Cindy Sheehan: “We will not give up”
Anti-War Protesters Arrested Outside Bush's Texas Ranch
Revolution #025, December 4, 2005, posted at revcom.us
When Cindy Sheehan spoke at the Nov. 2 World Can't Wait rally in San Francisco, she said, "Resist, stand up, speak out. We're going to Camp Casey on Thanksgiving. Join us." During the week of Thanksgiving, as Bush vacationed at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, anti-war protesters gathered outside the ranch at the encampment named after Cindy's son, a U.S. soldier who died in Bush's unjust war in Iraq. On Wednesday, November 23, 12 protesters were arrested on the road to the ranch, charged with violating a new ordinance that the county had enacted specifically to target the encampment that began this summer and that has drawn international attention and galvanized anti-war sentiments. Among those arrested was Daniel Ellsberg, the man who broke the Pentagon Papers which exposed the U.S. crimes in the Vietnam War; Ann Wright, a former U.S. diplomat who quit in protest of the Iraq war; and DeDe Miller, Cindy Sheehan's sister. Before his arrest Ellsberg said, "Those of us who finally saw through the Vietnam war saw through this war, and all the actions that were necessary to end the Vietnam war will be necessary here."
Cindy Sheehan arrived at the encampment the next day, risking further arrest--she was last arrested at the White House gates in October during protests on the occasion of the death of a 2,000th U.S. soldier in Iraq. On Thursday the group prepared a traditional Iraqi meal of lentils, salad, and fish, in solidarity with Iraqis killed in the the U.S. war. On Friday Sheehan wrote, "We are again going to be sad to leave on Sunday, but if George is still defiling the White House and if the war is still raging, we will be back for Easter... We will keep pressing; we will not give up; we will stay the course; we will prevail."