NIKILA SRI-KUMAR Palisadian-Post Intern More than 200 people gathered on the Village Green last Wednesday evening in a vigil to support Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a marine who lost his life in Iraq. Sheehan had been camping outside President Bush’s Crawford, Texas, ranch for more than two weeks in an unsuccessful effort to meet with him and discuss the Iraqi war. Supporters stood on the edge of Sunset Boulevard with candles and signs with slogans like “Vietnam 2, Relive the Tragedy,” “Question Motivation, Explore Alternative Solutions” and “Honor Casey [Sheehan’s son] by Bringing the Troops Home.” As cars driving by honked constantly’in support and dissent’the people at the vigil sang songs for peace as author Jose-Luis Orozco strummed a guitar. “Somebody has finally broken through to the mainstream media,” said Pacific Palisades resident Karen Fairbank, “and that’s why we’re all out to support her.” “I want the White House to know that the number of people who are against this war is growing fast,” said Gary Nash, emeritus professor of history at UCLA. “It’s time to end it. This was a war fought on lies and deception. The Mexican-American War was also fought on a tissue of lies, and it was called Mr. Polk’s war. This is Mr. Bush’s war.” There were hopes for another vigil of its kind soon. “I think if we repeat this, twice as many people will come,” Nash said. Meanwhile, Palisadians Maria Kelly and Carol Sanborn flew to Texas the next day to join the protest set up by Sheehan at “Camp Casey.” “We left early Thursday morning and arrived late afternoon in Crawford,” Sanborn told the Palisadian-Post. “We went straight to Camp Casey and arrived as Cindy Sheehan was leaving.”(Sheehan had to return to the San Fransisco Bay area to take care of her mother, who had suffered a stroke.) As Kelly and Sandborn drove down Prairie Chapel Road., where the president’s ranch is located, the first thing they saw were the 1,800 white crosses put up around Camp Casey. The crosses had been mowed down by someone driving a tractor, but volunteers set them all back up again. “There was a large bedsheet hanging that said ‘Camp Casey,’ and there were satellite trucks and tarps and tents pitched all around it,” Sanborn said. “There were people there from all different peace groups.” A number of cars were parked along the road, most of them personalized with pictures, paintings or signs. “One car jumped out at me because it had the birth date written on it,” Sanborn said. “The year was 1986, which is the same year my daughter was born, so I just thought ‘This could be my child.'” People at the campsite were warm and friendly, Sanborn said. “It was hardly like a protest. The atmosphere was very calm and welcoming.” At an interfaith prayer service, she and Kelly met soldiers’ parents, grandparents, sisters and brothers who had traveled from all over the country to Crawford. “I talked to one man whose 18-year-old son was killed 12 days before he was scheduled to come home,” Sanborn said. “There were many people there sharing their stories of their relatives in Iraq.” Hundreds of volunteers in Crawford were constantly directing traffic, bringing people water, or making food, Sanborn said. “A lot of people think that the protest failed because Cindy Sheehan had to go home to care for her mother [without meeting the president], but they are wrong. The volunteers there are so inspirational; they have kept it going.” Sanborn and Kelly stayed in a motel in Waco, Texas, that night, and returned to Camp Casey the next morning. Sanborn remembered going past the white building called the “Peace House” in Camp Casey, and hearing someone driving by yell “Go home!” to a volunteer. “The volunteer just said, ‘I am home. Home is where the heart is,’ and it was very moving. The entire experience was very moving.”
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