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WAGE PEACE CAMPAIGN

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A CINDY SHEEHAN ARCHIVE 2005
articles by and about Cindy


Protesters Arrested Near Bush's Ranch [truthout.org] A dozen war protesters were arrested Wednesday for setting up camp near President Bush's ranch in defiance of new local bans on roadside camping and parking. About four hours after the group pitched six tents and huddled in sleeping bags and blankets, McLennan County sheriff's deputies arrested them for criminal trespassing. [November 23, 2005]

Open Letter to George's Mama by Cindy Sheehan [BussFlash] On April 04, 2004, your oldest child killed my oldest child, Casey Austin Sheehan. [November 17, 2005]

Sheehan to Face Lengthy Incarceration [Democracy Rising] Yesterday, started off with a "bang" when we went to Arlington Cemetery to lay a wreath in the section where the Iraq War dead are buried. In our group yesterday morning were 3 other members of Gold Star Families for Peace. Juan Torres was with us and his son, Juan, was murdered in Afghanistan. [October 27, 2005]

1965 [truthout.org] Going to the movies was something Casey and I enjoyed doing together. Casey was a Theater Arts major in college, and he went with a critical eye. Since I love sharing my children's passions with them, Casey and I would go to the movie theater often. [October 13, 2005]

I Have Arrived; I Am Home [Common Dreams]I was honored and humbled to be in the presence of holy man, Thich Nhat Hahn, today at MacArthur Park in a very Hispanic neighborhood in Los Angeles. Tha^y, (teacher) as he is known, is a Buddhist monk who was active during the Vietnam War years bringing peace and reconciliation to the countries of North and South Vietnam. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King, Jr. He walks with an aura of peace and acceptance radiating from him. [October 10, 2005]

From Despair to Hope [truthout.org] There were many nights after Casey was killed and we buried him that I had to restrain myself from swallowing my entire bottle of sleeping pills. The pain and the deep pit of hopeless despair were almost too much to cope with. How can a person be expected to live in a world that is so full of pain and so devoid of hope? I would think to myself: "It would be so easy to take these pills and go to sleep and never wake up in this awful world again." [October 7, 2005]

War-Hawk Republicans and Anti-War Democrats: What's the Difference? [truthout.org]The past week in DC found me in many offices of our elected officials: Senators, Congresspersons, pro-war, "anti-war," Democrat, Republican. With a few notable exceptions, all of our employees toed party lines.[October 4, 2005]

Sheehan Leads Phoenix Peace March, Rally [truthout.org]The nation's most visible anti-war activist may be heading back to President Bush's ranch for a second stakeout at Thanksgiving, she said Monday in Phoenix. [October 4, 2005]

Cindy Sheehan, Our Imploding President [truthout.org] My brief immersion in the almost unimaginable life of Cindy Sheehan begins on the Friday before the massive antiwat march past the White House. [September 29, 2005]

My First Time by Cindy Sheehan [Common Dreams] The rumors are true this time. I was arrested in front of the White House today. It was my first time ever being arrested. [September 27, 2005]

We Don't Exist [truthout.org] Last weekend, Karl Rove said that I was a clown and the anti-war movement was "non-existent." I wonder if the hundreds of thousands of people who showed up today to protest this war and George's failed policies know that they don't exist. It is also so incredible to me that Karl thinks that he can wish us away by saying we aren't real. Well, Karl and Co., we are real, we do exist and we are not going away until this illegal and immoral occupation of Iraq is over and you are sent back to the depths of whatever slimy, dark, and loathsome place you came from. I may be a clown, Karl, but you are about to be indicted. You also preside over one of the biggest three-ring, malevolent circuses of all time: the Bush administration. [September 25, 2005]

When Rose met Cindy: The case against the war in Iraq [Independent] On both sides of the Atlantic, two mothers who lost sons in Iraq have launched campaigns to end the conflict. One camped outside George Bush's ranch. The other stood in the general election. This week, they came face to face for the first time. Along the sunbaked sidewalk of Pennsylvania Avenue came the sound of singing. It was music from an earlier generation, but as relevant now as it ever was. "All we are saying is give peace a chance," chanted the group of demonstrators as they made their way to the north-west gates of the White House. "All we are saying is give peace chance." [September 23, 2005]

NYPD Unplugs Cindy Sheehan: City’s Finest pulls move even Bush wouldn’t have tried [Village Voice] Cindy Sheehan may be the Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement. But that didn't stop members of the New York Police Department from marching into the crowd of about 150 people gathered in Union Square Monday to hear her speak and yanking away the microphone. (September 19th, 2005)

Protesters draw link between Katrina and Iraq war [Reuters] President George W. Bush's faltering performance after Hurricane Katrina, like his decision to invade Iraq, show his priorities are at odds with actions needed to keep Americans safe, anti-war protesters said on Monday. [September 19, 2005]

Mother Who Lost Son in Iraq Continues Fight Against War By MARC SANTORA [NY Times]
Cindy Sheehan, the mother of an American soldier killed in Iraq, last night brought her campaign to end the war to New York, where she accused Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of not doing enough to challenge the Bush administration's Iraq policies. (Sept. 19, 2005)

What Noble Cause? by Cindy Sheehan [truthout.org] It has been one month, one week, and 4 days since I sat in a ditch in Crawford, Texas. My request was very simple: I wanted to speak to the man who has sent over a million of our young people over to fight, kill, and die in a country that was absolutely no threat to the United States of America. I wanted to ask him: "What is the Noble Cause that you keep talking about?" [September 17, 2005]

Camp Casey tour draws 200 to rally protesting Iraq War [Buffalo News] About 200 people attended an anti-war rally and candlelight vigil Monday night in Lafayette Square in solidarity with Cindy Sheehan's "Bring Them Home Now" tour. [September 13, 2005]

Camp Casey to DC Update [truthout.org] Today as we honor and memorialize our countrymen and women who were tragically killed on 9/11, we must also not just remember them, but honor their memories by working to hold this dangerously incompetent administration accountable and responsible for the continuing devastation of our country.[September 11, 2005]

What Kind of Extremist Will You Be? [truthout.org] Most everyone who is reading this knows what happened to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. Some of you may even know what happened to my son, Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan on April 4, 2004. If you don't know, Dr. King and Casey were murdered by the same malevolent entities: people and ideologies that say we have to be mortally afraid of the "ism" du jour and we, as Americans who have the "moral high-ground" in the world, can send our innocent children to invade innocent countries and kill innocent people to fight the "ists" that go with the "isms." In Vietnam we were fighting the evil Communists, and in Iraq we are fighting the evil terrorists. Our war against Communism out-stayed its welcome in the 1980s and the military industrial war complex was running out of excuses to build bombs, tanks, bullets, ships, submarines, and soldiers; so in 2001, our leaders who serve the war machine had to switch our enemy of the state to terrorism. [September 8, 2005]

Dangerous Incompetence by Cindy Sheehan [truthout] Saturday 03 September 2005: George Bush has been an incompetent failure his entire life. Fortunately for humanity, he was just partying his way through school, running companies into the ground, and being an alcoholic and cocaine abuser for most of that time - and his incompetence was limited to hurting the people who worked for him and his own family. The people in his life who were hurt by his incompetence probably have been able to "get on" with their lives. Now, though, his incompetence affects the world and is responsible for so many deaths and so much destruction. How many of us did not foresee the mess he would make of the world when he was selected the first time? We saw what he had done to Texas. How many of us marveled and were so discouraged and amazed when he was "re-elected" the second time? We saw what he had done to the world. Dangerous incompetence should never be rewarded, let alone be rewarded so handsomely as in George's case.

Hypocrites and Liars [truthout.org] The media are wrong. The people who have come out to Camp Casey to help coordinate the press and events with me are not putting words in my mouth, they are taking words out of my mouth. I have been known for sometime as a person who speaks the truth and speaks it strongly. I have always called a liar a liar and a hypocrite a hypocrite. Now I am urged to use softer language to appeal to a wider audience. Why do my friends at Camp Casey think they are there? Why did such a big movement occur from such a small action on August 6, 2005?

Turning Cindy Sheehan’s Victory Into Defeat [dissidentvoice.org] Let’s not underestimate what Cindy Sheehan has accomplished by her trip to Crawford. She tracked Bush down to his sagebrush redoubt and sent him scuttling for the hills two weeks before his vacation was supposed to end. When has that ever happened before? When has a private citizen ever chased a president from his lair?

Dueling Demonstrators Descend on Texas [AP] Several thousand people descended on President Bush's adopted hometown Saturday, most in a cross-country caravan for a pro-Bush rally and others to support an anti-war demonstration led by grieving mother Cindy Sheehan. [August 28, 2005]

Sheehan to Visit DeLay Next [truthout.org] Iraq war protester Cindy Sheehan, whose vigil near President George W. Bush's Texas ranch has become a symbol for the anti-war movement, said on Friday she plans to focus on Congress, starting with House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Bush ally and fellow Texan. [August 26, 2005]

Standoff Continues in Crawford [Washington Post] The standoff between President Bush and antiwar protester Cindy Sheehan escalated Thursday with emotional appeals from both sides, each invoking sacrifices made by Americans after Sept. 11, 2001, to bolster their case. [August 26, 2005]

Cindy Sheehan Planning Anti-War Bus Tour [ABC News] A fallen soldier's mother said Thursday that the anti-war vigil she started nearly three weeks ago near President Bush's ranch won't end when she and other protesters pack up their camp next week [August 26, 2005].

There is Such a Thing as “Too Late” [CommonDreams.org] President Bush still refuses to meet with Cindy Sheehan, the Rosa Parks of Crawford, Texas, but there is some good news. While Crawford’s Camp Casey (named after Cindy’s son killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004) continues to be short on amenities, a sympathetic neighbor has given the hundred or so friends I left there on Wednesday a field in which they can pitch their tents. No longer will they have to try to sleep in the seven-foot wide ditch alongside the road, with local pick-up trucks and Secret Service SUVs whizzing by honking reveille at 5:00 AM. In addition, newly donated tarps are providing some protection from fire ants by night and the 105-degree sun by day.

Vigils to Support Cindy Sheehan [moveon.org] On Wednesday, August 17, hundreds of thousands of supporters gathered at 1,627 vigils in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The vigils were the largest event we've organized. >From Alaska to Florida, Maine to Mississippi, Oregon to South Carolina and New York to Texas — we gathered together to acknowledge the sacrifices made by Cindy Sheehan, her son, Casey and the more than 1,800 brave American men and women who have given their lives in Iraq—and their moms and families. Thank you so much for participating and making these vigils a success.

Exclusive Interview with Cindy Sheehan After Mother's Stroke: "I Want to Get Back As Soon As Possible" [democracynow.org] Cindy Sheehan had to leave Crawford temporarily after her mother suffered a stroke. She spoke with Democracy Now! in the airport on her way to Los Angeles. She said that also she left her vigil without meeting with President Bush, she said, "This Camp Casey movement is bigger than me. It's growing, it's bigger than any of us."

Address to Veterans For Peace Convention by Cindy Sheehan [Awakened Woman.com] It's so great to be here. Last year when you guys had your convention in Boston, my son had only been dead a few months, and we were really honored because the Santa Barbara chapter took my daughter's poem "A Nation Rocked to Sleep" (and they did it again this year), and I remember Michael Cervantes, he brought the booklet over to our house and showed it to us, and I never dreamed in a year I'd be standing here in front of you as one of the speakers at your convention. I never dreamed I'd be doing this at all, but isn't it weird what life hands you.



t r u t h o u t | One Mother's Stand
By Cindy Sheehan, Monday 11 August 2005
I apparently am the sacrificial lamb of the peace movement. I don't care about myself. Putting myself in the forefront and daring to challenge the president on his lies left myself open to the attacks. Which are, of course, half truths and distortions.

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Sheehan Leaves Town; Mother Had A Stroke [kwtx.com] Cindy Sheehan suddenly ended her nearly two-week-long vigil Thursday near the President’s Central Texas ranch after learning her 74-year-old mother had suffered a stroke.

A military mom speaks at Cindy Sheehan support vigil [pageoneq.com] Tonight, in the shadow of the White House, approximately four hundred people gathered for a vigil in support of Cindy Sheehan, the mother of Casey Sheehan who was killed in Iraq. Sheehan is maintaining a vigil outside of President Bush's Texas ranch while the President is on a five-week vacation.

Why Bush Can't Answer Cindy [truthout.org] Cindy Sheehan is still in Crawford, Texas, waiting for Bush to answer her question: What noble cause did my son die for? Her protest started as a small gathering 13 days ago. It has mushroomed into a demonstration of hundreds in Crawford and tens of thousands more at 1,627 solidarity vigils throughout the country.

Taps for Casey [cpr4democracy.com] Last October I wrote a column titled A Mother Screaming, about Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, so I recognized her name as the author of a recent article in Common Dreams. Cindy's article came between the subdued announcement that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when we invaded, and the loudly heralded Iraqi elections that we're now supposed to believe justify our preemptive attack on another country. But war has tragic human consequences that cannot be justified by anything short of defending our own country. Cindy's group of Gold Star Families for Peace has been trying unsuccessfully to meet with Donald Rumsfeld to make that point.

Jefferson Would Have Stood With Cindy Sheehan [commondreams.org] Nationally, it was clearly a phenomenon when several truckers called into a radio show on Sirius Satellite to say that they were interrupting trips through central parts of the USA to head to Crawford, Texas. One even reported live as he experienced a (friendly) reception by the local sheriff, who helped him find a place to park his rig. Locally here in Oregon, it's not unusual to see cars with signs taped to their rear windows - printed in inch-high letters on an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper - that say variations on: "We're With Cindy!" or "Answer Her Questions!"

War Protesters Near Bush Ranch Moving to Nearby Property; FBI Whistleblower to Join Gathering [TBO.com AP News] War protesters camping in roadside ditches near President Bush's ranch have accepted a neighbor's offer to stay on his property, and their vigil will be joined this week by FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley and by another mother whose soldier-son died in Iraq.

Tracy mom joining war protest in Texas [recordnet.com] The mother of a Tracy National Guardsman who was killed in Iraq will fly to Texas today to join Cindy Sheehan and other military families protesting the war at President Bush's ranch in Crawford.

Monterey County women joining war protest near Bush ranch [Monterey Herald.com] Four Monterey County women have decided they can't change the course of history from their home. So the members of the Peace Coalition of Monterey County are going to meet the challenge by traveling somewhere else: Crawford, Texas. They depart on Saturday.

Antiwar Protester Vows to Continue Vigil Despite Vandalism at Texas Site [truthout.org] Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who has set up a vigil near President Bush's ranch, said Tuesday that she was "very disturbed" that a local resident had mowed down hundreds of small crosses bearing the names of other dead American soldiers, and that her now 10-day protest was "only the beginning" of what she described as a growing national movement to bring all American men and women home from the war.

Sheehan Edges Closer To Bush Ranch [antiwar.com] Anti-war protestors camping out near President Bush's ranch are getting a new home. CSB News Correspondent Mark Knoller reports that protest leader Cindy Sheehan says a local landowner is making his private property available.

The grieving mother who took on George Bush [The Independent Online] Something strange is taking place deep in the heart of Texas, where the President of the United States is holed up at his Prairie Chapel ranch, a few miles from the town of Crawford. There, in the space of a few days, a middle-aged Californian, whose soldier son died in Iraq, has become arguably the best-known woman in the US.

Crosses vandalized at antiwar mom's Texas camp site [Reuters Alert.org] Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan tried to calm tensions on Tuesday with area residents upset by her vigil but expressed outrage after a pickup truck driver ran over crosses at her campsite near U.S. President George W. Bush's ranch.

Desecration of the Dead [truthout.org] The Arlington West cemetery has been growing for more than a year. Begun in California by activists seeking to honor those soldiers killed in Iraq, and also seeking to highlight in an unavoidably searing way the price we are paying for the invasion of Iraq, the cemetery is made up of small grave markers made of simple wood. There are crosses, and crescents, and stars of David. Each one represents a dead American soldier.

LIVE at the PIG FARM in CRAWFORD [flyingsnail.com] There is never a dull moment here. In the void of “news” there’s always a Texan ready to add some flavor to our media events. Couple days ago, it was a neighbor with a shotgun a few hundred feet away from Camp Casey. “taking some practice shots at ‘doves’ for bird season..” Several folks I’ve taken to referring to as “Swift Boat” ‘Mothers’ against Cindy” have set up chairs and flags.

It Takes a Village to Smear Cindy Sheehan [huffingtonpost.com] The right wing attacks on Cindy Sheehan -- desperate, pathetic, and grasping at straws -- expose much less about their target than about the attackers. I mean, trying to slime a grieving Gold Star mom because she is inconveniently questioning the reasons her son was sent off to die in Iraq? Why that would be like trashing a much-decorated war hero or outing an undercover CIA agent... Oh, right…

Cindy Sheehan: Rosa Parks or Jane Fonda? [antiwar.com] Is Cindy Sheehan the Rosa Parks or the Jane Fonda of the War in Iraq? Is she the lonely sentinel, standing righteously against injustice? Or a self-centered publicity seeker, endangering American soldiers in the War? The question is something of a political Rorschach test, telling us more about ourselves and our appraisal of America's wars than about Sheehan. But asking it and understanding the issues behind the question might help us find a solution to the illegitimate and failed War.

A Day on Prairie Chapel Road [Crisis Papers.org] Last Sunday, limping noticeably from combined age and injury and using my 13-year old son's arm for support as we made our way down Prairie Chapel Road in Crawford, Texas, a carload of young people swerved teasingly near us. One young woman, early twenties, sun-bronzed and in a halter top, leaned out of the back car window only inches away from us and sneered at me: "Get a job!" For an instant, it was almost funny. The absurdities -- a broiling sun, jobs I'd held long before the young woman was ever born, my damned aging knees, but mostly the look of frightened offense on my son's young face -- changed my first reaction. It wasn't funny for more than a few seconds. Hate is never funny.

On Being in a Ditch at the Side of the Road [antiwar.com] Casey Sheehan had one of those small "critical roles" in the "current global commitment" in Iraq that, in Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's words, "has to have a deterrent effect on people." As it happens, Sheehan was one of the unexpectedly deterred and now, along with 1,846 other American soldiers, is interred, leaving his take-no-prisoners mother Cindy – a one-person antiwar movement – with a critical role to play in awakening Americans to the horrors, and dangers, of the Bush administration's "current global commitments."

Cindy's Victory By William Rivers Pitt [truthout.org]
They are sunburned and storm-lashed. They sleep in tents that sit along the muddy earth of drainage ditches by the side of the road. They have been heckled by "counter-demonstrators" who chanted "We don't care!" during a rendition of "God Bless America." They have been attacked by fire ants and hassled by local health inspectors. On Thursday morning, at about 5:30am, they were blasted awake by a fourteen-car convoy of Secret Service SUVs which roared through the camp at high speed while leaning on their horns the whole time.

Antiwar sentiment gets champion [The Christian Science Monitor]
Cindy Sheehan's vigil outside Bush's Texas ranch brings focus to a protest movement that's been largely unseen and ineffective...ASHLAND, ORE., AND CRAWFORD, TEXAS – In her high-profile vigil outside President Bush's Texas ranch, Cindy Sheehan has brought the face and the heart of the antiwar movement to the world.... The plain-spoken words and image of a mother carrying a wooden cross to commemorate the son she lost in Iraq have suddenly brought focus to what has been largely an unseen and ineffective protest movement in the US....

Cindy Sheehan's Message Repudiates George Bush - And Howard Dean by Norman Solomon [truthout.org]
In 1972, after many years of US involvement in Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg wrote: "In that time, I have seen it first as a problem; then as a stalemate; then as a crime." That aptly describes three key American perspectives now brought to bear on US involvement in Iraq. The moral clarity and political impacts of Cindy Sheehan's vigil in Crawford are greatly enhanced by a position that she is taking: US troops should not be in Iraq...

Bush defends ignoring protest [Cox News Service]
President Bush, noting that lots of people want to talk to the president and "it's also important for me to go on with my life," on Saturday defended his decision not to meet with the grieving mom of a soldier killed in Iraq.