Shadow over Thanksgiving
2005-11-25 07:44
Crawford - While United States President George W Bush enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving meal at his Texas ranch, protesters against the war in Iraq held a rival feast on Thursday down the road at their makeshift camp.
The duelling meals came as high-profile anti-war figure Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a US soldier killed in Iraq, was expected late in the day to resume her vigil near Bush's Prairie Chapel property and sign copies of her new book.
The president telephoned 10 people serving overseas in the US armed forces before dining on roasted free range turkey with gravy and whipped sweet potatoes, as well as pecan pie and pumpkin pie, according to the White House.
Under a large white tent a few kilometres from his estate, about 75 people who say it is time to pull the 158 000 US soldiers out of Iraq prepared for what one person preparing the food called "a typical Iraqi meal."
They had curried lentils garnished with diced tomatoes, vegetables, almond rice with apricots, salmon and tilapia all washed down with sweetened black tea out of dispensers marked "Iraqi tea" on handwritten labels.
"The emphasis was on simplicity to contrast the abundance we have here with the misfortunes of the Iraqi people," said organiser Hadi Jawad, 53, whose father was born in Karbala, Iraq.
Signs along the sides of the tent read "Support the troops, bring them home alive" and "Stay the course = more lies," while some banners featured the name, home town and age of some of the 2 110 US troops killed in Iraq.
Before the meal, the protesters listened to a Native American "thank you" chant, raised their hands palms up for a Muslim prayer, and listened patiently as a self-described "long-winded" speaker led them through a speech on the Bible followed by a Jewish prayer.