What One Mom Has to Say to George Bush
Mike Ferner / News from Crawford

(August 8, 2005) — “That lying bastard, George Bush, is taking a five-week vacation in time of war,” Cindy Sheehan told 200 cheering members of Veterans For Peace at their annual convention in Dallas last Friday evening. She then announced she would go to Bush’s vacation home in nearby Crawford, Texas and camp out until he “tells me why my son died in Iraq. I’ve got the whole month of August off, and so does he.”

Sheehan left the VFP meeting on Saturday morning and is now in Crawford with a couple dozen veterans and local peace activists, waiting for Bush to talk with her. She said in Dallas that if he sends anyone else to see her, as happened when national security adviser Steve Hadley and deputy White House chief of staff Joe Hagin did later that day, she would demand that “You get that maniac out here to talk with me in person.”

Cindy Writes from Camp Casey
News from Crawford

Camp Casey, Day One
Peaceful Occupation of Crawford, Texas
by Cindy Sheehan

(Sun Aug 7, 2005) — The first day of the beginning of the end of the occupation of Iraq. Today we went into the belly of the beast in Crawford, Texas…and lived to tell about it.

On Wednesday, August 3rd, 2005, I had a brainstorm. I was so furious about the horrible loss of life, especially from the Marine National Guard unit from Ohio. I was also so heartbroken for the families who have been wrongfully left behind. Then to top off the indignity and profanity of the needless deaths, George Bush spoke out after the deaths and said 2 things that enraged me further:

Interview with Cindy Sheehan on Laura Flanders
Renee in Ohio / DailyKos

(August 8, 2005) — Last night I turned on The Laura Flanders Show on Air America Radio just in time to hear that Cindy Sheehan would be interviewed after the break. I recorded most of the show–only missed about the first half minute. Below the fold you can see what Cindy had to say (if you missed it last night) and how you can help.

We were setting up our little camp and all of a sudden like 6 secret service SUVs come pulling up and screeching to a halt, and they all jump out and kind of surround us, and I’m like “Oh my gosh, what did we do?” You know? And then these two men get out and walk over. It was Steve Hadley and Joe Hagin. They sat down with me and were talking with me asking “What do you want to do?” I said I want the president to explain what was the noble cause that my son died in, because that’s what he said the other day when those 14 marines were killed. He said their families can rest assured that their sons and daughters died for a noble cause. And I said, “What is that noble cause?”

Military Loved Ones Converging on Crawford
Institute for Public Accuracy

(August 8, 2005) — CINDY SHEEHAN, scindy121@aol.com, http://www.gsfp.org Cindy Sheehan, co-founder of the group Gold Star Families for Peace, is the mother of Casey Sheehan, a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004. Cindy Sheehan is in Crawford and is determined to meet with President Bush. She said today: “I met with Bush two and a half months after Casey was killed and I was still in shock at that time. We had decided not to criticize the president then because during that meeting, he assured us ‘this is not political.’ And I believed him. Then, during the Republican National Convention, he exploited those meetings to justify what he was doing. It’s now clear to me that what I had feared is true: Bush lied us into war, and Casey, more than 1,800 other Americans and thousands and thousands of Iraqis are dead because of what he did. … While Bush is comfortable in his ranch, we are here in a ditch in the heat because we want answers. But the troops and the Iraqi people are suffering way more than we are and we want that to end.”

Congressman Conyers Circulates Letter
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

(August 8, 2005) — SIGN-ON LETTER: Urge the President to Meet with the Parent of a Fallen Soldier!
DEADLINE: COB TUESDAY, AUGUST 9
Dear Democratic Colleague:
You probably have heard that since this past Saturday, Cindy Sheehan, the mother of Army Specialist Casey A. Sheehan who perished in Iraq on April 24, 2004, has been attempting to meet with the President in Crawford to discuss the loss of her son and the status of the war in Iraq.

Unfortunately, the President has refused to meet with her and, instead, sent two of his aides in his place.

Every Mother’s Son
William Rivers Pitt / t r u t h o u t | Perspective

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
– Stephen King

(August 8, 2005) — George W. Bush hauled stakes for Texas and a vacation a few days ago. Cindy Sheehan followed. She got off a bus Saturday afternoon and started walking to the Crawford ranch. She wanted some answers and was going to get them.

Sheehan had met Mr. Bush once before. On April 4, 2004, just shy of a year after Bush stood on an aircraft carrier beneath a banner that read “Mission Accomplished,” Cindy Sheehan’s son, Army Specialist Casey A. Sheehan, was killed in Iraq when his unit was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. He was 24 years old.

Soldier’s Mom “Digs In” Near Bush Ranch
CNN News

(August 8, 2005) — Crawford, TX – A mother whose son was killed in Iraq says she is prepared to continue her protest outside President Bush’s ranch through August until she is granted an opportunity to speak with him.

Later, in a TV interview, a Democratic senator from California said the episode evokes images that were commonplace during the Vietnam War.

Cindy Sheehan’s 24-year-old son — Army Spc. Casey Sheehan of Vacaville, California — was killed in Baghdad’s Sadr City on April 4, 2004. The Humvee mechanic was one of eight U.S. soldiers killed there that day by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. (Full story)

Mr. President, There’s Someone Waiting, and Waiting, to See You
Sidney Morning Herald

(09 August 2005‚ — Texas ambush … Cindy Sheehan on the road leading to Mr Bush’s ranch. She has vowed to camp out until the President agrees to see her.

Crawford, Texas – The US President draws anti-war protesters just about wherever he goes, but few generate the kind of attention that Cindy Sheehan has since she drove down the winding road towards George Bush’s ranch last weekend to try and tell him face to face to pull all US troops out of Iraq.

Mrs Sheehan’s son, Casey, was killed last year in Iraq, after which she became an antiwar activist. She says she and her family met Mr Bush two months later in Washington state.

Sheehan Draws Tears of Support
Peace File

(August 8, 2005) — When Robert DeLozier saw the story of Cindy Sheehan on television Sunday, he told his spouse right away: “I’m going up there. We have to drop everything and go.” At the Sam’s Club of all places, says Robert, he nearly broke down crying while he was shopping Monday morning thinking about what Sheehan was doing in memory of her son Casey, who was killed in Iraq last April.

“She’s a strong woman,” says DeLozier via cell phone as he drives back home Monday night. “She feels she has been wronged. She feels her son has been wronged. And she feels like this whole occupation of Iraq is wrong. She is strong and powerful enough to take a stand. When I see it, it just strikes a chord. She’s speaking truth to power. That’s it. David and Goliath.”

Of the Many Deaths in Iraq, One Mother’s Loss
Becomes a Problem for the President
Richard W. Stevenson / The New York Times

CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 7 — President Bush draws antiwar protesters just about wherever he goes, but few generate the kind of attention that Cindy Sheehan has since she drove down the winding road toward his ranch here this weekend and sought to tell him face to face that he must pull all Americans troops out of Iraq now.

Ms. Sheehan’s son, Casey, was killed last year in Iraq, after which she became an antiwar activist. She says she and her family met with the president two months later at Fort Lewis in Washington State.

PDA Organizing
Dear Texas Members of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA),

SUBJECT: Tell Bush: MEET WITH CINDY!

(August 8, 2005) — Cindy Sheehan, friend and ally of PDA, has come to Crawford, Texas to demand that President Bush explain why he sent her son to die in Iraq. Clearly it wasn’t to find weapons of mass destruction, and the Downing Street Memos make it clear that Bush didn’t have a plan for creating stability in the region.

We think Cindy deserves an answer. Bush should be confronted by what he has created in Iraq and explain to Cindy why he thought it was necessary for Casey Sheehan and almost 2000 other American sons and daughters to die there.

Cindy Sheehan’s Speech in Dallas

(August 8, 2005) — The Veterans for Peace National Convention wraps up today at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas.

Thursday and Friday saw the vets check-in, and attend workshops that varied from Stan Goff’s ‘Gender & Militarism’ to ‘Speaking Truth to Power’ which featured Ann Wright, Coleen Rowley, and Jesselyn Radack.

Friday night featured keynote speakers and entertainers at Lynch Hall, on campus. They all had great things to say, and Cindy Sheehan was no exception.

Here is what she had to say:

Cindy Sheehan: 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…

Cindy’s Frame

(August 8, 2005) — Could it be that the War in Iraq will be stopped by one woman walking down a road in Texas?

As of today, it certainly seems so.

Yesterday afternoon, Cindy Sheehan, mother of a fallen soldier, marched toward the President’s vacation home in Texas. Asked by reporters what she hoped to achieve, Cindy replied:

“I want to ask the president, why did you kill my son? What did my son die for?”

(The full Reuters article is here)

Sheehan, who comes from a small town in rural California, told reporters that she blames the President for the recent death of her son Casey (Army Specialist, killed in Iraq, April 4, 2004). Following a peaceful rally in Dallas, she decided to come to Texas to speak directly to the President at his vacation home.

CODE PINK Action

(August 8, 2005) — Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq, is holding vigil in Crawford, Texas until she gets a meeting with George Bush. She has some simple questions to ask him: “Why did you kill my son? What did my son die for? If the cause is so noble, why don’t you send your twins?” She also has a clear demand: “Honor our sacrifices by bringing our nation’s sons and daughters home from a war based on lies and deceptions.”

On Saturday, as Cindy marched towards the ranch where Bush is vacationing for 33 days, she and her supporters, including CODEPINK cofounder Diane Wilson, were stopped by local sheriffs, who pushed them into a ditch with fire ants in 100 degree heat. Cindy was undeterred: “I am not leaving until I meet with George Bush and he answers my questions about the death of my son. This is the beginning of the end of the war in Iraq,” she said, (read more).

San Antonio Express News – August 7
Gary Martin / San Antonio Express-News

CRAWFORD (August 8, 2005) — The mother of a Fort Hood soldier killed in Iraq continued a vigil Sunday on the rural road leading to President Bush’s Central Texas ranch and vowed to remain until she meets with the commander in chief.

“I’m calling it the peaceful occupation of Crawford,” said Cindy Sheehan, 48, of Vacaville, Calif., who wants Bush to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq.

Army Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, 24, was killed April 4, 2004, in Sadr City, Baghdad, when his unit of eight soldiers came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire.

Peace File – August 6-8
Greg Moses / IndyMedia North Texas / Bella Ciao / TodaysAlternativeNews / truthout! / UrukNet

“I’m back here where I met you, in the tent!” says 53-year-old Vietnam Veteran Michael Young, speaking by cell phone Saturday evening, with lots of commotion in the background to back him up. Yes, he went to Crawford like he said, and here’s what he reports:

“Well, I got up around 7:30. Was already running a little late, because I didn’t get home until midnight. I put on a pot of coffee and then got in such a hurry that I forgot it. Didn’t take any of it with me. And I got here (at the tent) just as people were organizing to go to Crawford.”

Lone Star Iconoclast – August 6

(August 8, 2005) — The Lone Star Iconoclast is covering Saturday’s journey to Crawford by several groups, including Veterans For Peace, Military Family Speak Out, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Code Pink, Crawford Peace House, and others.

Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq last year, is seeking a meeting with President Bush, who is vacationing in Crawford, to have some of her questions answered about the war. Several busloads of interested individuals are expected in Crawford to support her cause. Sheehan has said that she is willing to camp out in Crawford until she gets to meet with the President.