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Mom protests outside Bush ranch
11/08/2005 14:53 - (SA)
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| Cindy Sheehan of California stands near her tent on the side of the road that leads to President Bush's ranch. (Tony Gutierrez, AP) |
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Crawford - The mother of a United States soldier killed in Iraq who started a quiet roadside peace vigil near President George Bush's ranch last weekend is drawing supporters from across the nation.
Dozens of people have joined her and others have sent flowers and food.
Cindy Sheehan, 48, of Vacaville, California, says she was surprised at the response.
"Before my son was killed, I used to think that one person could not make a difference," she said on Wednesday under a tent where she has slept since Saturday. "But one person that is surrounded and supported by millions of people can be heard."
Unify the peace movement
But Kristinn Taylor, co-leader of the Washington, DC, chapter of FreeRepublic.com, which has held pro-troop rallies, said Sheehan's actions are misguided and hurt troop morale.
"She has a political agenda that goes way beyond her son's death in combat," Taylor said.
Although a few residents have complained about the protesters, no one has been arrested because the group has been on the public right-of-way, said Captain Kenneth Vanek of the McLennan County Sheriff's Office.
On Saturday, two high-level Bush administration officials, the national security adviser and deputy White House chief of staff, talked to Sheehan for about 20 minutes.
Sheehan called the brief meeting "pointless" and still wants to talk to the president.
Her 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in Sadr City, Iraq, in April 2004 just five days after he arrived. Two months later, Sheehan was among grieving military family members who met with Bush at Fort Lewis, near Seattle, Washington.
Since then, she said, various government and independent commission reports have disputed the Bush administration's claims that Saddam Hussein had mass-killing chemical and biological weapons - a main justification for the March 2003 invasion.
On Wednesday, a coalition of anti-war groups in Washington called on Bush to speak with Sheehan, who they say has helped to unify the peace movement.
Although she doesn't expect Bush to meet with her in Crawford, she says if he did she would ask him whether he has encouraged his twin daughters to enlist.
"I want him to quit using my son's death to justify more killing," she said. "The only way he can honour my son's death is to bring the troops home."
- AP
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