Cindy Sheehan returns to Texas (NBC11) Updated: 2005-08-25 09:28
A woman whose son was killed in Iraq returned to Texas Wednesday to resume
her anti-war protest near President Bush's ranch after a weeklong absence to
care for her ailing mother.
![Cindy Sheehan cries after seeing a portrait of her son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan who was killed in Iraq, at Camp Casey next to President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2005. Sheehan returned to Texas and her anti-war vigil after a weeklong absence for a family emergency. [AP Photo]](xin_21080225093064121311.jpg) Cindy Sheehan cries
after seeing a portrait of her son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan who was killed
in Iraq, at Camp Casey next to President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas,
Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2005. Sheehan returned to Texas and her anti-war vigil
after a weeklong absence for a family emergency. [AP
Photo] |
About a dozen protesters who have continued the peace vigil picked up Cindy
Sheehan at the Waco airport Wednesday afternoon, six days after she flew to Los
Angeles when her 74-year-old mother suffered a stroke.
"This is where I belong, until Aug. 31, like I told the president," Sheehan
said at the airport before driving about 20 miles to the Crawford site.
Sheehan, from Vacaville, Calif., began her vigil Aug. 6 on the road leading
to Bush's ranch, vowing to stay through his monthlong vacation unless he met
with her. Her 24-year-old son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, was killed last year in
Iraq.
Sheehan's protest has encouraged anti-war activists to join her and prompted
peace vigils nationwide. She also continues to draw harsh criticism.
Conservative activists and military families were en route to Crawford from
California on a tour called "You don't speak for me, Cindy!" The caravan
coordinated by Move America Forward plans to hold a pro-Bush rally in town
Saturday.
Among those defending Sheehan are former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson, who
believes that his wife's identity as an undercover CIA operative was leaked in
retaliation for his criticism of the Bush administration in a 2002 New York
Times op-ed piece.
"The Bush White House and its right-wing allies are responding to Cindy
Sheehan and the military families' vigil in central Texas in the same way that
they always respond to bad news -- by unleashing personal attacks and smears
against her," Wilson said in a statement released Wednesday.
Later Wednesday, Bush was to return to Texas after a three-day trip to Idaho,
where he met with some military families and gave speeches to rally support for
the war. He said Tuesday that he recognizes Sheehan's right to protest and
understands her anguish, although she does not represent the views of many
families he has met with.
Sheehan and other grieving families met with Bush about two months after her
son died last year, before reports of faulty prewar intelligence surfaced and
caused her to become a vocal opponent of the war.
|
 | | Model promots vegetarian food | | |  | | More educated, more DINK? | | |  | | Cui Jian: Real, Live and Coming to Beijing | | |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top Life
News |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|