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Cindy Sheehan's Crusade Stirs Both Antiwar Sentiment and Resentment

Posted on: Wednesday, 17 August 2005, 00:00 CDT

Aug. 17--Energized by the spotlight that Cindy Sheehan has drawn to their cause, Iraq war opponents plan to turn out around the nation tonight to support the Vacaville resident's quest to confront President Bush.

Activists using the liberal political action group moveon.org have organized more than 1,000 candlelight vigils, including more than a score in the East Bay, to support Sheehan's stakeout of the president near his Crawford, Texas, vacation home.

Sheehan, 48, set up camp along the road to Bush's ranch Aug. 6 and has demanded to meet with him to question him about the war, which she considers unnecessary and unjust. Her 24-year-old son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, was killed in Iraq last year.

Sheehan's round-the-clock protest at a time when public support for the war has ebbed has turned her into a national figure. She has galvanized anti-war activists but also angered supporters of the war and the president, including family members of fallen troops.

"I watch her and I just feel like sitting back and screaming: 'Go away and shut up!'" said Lisa Vance of West Virginia, whose husband, Army Staff Sgt. Gene Vance, 38, was killed in Afghanistan. "It's not the president's fault. He didn't cause her son to die."

Sheehan's opposition to the war began long before she turned up in the Lone Star State, but she now "has a venue that seems to be drawing attention," said Walnut Creek resident Tony Martarella, 60, who organized a vigil in Pleasant Hill.

"The point of the vigil is to draw attention to the fact that U.S. service men and women are dying over in Iraq for ill-conceived reasons," he said. "Everybody's now saying: 'Enough is enough. Let's get our troops home.'"

As Sheehan's protest has drawn publicity, supporters and organizers have been flocking to her side. Joining her today will be Tracy resident Nadia McCaffrey, whose son, Army Sgt. Patrick McCaffrey Sr., 34, was killed in Iraq last year.

"She managed to open this crack of attention on the situation, and it's huge right now," said McCaffrey, 60. "I'm going because I definitely want people to see that this mother is coming to support the other mothers and also to show that this war is wrong."

On Sunday, Mountain View resident Karen Meredith, 61, whose son, Army Lt. Ken Ballard, 26, was killed in Iraq, also will travel to Texas.

Sheehan's protest of the war "is not my style" and not something that everyone agrees with, Meredith said, "but at least we're talking about it. I hope that it's not dividing the country further."

Yet Sheehan's protest is doing just that, said Vance, the West Virginia war widow. She fears that anti- war sentiment will undermine soldiers' morale and provoke people into shunning veterans of the war.

Vance, who met with Bush about two months after her husband's death, said she does not doubt the president's concern for the troops under his command. She also does not blame Bush, who had tears in his eyes when they spoke, for her husband's death.

"I don't believe you could fake that kind of emotion," she said. "I don't have any bitterness at the loss of my husband. I wouldn't choose to lose my husband, but overall I think what we're fighting for is worth it."

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Source: Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.)

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