Source: Guardian [UK]

08/27/05

A sign on the highway welcoming visitors to Crawford declares the population to be 705, but today the figure is likely to be at least four times that. Thousands of pro- and anti-war activists are making their way to this little corner of Texas for the culmination of protests that began when George Bush arrived for his five-week 'working vacation' at the beginning of August. Leading the anti-war rally will be Cindy Sheehan, 48, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, whose vigil outside Mr Bush's ranch has given the US peace movement in America a new focus and forced the president on to the defensive. Ranged against her are various conservative activists and military families, including the 'You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy!' tour, which began in Mrs Sheehan's home town of Vacaville in California and is due to arrive in Crawford at midday today. The pro-war demonstrators will hold a rally in the little town, not far from Fort Qualls, which was set up in memory of Louis Qualls -- a marine killed in Iraq last year but whose father, Gary, is a staunch Bush supporter. Between them they are determined to drag the spotlight away from Mrs Sheehan, and today's two rallies promise a showdown...

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1557489,00.html



Cindy Sheehan
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