Cindy Sheehan continues her silent vigil on a road outside President Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch. The 48-year-old woman simply wants one thing: an audience with the president to discuss the war in Iraq that cost her son his life.
Sheehan is gaining support from people all across the country. Some have come to join her and to help give her supplies. She is pleasantly surprised at the response her vigil has garnered, most of it overwhelmingly positive.
'Before my son was killed, I used to think that one person could not make a difference,' she told the Associated Press on Wednesday. 'But one person that is surrounded and supported by millions of people can be heard.'
Ms. Sheehan's son, Casey Sheehan, 24, was killed in action in the Iraqi town of Sadr City in April 2004.
Sheehan said she is upset that the weapons of mass destruction that the Bush administration used to justify the war in Iraq never existed and wants an explanation from the president.
She has formed an organization called 'Gold Star Families For Peace' and has traveled the country speaking out against the ongoing war in Iraq. More than 1,840 American soldiers have been killed in the war thus far.
Local officials in Crawford say she will not be arrested unless she trespasses on private property or block the road leading to the president's ranch.
Thus far, two members of the administration, the national security adviser and deputy White House chief of staff, spoke briefly to Sheehan but she says the meeting was 'pointless' and still wants to talk to the president face-to-face. She vows to remain outside his ranch for the duration of his five-week vacation.
Trucker Craig Delaney, 53, drove out to the site where Sheehan is camping out to support her. He told reporters, 'I felt compelled to come and tell her I support her. The way they were badmouthing a mother whose son was killed in the war is un-American.'
Critics of Sheehan's vigil say she is demoralizing American troops in Iraq.
She is galvanizing the anti-war movement. Giving them a focal point that they lacked before her simple and elegant vigil began last Friday.
'Cindy Sheehan has become the Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement,' said Reverend Lennox Yearwood, leader of the Hip Hop Caucus, an activist group. 'She's tired, fed up and she's not going to take it anymore, and so now we stand with her.'
She remains one determined mother who wants answers as to why her son was killed...Thus far, these are answers that the president refuses to give.
