Cindy Sheehan takes anti-war message across U.S.

Cindy Sheehan, who camped outside the president’s vacation home in August to protest her son’s death in Iraq, electrifying the anti-war movement, has taken the demand of “Bring the troops home” on the road, stopping in over 51 cities in the past 21 days. She will be a speaker at the Sept. 24 anti-war rally in Washington, D.C.

Raleigh, N.C., FIST organizer Peter Gilbert with Cindy Sheehan at North Carolina State University, Sept. 15.

In New York on Sept. 19, police forcibly broke up the rally organized for her arrival—despite the fact that organizers had a valid permit. They arrested Paul “Zool” Zulkowski, the event’s organizer and one of the organizers of Camp Casey NYC in Union Square. Sheehan reported being shoved around in the scuffle.

Eyewitnesses report that several hundred people, including members of Military Families Speak Out, Gold Star Families for Peace, the Troops Out Now Coalition, the No Police State Coalition and the Green Party, were present for what had been a peaceful rally until cops moved in on the stage without warning and broke it up.

A woman on the caravan told those gathered that they had attended over 100 events so far, and nothing like this had occurred until now. Police have attacked Camp Casey NYC—which has had a steady presence at Union Square since Aug. 15—on at least two other occasions, confiscating materials, harassing organizers and making arrests.

In Baltimore, over 500 people jammed into the Shriver Hall at Johns Hopkins University Sept. 20 to hear Sheehan and others who have lost loved ones in the war. Each told of the horror of dealing with the death of a family member. The crowd also heard from veterans from the war who spoke, among other things, about signing up for the military under false pretenses given them by recruiters.

Sheehan spoke to a crowd of over 600 Sept. 17 at the Boston University School of Law auditorium. She received a hero’s welcome with a standing ovation and thunderous applause. Speakers also included Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, Gold Star Families For Peace and Veterans for Peace.

Earlier in the same day, Sheehan spoke to over 200 supporters at the Cambridge Common, where she received a key to the city from the vice mayor. About the “Bring Them Home Now” tour, Sheehan said, “George Bush wouldn’t meet with me. But I went over his head. I went to the people of America.”

Other Northeast tour stops included Albany, N.Y., Amherst, Mass., New Haven, Conn., and Providence, R.I.

Eddie Boyd, Dustin Langley and Bryan Pfeifer contributed to this report.