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 News from Around the Americas | December 2006 
Peace Mom Aims to Ramp Up "Peace Surge" After Arrest Thursday
 Erin Quinn - Waco Tribune-Herald
| Cindy Sheehan's Message For the New Year:
"Like Michael Moore, I want to be a fly on the wall when Bush and company are hauled out of the White House in handcuffs. Impeachment is not necessary for people who never were elected - eviction is what is needed. If you can't join us in Crawford, set up your own Camp Casey near you." |
Crawford, TX - Minutes before the "Peace Mom" was arrested Thursday for blocking a road near President Bush's ranch, Cindy Sheehan said she plans to become more "confrontational" and that it's time to "ramp up" peace efforts.
"We're the only people that can stop Bush now," she said, standing with about 30 other peace protesters at a barricaded Secret Service checkpoint outside the Crawford-area ranch.
Bush was meeting with top advisers to consider strategy in the Iraq war, including a possible surge in troop levels.
About 20 minutes after talking about her new plan, called a "peace surge" as a poke at Bush, Sheehan, 49, and four other protesters lay down in front of Secret Service barricades and refused to move. Texas Department of Public Safety troopers carried each one off the roadway and to a ditch along the side of the road - their hands tied with flexible nylon ties, a gentler handcuff police often use during protests.
It was Sheehan's first arrest at the Bush ranch in McLennan County.
The five protesters, including Dede Miller, Sheehan's sister; Gerry Fonsecca, Sheehan's boyfriend; Carl Rising-Moore; and Jeri Reed, were arrested on misdemeanor charges of obstructing a roadway. The group is expected to be bonded out of the McLennan County Jail today.
Among those at the ranch with Bush were Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney.
The protest briefly delayed state troopers who were to serve in escort motorcades for government officials meeting with Bush, Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. R.T. King said.
Terry Chapman, owner of Chapman Bail Bonds in Waco, said the overnight stay is typical, as justices of the peace often do arraignments once or twice a day; the judge had performed that duty twice Thursday before the group was booked.
Sheehan, who said her "surge" would address concerns that Bush may increase U.S. troop numbers in Iraq, said earlier in the day she expected to be arrested.
"He's a serial murderer," she said, just before being placed in a patrol car with her sister. "We just want the killing to stop."
Sheehan said she plans to camp in Crawford through New Year's Eve, when protesters are planning a vigil to honor the Iraqi citizens slain since the war began nearly four years ago.
Earlier this month in New York, Sheehan was convicted of trespassing for leading a protest across the street from the United Nations. A judge sentenced them to conditional discharge, which means they will not face any punishment as long as they "lead a law-abiding life" for the next year, Sheehan's attorney, Robert Gottlieb, said Thursday.
"There is nothing to say that what she was arrested for today means that she is not living a law-abiding life," he told the Associated Press. He said he doubted "that anything that happened today would result in any problems in New York."
Sheehan, of Vacaville, Calif., lost her 24-year-old son, Casey, in Iraq in April 2004. She has since drawn international attention for camping outside Bush's ranch. |
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