Posted on 08/17/2005 9:52:02 PM PDT by kristinn
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - Hundreds of candlelight vigils calling for an end to the war in Iraq lit up the night Wednesday, part of a national effort spurred by one mother's anti-war demonstration near President Bush's ranch.
The vigils were urged by Cindy Sheehan, who has become the icon of the anti-war movement since she started a protest Aug. 6 in memory of her son Casey, who died in Iraq last year.
Sheehan says she will remain outside the president's ranch until he meets with her and other grieving families, or until his monthlong vacation there ends.
Bush has said he sympathizes with Sheehan but has made no indication he will meet with her. Two top Bush administration officials talked to Sheehan the day she started her camp, and she and other families had met with Bush shortly after her son's death.
More than 1,600 vigils were planned Wednesday from coast to coast by liberal advocacy groups MoveOn.org Political Action, TrueMajority and Democracy for America. A large vigil was also planned in Paris.
As the sun set in Crawford, about 200 protesters lit candles and gathered around a wooden, flag-draped coffin at Sheehan's growing camp, about a mile from the Bush ranch.
``For the more than 1,800 who have come home this way in flag-draped coffins, each one ... was a son or a daughter, not cannon fodder to be used so recklessly,'' Sheehan told the crowd.
After the names of some of the dead soldiers were read, the crowd sang ``Amazing Grace'' as people stepped forward to place flowers on the coffin.
Before the vigil, Gary Qualls, of Temple drove to Sheehan's camp site and removed a wooden cross bearing his son's name. He said he supports the war and disagrees with Sheehan.
``I don't believe in some of the things happening here,'' Qualls said. ``I find it disrespectful.''
Near Philadelphia's Independence Hall, a few hundred people strained to hear the parent of another soldier killed in Iraq. ``This war must stop,'' said Al Zappala, 65, whose 30-year-old son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, died in an explosion in Baghdad in April 2004.
Karen Braz, 50, held a pink votive cup and a sign reading ``Moms for Peace'' as she stood shoulder-to-shoulder with about 150 other people outside the New Hampshire statehouse in Concord.
``My son is 26. It could've been him,'' she said
Some critics say Sheehan is exploiting her son's death to promote a left-wing agenda. They say scores of Americans, including relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq, support Bush and his plans to keep troops there.
FreeRepublic.com, which holds rallies to support troops and to counter anti-war demonstrations, held a pro-Bush rally Wednesday night with about 20 people at the same time and same Washington park as a candlelight vigil that drew about 300, said Kristinn Taylor, co-leader of the group's Washington, D.C., chapter.
``For us the organizers of the vigil are phony-baloney, betraying the sacrifices that those men and women make in Iraq, by demanding that we pull our troops out now and leave Iraq to go to hell,'' Taylor said. ``This is a publicity stunt.''
Some 200 people joined a peace vigil in Cincinnati's Fountain Square. Demonstrators softly sang ``Give Peace A Chance'' and lined one side of the square with signs, drawing honks of support from some passing motorists.
A banner bearing the name, age, rank, hometown and date of death of all Americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan was unrolled at a vigil in Charleston, W.Va. - stretching the length of a city block.
``Our pastors and preachers need to hear from us,'' said one of the speakers in Charleston, Mary Ellen O'Farrell. ``Ask your pastor to preach it from the pulpit. This war does not meet the criteria for a just war.''
Along with candles and flags, some of the 300 people who gathered at a park in Nashville, Tenn., brought banners of protest and support for Sheehan. One read: ``Thank you for your courage Cindy.''
About 200 people attended a rally and candlelight vigil on the steps of the state Capitol in Oklahoma City. Marie Evans said it was a chance for those opposing the war to let their voices be heard.
``There was no question in my mind that we needed to make a statement in Oklahoma, which is a very conservative state,'' said Evans, who carried a sign that read ``Their blood is on your hands.''
In Hawaii, Kalihi Valley resident Charmaine Crockett invited scores of people to her hilltop house to light candles in sympathy for Sheehan. ``I'm very moved by one person making a difference,'' Crockett said.
Actor Richard Dreyfuss attended a vigil in the Studio City area of Los Angeles with his son and about 500 others.
``Cindy Sheehan is making a starting point with the questions she is asking and it's not unpatriotic to ask them,'' Dreyfuss said. ``It's actually a higher form of patriotism.''
And at a vigil in Madison, Wis., Tammy Markee had some simple advice for Bush on how to handle Sheehan: ``Be a man. Give her the respect she deserves. Sit down and talk with her.''
On the Net:
http://www.moveon.org/
http://www.freerepublic.com/home.htm
Where do you think your freedom of speech comes from pal? Don't bother playing that I'm a "veteran" stuff here. There are too many veterans here that won't buy it. I'll bet you're a "republican" too! Been there, heard that. Every night on the news. You Lefties are a joke.
Disgraceful.
But in this country, the one these people hate, they have the right to embarrass themselves.
Exactly! I've said more than once, these people (and I mean the Democrats too) are the very people who wanted to destroy this country in the 60's and are back to try to finish her off!
I love your very correct tag line. It raises my hackles whenever I hear or read someone say we "lost" the Vietnam war
I hear that they will be using her panties to torture terrorists... or for that matter anybody with smelling distance!
Where did you read that?
The Vietnam war was the longest in our nation's history.
1st American advisor was killed on June 08, 1956,
and the last casualties in connection with the war occurred on May 15, 1975, during the Mayaquez incident. Approximately 2.7 million Americans served in the war zone; 300,000 were wounded and approximately 75,000 permanently disabled. Officially there are still 1,991 Americans unaccounted for from SE Asia.
Vietnam was a savage, in your face war where death could and did strike from anywhere with absolutely no warning. The brave young men and women who fought that war paid an awful price of blood, pain and suffering. As it is said: "ALL GAVE SOME ... SOME GAVE ALL"
The Vietnam war was not lost on the battlefield. No American force in ANY other conflict fought with more determination or sheer courage than the Vietnam Veteran. For the first time in our history America sent it's young men and women into a war run by inept politicians who had no grasp of military strategies and no moral will to win. They were led by "top brass" who were concerned mainly with furthering their own careers, most neither understood the nature of the war nor had a clue about the impossible mission with which they'd tasked their soldiers. And the war was reported by a self serving Media who penned stories filled with inaccuracies, deliberate omissions, biased presentations and blatant distorted interpretations because they were more interested in a story than the truth! It can be debated that we should never have fought that war. It can also be argued that the young Americans who fought so courageously, never losing a single major battle, helped in a huge way to WIN THE COLD WAR.
Lots of us fight and don't post about it. My husband and I took on an assemblage of CODE PINK lunatics last fall, but I didn't post a thread about it. And I'll do it again, when I can and I won't post a thread about it then either. :-)
That's why we have the First Amendment. It makes it easier to identify the morons among us.
Mark Finkelstein over at Newsbusters reported this morning that Matt Lauer got a surprise answer from a soldier on a recent trip to Iraq. After asking about morale, a few soldiers told him that morale was good. Like any good morning TV show journalist, Lauer was skeptical:
LAUER: Don't get me wrong, I think you're probably telling the truth, but there might be a lot of people at home wondering how that might be possible with the conditions you're facing and with the insurgent attacks you're facing... What would you say to people who doubt that morale could be that high?
CAPTAIN SHERMAN POWELL: Well sir, I'd tell you, if I got my news from the newspapers I'd be pretty depressed as well.
Powell said that he knows the media have a hard time getting out in Iraq and seeing the improvements, but that he's "satisfied" and "proud" of the work the United States is doing in Iraq.
Don't you also love how Lauer says, "What would you say to people who doubt that morale could be that high?" when he means, "What would you say to Matt Lauer, who doubts that morale could be that high?"
You're disrespecting the troops.
That bears repeating a million times ...
Did you ever consider that the reason she is losing all this is because of her long held anti-American attitudes? She publicly stated, before her husband filed for divorce and before this fiasco started that "this country isn't worth dying for," and "it's been killing people for over 200 years."
As a Mother, where is her concern for her two living children? Do they no longer mean anything to her? Why does she refuse her youngest sons plea to come home where they need her? Casey dies a hero and her other two are probably dying inside as they now are ignored by their Mother while she seeks attention to her anti-American stance.
This isn't about Casey at all, it's all about Cindy.
I'm tired of the "history" of the Vietnam war that the Left is spreading. None of it is true. They are trying to pull that stuff again and I'm going to continue to fight against them. It's not going to happen this time. Not this time.
I haven't even looked yet, but I'll be you'll be banned shortly, so let me just say this:
The reason you people are losing the hearts and minds of this country is because you are LIARS.
That was NOT the reason we went to Iraq -- no matter how many times you say it. (BTW, you do know, don't you, that it was your hero, Bill Clinton who said that there WERE WMDs over there, right? And John Kerry? And just about every other Democrat in office in the last ten years.)
"Lots of us fight and don't post about it. My husband and I took on an assemblage of CODE PINK lunatics last fall, but I didn't post a thread about it. And I'll do it again, when I can and I won't post a thread about it then either. :-)"
You SHOULD post this!
Being "silent" in the 60's and 70's did nothing.
Nixon sold out to the anti-war majority.
Sing it loud and clear this time around.
And THANK YOU and your husband.
Tag line change
Oh, she's been doing it longer than last week; why at the beginning of this year, she gave a speech at an event honoring -- tada -- Lynne Stewart!
She protested Gulf War I!
Only over my dead body
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