Enough is enough, say Bush supporters of Crawford protests
Waco Tribune-Herald ^ | August 21, 2005 | Thaddeus DeJesus
CRAWFORD – The president's supporters are rallying behind a new slogan: Enough is enough.
Critics of the peace movement and war mom Cindy Sheehan arrived in Crawford by car and by motorcycle Saturday to show support for President Bush and the Iraq war. In one demonstration, about 350 bikers buzzed the camps arranged by Sheehan and other demonstrators calling on the president to be accountable for the war.
While the day was relatively quiet at the peace camp entrenched near the Western White House, Bush's supporters gathered in downtown Crawford.
“The silent majority has arrived and, hey, the cavalry's on the way,” said local businessman Bill Johnson, who sat atop a horse during a separate pro-Bush rally of about two dozen. “Believe me. Don't think it isn't. Because, you know, we can take it, and take it and take it ... and at some point in time, there needs to be a response from America.”
Johnson alluded to a forthcoming caravan scheduled to arrive in Crawford next Saturday after snaking through the southwest from San Francisco. The event, called “You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy,” is being led by a mother who has a Marine son.
Sheehan, however, was present Saturday only in spirit. She remained in Los Angeles, where her mother is recuperating from a stroke. A statement released on behalf of Sheehan said that the earliest she could return to Texas is Wednesday.
Sheehan has become a public face in the grief caused domestically by the Iraq war. Her son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, was killed April 2004 in an ambush attack in Baghdad. She has become both lauded and reviled for her vocal criticism of Bush's Iraq policy. She has called on the president to meet with her to discuss the war and the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.
Sheehan's cause incensed Army Sgt. Anthony Farr, a combat photographer from the 39th Infantry Brigade, based in Little Rock, Ark.
Farr was wounded when a bomb hit his military vehicle in Iraq as it approached an overpass. Now, Farr uses a cane to walk and is receiving post-traumatic stress disorder treatment at Fort Hood.
“If we leave right now, it makes us feel like we're the cowards, that we're running away,” said Farr, who was in Crawford Saturday. “We need to be doing what's right. We're there, and we need to finish the job.”
Sheehan's vigil and the growing sense that the Iraq war was a mistake, according to recent national polls, has put President Bush on the defensive.
During his weekly radio address Bush linked the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as the catalyst for the war on terrorism, which he said includes Iraq.
“They know that if we do not confront these evil men abroad, we will have to face them one day in our own cities and streets, and they know that the safety and security of every American is at stake in this war, and they know we will prevail,” said Bush, according to a transcript.
Critics contend that no proof has been established to Saddam Hussein with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Judging by some of the signs at Sheehan's camp site, some of the peace protestors aimed arrows at Bush on that issue.
Carol Carrillo, 40, of Fort Worth, came to Camp Casey to lend her support to the anti-war voices. Originally, Carrillo said she planned to arrive in Crawford with a larger group, but some members cancelled after hearing news that Sheehan wouldn't be at the camp.
Still, Carrillo said she believes Sheehan has opened a dialogue on the Iraq war. The anti-war demonstrators numbered about 200 Saturday.
“Look at all the people that are here,” Carrillo said. “They're not going anywhere.”
That also serves as fuel for the other side.
James Vergauwen, 59, of Windthorst, Texas, said Sheehan's absence won't dissuade the president's supporters to embark for Crawford. The Vietnam War veteran sat at the edge of the town's main intersection with his Harley-Davidson motorcycle at his back on Saturday as bikers swirled around him.
His own personal experiences coming home from Vietnam influenced his decision to come to Crawford to show support for the troops and the president. Years ago, Vergauwen was returning from his tour of duty and he was greeted by anti-war demonstrators at the San Francisco International Airport. As he walked by in his uniform, someone threw a bag of human excrement on his neck.
The experience still angers him today and he said he hopes today's veterans don't have to endure that treatment. As for Sheehan, Vergauwen said he supports her right to free expression, but wonders what would have happened to her had she lived in Iraq and called Saddam Hussein a liar, as she has Bush.
“We wouldn't have heard of her any more,” he said. “They would probably find her head in a deep freezer.”
On Saturday, as masses of people converged on Crawford, the president took a bike ride with cyclist Lance Armstrong. |
