Protest building at Bush ranch
Cindy Sheehan, center, walks with supporter as dozens of cars drive on the road leading to President Bush's ranch near Crawford, Texas, Saturday. A grieving mother's anti-war protest entered its second week, gaining momentum and spurring counter rallies, as hundreds of people with conflicting opinions about the war in Iraq descended Saturday on a road leading to the Western White House. Photo: APCrawford, Texas — A grieving mother's anti-war protest entered its second week, gaining momentum and spurring counter-rallies, as hundreds of people with conflicting opinions about the war in Iraq descended on a road leading to President George W. Bush's ranch.
More than 350 anti-war demonstrators gathered at a park near downtown Saturday, then moved the rally several kilometres away to the peace vigil's makeshift campsite along the road to Mr. Bush's ranch.
“Who knew that the beginning of the end of the occupation in Iraq was going to start last Saturday in Crawford, Texas?” said Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, Calif., who started the protest Aug. 6 in memory of her 24-year-old son Casey, killed in Iraq last year. “We're here to change the world.”
As about a dozen Bush supporters stood across the street holding signs, down from more than 250 who gathered there Saturday morning, one exchange became heated. A Bush supporter approached an anti-war veteran, and they stood chest to chest as deputies tried to separate them.
When the veteran shouted about his wartime experiences and yelled, “I earned the right to be here!” several of his fellow protesters subdued him, moving him away as he sobbed and his knees buckled.
Sheriff's deputies and secret service agents otherwise kept the groups on opposite sides of the road, and no one was arrested.
The morning pro-Bush rally at the site was organized by Darrell Ankarlo, a conservative radio talk show host for KLIF in Dallas, who said “in my heart of hearts I believe that we're trying to do the right thing” in Iraq.
He also asked to meet with Ms. Sheehan, but she only agreed to meet privately Saturday evening with Bush supporters whose relatives have died in Iraq.
The 250-plus Bush supporters stood in the blazing sun for a few hours in a ditch across the street from the campsite. Most waved American flags and held signs, including “Help! I'm surrounded by America hating idiots!” and “Thank you, Mr. President.”
“I feel sorry for Cindy, but I think she went about this the wrong way,” said Bill Garrett, of Dallas, a member of Protest Warrior, a group that frequently holds counter protests to anti-war rallies. “Somebody's got to stand up to them.”
The first counter-rally was Friday night, organized by another conservative radio talk show host, Mike Gallagher. He brought many of the 100 Bush supporters by bus to the anti-war group's campsite, and the pro-Bush side waved flags, sang patriotic songs and chanted, “Go, George, go!”
But Tim Origer, who lost his left leg above the knee when he was a 19-year-old marine fighting in Vietnam, said Saturday that believing the war with Iraq is wrong does not diminish their support for the soldiers.
“When Iraqi Freedom started, it looked so much like Vietnam that I couldn't be quiet,” said Mr. Origer, who lives in Santa Fe, N.M., and is a member of Veterans for Peace. “It's real easy to say war is good when you don't have to be in it.”
The campsite of tents and anti-war banners has swelled to several hundred people some days but has a core group of about 100. They sing songs, chat and plan strategy each day on the shoulders of two intersecting side roads that form a triangle with Prairie Chapel Road, which leads to Mr. Bush's ranch. Others stay at the Crawford Peace House several kilometres away near downtown.
They vow to remain until Mr. Bush meets with Ms. Sheehan and the group's other grieving parents or until the end of his month-long ranch visit.
Mr. Bush has said that he sympathizes with Ms. Sheehan but hasn't said whether he will talk to her. Two administration officials met with her last weekend.
