Asheville Citizen-Times
By Bruce Mulkey
When the hour and the real cause has come, the infection flashes like an electric spark over hundreds of miles. . . . The message goes through the air, and, in the one thing that counts all men are suddenly of one mind even if only in a blind conviction: Things must change.
--Jacob Burckhardt
Cindy (Sheehan) has been compared favorably to Rosa Parks who ignited the civil rights struggle by refusing to move to the back of the bus. . . . Cindy and her band of supporters in Crawford are electrifying the nation with a crusade for the truth as to the reasons we went to war.
--Ahmed Amr
On the evening of August 17, tens of thousands of supporters of Cindy Sheehan, mother of Specialist Casey Sheehan who was killed in action in Iraq on April 4, 2004, gathered at more than 1,600 locations across the nation. Several hundred of us met in downtown Asheville at Pack Square in a candlelight vigil to demonstrate our solidarity with this courageous mother and her call for an end to the war in Iraq.
As you likely know, Cindy has been camped outside George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas since he began his five-week vacation there in early August. She has repeatedly asked President Bush to meet with her and explain why it was necessary for her son and other men and women to die in a war that he chose to initiate, so far to no avail.
Yet through her bold actions, Cindy Sheehan has helped move the national conversation on the war to the tipping point. For while the Bush administration continues to predict victory in Iraq and admits to no errors in judgment, truth is finally taking hold. As we knew it ultimately would, the reality of this bloody tragedy (over 1,800 American and perhaps 100,000 Iraqi deaths) has trumped this administration's hubris, arrogance and wishful thinking (being greeted as liberators, finding weapons of mass destruction and quickly exiting after transforming Iraq into a western-style democracy). At this time 54 percent of Americans believe it was a mistake to enter Iraq in the first place, 61 percent believe Bush is mishandling the war and Bush's approval rating, according to a recent poll, now stands at 36 percent.
One woman's courageous stance has reawakened us to our power, to the fact that a single citizen can make a difference and that millions of us standing together can create transformation. History is with us. If our political leaders, Republican and Democrat alike, won't stop this insanity, then we must do it ourselves. We should not rest while one American or one Iraqi is in danger from the belligerence of Bush and his associates. And while you're taking the action that you're called to take in this crucial time, do so with joy and with passion. We are powerful, and when we come together in body, mind and spirit, we can change the course of history.
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Ways to work for peace
* Write letters, send emails and make calls to your Congressman and Senators. Implore them to support legislation to bring U.S. troops home now. For contact information, visit www.congress.org.
* Write letters and guest commentaries to newspapers. Find your local newspaper and how to make a submission at www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/. Submit your letter or commentary to the Asheville Citizen-Times to letters@citizen-times.com.
* Take part in the massive march on Washington, D.C. September 24-26. For details visit www.unitedforpeace.org. Information on buses from Asheville to Washington can be found at the Western North Carolina Peace Coalition website at www.main.nc.us/wncpc/
* Join a local or national peace organization. Some possibilities include the Department of Peace Campaign, www.dopcampaign.org and Veterans for Peace, www.veteransforpeace.org. Here in Asheville contact the Western North Carolina Peace Coalition at www.main.nc.us/wncpc/.
* Donate to Crawford Peace House, a peace group that is supporting Cindy, at their website www.crawfordpeacehouse.org or by mail: Crawford Peace House, P.O. Box 710218, Dallas, TX 75371-0218.
* Donate to Gold Star Families for Peace (families of soldiers who have died in war) at www.gsfp.org.
* Send Cindy a postcard/letter: Ms. Cindy Sheehan, c/o Crawford Peace House, 9142 East 5th Street, Crawford, TX 76638-3037 (Please use the 9-digit Plus-4 zip code; the Post Office says they will not deliver without it.).
* Read Cindy's journal at www.dailykos.com/user/CindySheehan.
* Keep up with what's going on in Crawford at www.meetwithcindy.org.
