I believe August 2005 will go down as marking another watershed moment in American history - when the Anti-Iraq War movement truly went "mainstream." George W. Bush, in another apparent lapse of good judgement, probably still has no idea what sort of movement he galvanized when he chose to ignore the likes of Cindy Sheehan camped out near his own backyard. The steadfast action and clear message Cindy's friends and supporters have sent in response, has unleashed a tremendous groundswell of unresolved grief, pent-up anger and frustration. Significant numbers of people from across mainstream America are now gaining courage to go public with their questions about this "noble cause."
Obviously, the potency of this theme - "support the troops by bringing them home now" - can be measured by who is leading the charge: not just the traditional leaders of the longstanding peace movement -- but this time, primarily, veterans groups and parents of the soldiers themselves - the "Gold Star" families, the most difficult sector of the American public to ignore!
Ray McGovern works for "Tell the Word", the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC, and is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. Last Wednesday, he arrived home in Arlington, VA, after five days in Crawford, and shared these poignant and powerful remarks with 300 neighbors at the close of a candlelight observance in honor of Cindy Sheehan, whom he refers to as "the Rosa Parks of Crawford, Texas" : http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0819-33.htm
I've also been rather impressed by the ongoing clips and reports from TruthOut, a great alternative soure to the mainstream media reports about what is really happening (and why) at Camp Casey: http://www.truthout.org/cindy.shtml
September 2005 holds great promise for a convergence of major proportions within the anti-war movement -- in Congress' own backyard of Washington D.C. I don't want to miss it this time around!
If you feel the same way, keep informed of transportation options and other organization details at: http://community.michiana.org/justice (if you are a local reader from Michiana) or http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=2845 (regarding efforts and talking points from "Clergy and Laity Concerned" and "United For Peace and Justice")
Clair
