosenleaf of Belton, Texas arrived in Crawford on Tuesday, Aug. 9. Tammara's husband serves in the Army, stationed at Ft. Hood, and will be deploying to Iraq this fall.
* Lietta Ruger of Bay Center, Wash., will be arriving in Crawford Wednesday morning, Aug. 10. Lietta's son-in-law and nephew serve in the 1st Armored Division of the U.S. Army and are currently in Germany. They have both served extended 15-month tours of duty in Iraq; they are both under stop-loss orders and due to re-deploy to Iraq this fall.
* Linda and Phil Waste of Hinesville, Ga., will arrive in Crawford Wednesday morning Aug. 10. Linda and Phil have three sons and two grandchildren (a grandson and a granddaughter) who are active-duty military. Together, they have already spent a total of over 57 months on tours of duty in Iraq. Several of these children/grandchildren are currently serving in Iraq, and have served extended and multiple deployments.
* Jean Prewitt of Birmingham, Ala., will arrive in Crawford on Wednesday morning, Aug. 10. Jean's son Private Kelly Prewitt was killed in action during the first few weeks of the war in Iraq, on April 6, 2003.
* Valarie Fletcher of Seymour, Mo., is driving to Crawford and arriving Wednesday evening, Aug. 10. Valarie's son serves in the Marines and will be deploying to Iraq at the end of this month.
* Sherry Bohlen of Scottsdale, Ariz., is driving to Crawford and arriving on Wednesday evening, Aug. 10. Sherry's son serves in the Army and deployed to Iraq on June 10.
* Rebecca Bahr of Scottsdale, Ariz.,is driving to Crawford and arriving on Wednesday evening Aug. 10. Rebecca's daughter serves in the Marines and is currently stateside.
* Caryn Unsicker of Silvis, Ill., is driving to Crawford and arriving Wednesday evening, Aug. 10. Caryn's son serves in the Marines, currently stateside.
* Anne Sapp and her daughters Lydia (age 17) and Mary (age 8) of Billerica, Mass., will be arriving in Crawford on Thursday morning, Aug. 11. Anne's husband/Lydia and Mary's father is a Staff Sergeant in the Massachusetts National Guard and currently serving in Iraq.
* Barbara Porchia of Camden, Ark., will be arriving in Crawford on Thursday morning Aug. 11. Barbara's son, Army Reservist Private 1st Class Jonathan Cheatham, was killed in action in Baghdad two years ago, on July 26, 2003.
* Sue Niederer of Pennington, N.J., will be arriving in Crawford on Thursday morning Aug. 11. Sue's son, 1st Lieutenant Seth Dvorin, was killed in action near Iskandariyah, Iraq on Feb. 3, 2004. Sue is a co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace.
* Kristin Williams and Matthew Williams of Dallas will be arriving in Crawford this weekend (Aug. 13 - 14). Matthew Williams is an Iraq War Veteran who served as a combat medic for one year in Iraq (2003 - 2004). He was honorably discharged from the Army. Kristin is his sister.
* Bill Mitchell of Atascadero, Calif., will be arriving in Crawford in the next several days. Bill's son Sgt. Michael Mitchell was killed in action in Sadr City, Iraq on April 4, 2004, along with Cindy Sheehan's son Spc. Casey Sheehan. Bill is a co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace.
* Mimi Evans of Hyannis, Mass., will be arriving in Crawford on Tuesday, Aug. 16. Mimi's son serves in the Marines; he will be deployed to Fallujah, Iraq in the next two weeks.
* Eric Blickenstaff of Portland, Ore., will be arriving in Crawford early next week. Eric's brother Spc. Joseph Blickenstaff served in the Army and was killed when his Stryker vehicle rolled into a ditch on Dec. 8, 2003 in Balad, Iraq.
http://www.gsfp.org
http://www.mfso.org |
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Re: Waiting on W to Get His Courage Up: Local Women Join War Protester |
by Star
Star (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
12 Aug 2005
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Our family has been so distressed by the recent activities of Cindy we are breaking our silence and we have collectively written a statement for release. Feel free to distribute it as you wish.
Thanks, Cherie
In response to questions regarding the Cindy Sheehan/Crawford Texas issue: Sheehan Family Statement:
The Sheehan Family lost our beloved Casey in the Iraq War and we have been silently, respectfully grieving. We do not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the the expense of her son's good name and reputation. The rest of the Sheehan Family supports the troops, our country, and our President, silently, with prayer and respect.
Sincerely,
Casey Sheehan's grandparents, aunts, uncles and numerous cousins. |
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Re: Waiting on W to Get His Courage Up: Local Women Join War Protester |
by Moon
Moon (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
12 Aug 2005
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THE REPORTER of Vacaville, CA published an account of Cindy Sheehan's visit with the president at Fort Lewis near Seattle on June 24, 2004:
"'I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis,' Cindy said after their meeting. 'I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith.'
"The meeting didn't last long, but in their time with Bush, Cindy spoke about Casey and asked the president to make her son's sacrifice count for something. They also spoke of their faith.
"The trip had one benefit that none of the Sheehans expected.
"For a moment, life returned to the way it was before Casey died. They laughed, joked and bickered playfully as they briefly toured Seattle.
For the first time in 11 weeks, they felt whole again.
"'That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together,' Cindy said." |
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Mother Begs for End to Killing |
by Anna Varela
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
12 Aug 2005
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When the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003, she was "cautiously supportive." And when her son's Army unit joined the fight, she thought it would be like the Gulf War in 1991 -- few casualties, "in and out."
In April 2004, MacCombie's son was killed in Iraq. Suddenly the war became personal.
On Thursday, two years after the invasion of Iraq, MacCombie spoke out at an anti-war demonstration for the first time. It took her more than a year to trust herself to talk about her son without breaking down, a year spent in a state of shock and coping with the bureaucratic details that follow death in a faraway place.
She joined about three dozen protesters who gathered in front of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Decatur to show support for Cindy Sheehan, the California mother who lost a son in Iraq and has camped out on a road leading to President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he is vacationing. Sheehan has vowed to stay until he meets with her personally.
MacCombie read a speech she wrote ahead of time because she didn't think she could speak off the cuff. "It's too late for my son," she said, "but not for his best friend and thousands of their fellow soldiers and Marines. Now is the right time, the right place, the right mission -- to bring our troops home."
Afterward, MacCombie adÂmitted she was nervous. She knows she shook a little during her speech. But she thought she did OK, and she's willing to do it again.
She's thinking about going to Texas to join Sheehan.
When Sgt. Ryan Montgomery Campbell settled in for his yearlong tour of duty, MacCombie supported her son by sending video games, music CDs and a laptop computer, making sure his bills got paid, and e-mailing him regularly.
The 25-year-old swapped gossip with his mother about friends back home in Kirksville, Mo. They talked about the intense heat of the Baghdad summer and the college classes she was taking. Toward the end of the tour, Campbell e-mailed his mother to suggest she meet him at his base in Europe so they could see Germany and Spain together.
But a few days before he was to leave Iraq in April 2004, he e-mailed her with bad news: The Army had ordered his unit to stay for four more months.
Morale 'at an all-time low'
The extension was a shock. The soldiers in his unit had already packed and shipped their personal items to their home base in Germany. Campbell dropped plans to re-enlist, intentions based on assurances that he could be stationed in Hawaii. Now, he wrote his mother, he couldn't trust the Army to keep its word.
On April 10, 2004, he wrote:
"Well, the days are just dragging by over here ... before at least there was something to look forward to. ... I continue to hate this place. I hate the Army."
He e-mailed his sister, Brooke Campbell, and urged her not to vote for Bush. On April 26 he sent his sister another e-mail, noting that he was pulling 16-hour workdays providing security for an engineering unit assigned to dig up roadsides where Iraqi insurgents often hid bombs.
"My morale is at an all-time low," he wrote, "and the days are hard. Our mission is more dangerous than ever before."
On April 28, Campbell called his mother twice, sounding very discouraged. She didn't know how to console him.
The next day, he was killed by a suicide bomber along with seven other soldiers from his unit.
Mom's Bush ranch protest
MacCombie buried her son in Arlington National Cemetery on May 11, 2004. The next week she moved to Atlanta to be closer to Brooke, a graduate student at Emory University.
MacCombie had remained in Kirksville so Ryan would have a home to return to. When he died, there was no point staying there, she decided. She dropped out of college because she didn't have the heart to go on.
She lives in a rented duplex in Virginia-Highland and drives the red Jeep Wrangler her son bought on his last two-week leave home. At 59, she thinks she probably looks silly in "his dream car," but it makes her feel closer to her son.
MacCombie has been slower to go public with her opposition to the war than her daughter. Brooke, 29, appeared in an anti-Bush TV ad that was aired in swing states during the 2004 election campaign.
MacCombie long ago concluded the president's stated reasons for going to war in Iraq were untrue. One of her first steps toward protest came July 22, when Bush visited Atlanta to promote his Social Security plan and the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. She stood silently in a black T-shirt with "Bush Lied" on the front and "They Died" on the back. Names of U.S. troops who died in the war cover both sides of the shirt. Her son's name runs across the middle of the B in "Bush."
She is monitoring the situation in Texas, where news reports Thursday said more than 50 war protesters had joined Sheehan. Rumors were flying that Sheehan would be arrested. If that happens, MacCombie is ready to take her place to show Bush that the California mother "speaks for a lot of us."
Several opinion polls show support for the war has slipped. In a USA Today-CNN-Gallup Poll released this week, 56 percent of Americans surveyed said the war was going badly. The same poll asked if they supported sending more troops, keeping troop levels the same, a partial pullout or a complete pullout. The leading choice was complete withdrawal, with 33 percent favoring that option. Twenty-three percent supported a partial withdrawal.
MacCombie rejects the idea that mothers like her endanger the troops by speaking out. She feels they are already demoralized and nothing she says will put them in greater danger than they already face. She also knows that many people, including some mothers who have lost children in Iraq, see her criticism as bringing dishonor to the soldiers who have died. She said she respects their feelings and hopes they will respect hers.
She thinks about the mothers whose sons and daughters are still fighting. More than a thousand U.S. soldiers and Marines have been killed in Iraq since her son died. "How many is enough?" she asks.
"Maybe it's going to take more speaking out. ... It just seems to be the right time for me personally."
And, she notes sadly, she didn't speak up during Vietnam.
© 2005 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.ajc.com/ |
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Normal Life Ended for Protesting Mother |
by AP
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
13 Aug 2005
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VACAVILLE, Calif. (AP) -- Before her son was killed in Iraq, before she began a peace vigil outside President Bush's Texas ranch, before she became an icon of the anti-war movement and the face of grieving mothers, there was a time when Cindy Sheehan's life was, by all appearances, incredibly normal.
She grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles, and married her high school sweetheart, Patrick Sheehan. They had four babies, one almost every other year. They drove their growing clan in a huge, yellow station wagon nicknamed the ''BananaMobile.'' She volunteered at a Vacaville church and later, as the children grew, she worked there.
Normal life ended for Cindy Sheehan in April 2004, when her oldest son Casey, 24, a father of twin girls, was killed in Iraq.
First, she says, ''I was a Mom in deep shock and deep grief.''
Then, two months later, came what she considered to be a disturbingly placid meeting with President Bush. While she found him to be a ''man of faith,'' she also said later that he seemed ''totally disconnected from humanity and reality.'' And when she later heard him speak of soldiers' deaths as ''noble,'' Sheehan felt she had to do something.
''The shock has worn off and deep anger has set in,'' she said.
Sheehan co-founded an anti-war organization and began talking, demonstrating, speaking at a congressional hearing. She got a Web site, a public relations assistant (financed by an anti-war group), an entourage of peace activists and a speaking tour.
But while her message was strong and widely disseminated, she didn't become world famous until about a week ago when, after speaking at the annual Veterans For Peace national conference in Dallas, she took a bus to Crawford, Texas, site of Bush's ranch, to have a word with her president.
For the record, here's what she said she wants to tell him: ''I would say, 'What is the noble cause my son died for?' And I would say if the cause is so noble has he encouraged his daughters to enlist? And I would be asking him to quit using Casey's sacrifice to justify continued killing, and to use Casey's sacrifice to promote peace.''
Sheehan's peaceful vigil, her unstoppable anguish, her gentle way of speaking, have captured attention for an anti-war movement that until now hasn't had much of a leader. Over the past week she appeared on every major television and radio network and in newspapers around the world.
Critics have started calling her a pawn of the left-wing. Some conservative organizations, talk show hosts and even some of her own extended family accuse her of shifting her position and say she is lowering troop morale.
''To be perfectly honest, I think it is disgraceful,'' said bookkeeper Diana Kraft of Vacaville, whose son is in the Navy. ''I don't know the loss she's feeling to lose a son because, thank goodness, I haven't had that, but we're in this war and we have to support the troops.''
Other friends, neighbors and church members argue that she is a hero, and say they're proud of what she's doing.
Dozens of people have joined her and others have sent flowers and food. Other ''Camp Casey'' demonstrations and vigils are springing up around the country, with signs calling on Bush to ''Talk To Cindy.'' Activists in San Francisco rallied on her behalf Friday; others planned to gather Monday in New York's Union Square.
Bush acknowledged her on Thursday, telling reporters at his ranch that ''she has every right in the world to say what she believes. This is America. She has a right to her position.''
But Bush said Sheehan is wrong on Iraq: ''I thought long and hard about her position. I've heard her position from others, which is: Get out of Iraq now. And it would be a mistake for the security of this country and the ability to lay the foundations for peace in the long run if we were to do so.''
Sheehan, a lifelong Democrat, said that until her son died, she'd never spoken out about her views. She was too young during the Vietnam War -- ''I only saw it on the news and I thought it was horrible,'' she said. She didn't agree with the first Gulf War, but only talked about it with friends and classmates.
As a child in Bellflower, about 20 miles south of Los Angeles, Sheehan was opinionated, but not outspoken, says her sister, Dede Miller. She was enrolled in programs for gifted students.
She married her first serious boyfriend, Patrick, whom she met when she was 17. They soon had Casey, followed by Carly, Andy and Jane.
''She was an earth mother, a very devoted mom,'' said Miller.
In 1993, the family moved to Vacaville, midway between San Francisco and Sacramento, where Patrick worked as a sales representative.
The stress of Casey's death prompted Sheehan and her husband to separate, she said.
Sheehan has vowed to remain in Texas through Bush's August vacation, unless he meets with her.
''My whole family would rather I was home more than gone,'' she said. ''Some people have tried to discourage me from doing what I'm doing but I can't be discouraged, I can't be stopped because I know what I'm doing is so important. It's a matter of life or death.''
Associated Press Writers Lisa Leff in San Francisco and Angela K. Brown in Crawford, Texas contributed to this story.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press
http://www.ap.org/ |
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Lots of Pics |
by via Cryptome
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
13 Aug 2005
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http://cryptome.org/brp/bush-ranch2.htm |
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If You Don't Like The Message, Ban the Messenger |
by via AP
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
16 Aug 2005
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Petition Seeks Parking Restrictions Near Bush Ranch
WACO, Texas (AP) -- Some of President Bush's neighbors asked county leaders Tuesday to expand parking limits around the Crawford ranch, a move that would prevent demonstrations like the ongoing anti-war protest led by a mother of a soldier who died in Iraq.
Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, Calif., started her vigil Aug. 6, and dozens of protesters have joined her by pitching tents on the winding, two-lane road leading to Bush's ranch. Several residents have complained of blocked roads and traffic jams in the last week.
The petition with more than 60 signatures was submitted to the McLennan County commission, asking the board to expand an ordinance that now bans cars from stopping within a few hundred feet of the ranch. If the ordinance passes, demonstrators probably would have to stay in the city of Crawford, which is 7 miles from the ranch.
The commission will publicize the petition and advertise a public hearing, to be held in about four weeks. Then, county commissioners will vote on the ordinance.
Sheehan's group would be gone by then, but she has promised to return to the area whenever Bush goes to his ranch. Bush, who said he sympathizes with Sheehan, has made no indication that he will meet with her. |
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