August 28, 2005 latimes.com : National News
THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
War Debate, and Emotions, Spill Over in Texas
Thousands of activists vent anger at dueling rallies near the president's ranch.
By Peter Wallsten, Times Staff Writer
CRAWFORD, Texas — Pent-up fervor fueling both sides of the national debate over President Bush's Iraq policies erupted Saturday near his vacation home, with thousands of protesters venting frustrations and using parents of fallen soldiers as icons of their dueling movements.
Both the president's supporters and critics endured 100 degree temperatures to rally in separate locations miles apart, and several hundred engaged in an emotional standoff at the fork in a road on the fringe of the Bush property — singing, chanting and yelling epithets.
Separated by at least nine sheriff's deputies and a traffic island guarded by authorities as "no man's land," the scene served as a microcosm for the state of the national debate.
On one side of the street sat the original Camp Casey, set up three weeks ago by Cindy Sheehan, whose son Army Spc. Casey Sheehan was killed in Iraq in 2004. She has since emerged as the leader of the antiwar movement. There, dozens cheered and belted out anti-Bush lyrics to the tune of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." A banner branded Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld "war pigs."
On the other side stood flag-waving Bush backers chanting, "Cindy, go home." One sign read: "Repent, you treasonous scum."
(Interferring ignoramuses)
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SHARPTON ADDS VOICE TO ANTIWAR PROTEST
By Sam Coates
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 29, 2005; Page A04
CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 28 -- Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist and former presidential candidate, rallied antiwar protesters here Sunday, drawing comparisons with the civil rights movement on this anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
Actor Martin Sheen also traveled to the antiwar encampment Sunday night. He presented a rosary to Sheehan in recognition of the Catholic faith of her son Casey, who was killed in Iraq last year.
Sharpton said opposition to the war in Iraq is not a partisan act. "This is not about politics. This is not about Republican or Democrat. . . . This is about right and wrong," he said.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/28/AR2005082800882.html(Yee-haw!)