War protesters almost reached Bush ranch (Cindy makes Russia)

[lovuian]

http://newsfromrussia.com/politics/2005/08/17/61395.html

War protesters camping in roadside ditches near President George W. Bush's ranch accepted a neighbor's offer to stay on his property, and their vigil will be joined this week by FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley and by another mother whose soldier-son was killed in Iraq.

The neighbor, Army veteran Fred Mattlage, said he sympathizes with participants in the vigil started Aug. 6 by Cindy Sheehan, who lost her 24-year-old son in Iraq last year. The makeshift camp off the winding, two-lane road to Bush's ranch has angered residents and snarled traffic.

"I just think people should have a right to protest without being harassed," Mattlage told The Associated Press. "And I'm against the war. I don't think it's a war we need to be in."

Sheehan, of Vacaville, California, has vowed to remain through Bush's monthlong ranch vacation unless he meets with her and other grieving families.

Former FBI special agent Rowley said she and Minnesota state Sen. Becky Lourey, whose son was killed in Iraq, will leave for Texas on Thursday and camp at the site through Sunday.

"It puts a human face on this issue," said Rowley, who is now a Democratic candidate for Congress in Minnesota. "Many people, if they don't have a personal connection to the troops, it's so easy for this to become a discussion that lacks seriousness and urgency. I think it's good to show that there are real people that are being affected."

Lourey's 41-year-old son, Chief Warrant Officer Matt Lourey, died May 26 when the Army helicopter he was piloting was shot down. The state senator has consistently criticized the Iraq war but was also supportive of her son's military career.

"Our children are dying and I think it's time to go support Cindy and see if Bush will come out and we can say, 'President Bush, what is the mission exactly?'," Lourey said. "Truth has been shifting all around and I think we need to rejoin the world community and not occupy another nation."
more...

Great picture of Cindy!!! She made Russia papers!!!

[RFKHumphreyObama]

1. She's also made news in Australia

Some of the various newspapers have covered her protest and there have been at least two TV news items on her

[burrowowl]

2. Great article!

The World knows!
We got more honks than the usual former peace vigils and demostrations at our Cindy Vigil tonight in ABQ!
Hopefully, peole are beginning to wake up!

[cliss]

3. Rowley has zeroed in on Cindy Sheehan's strongest point:

Her human face on this issue. Sheehan is a mom, a woman, someone we can all identify with. Her humanity is precisely her strongest point.

Bush, on the other hand, is arrogant, distant, disconnected from people.

Bush knows he can't fight this sort of thing.