Camp Casey III: It’s All About Peace — New Vigil Begins At Camp Casey III
New Vigil Begins At Camp Casey III
As Cindy Sheehan (second from left, first photo) toured Camp Casey III, she commented, “It’s a beautiful day in my neighborhood.” Iconoclast Photo leon
CRAWFORD Blessings were bestowed upon Camp Casey III during an Interfaith service held under a shaded tent as a hot Texas sun blazed down on the approximately 60 participants late Sunday morning.
Cindy Sheehan takes a question at her first press conference during this visit to Crawford.
Earlier, Cindy Sheehan began the morning with a short press conference about 80 yards from where the religious service was held, saying, “This is the fourth time we’ve been here. Last year we made a committment to be here whenever George Bush is supposed to be on vacation because he never met with me last summer. The troops are still in Iraq. My goal is to get the troops home. We’re going to be doing it here now until our goals are accomplished.”
It had been a year since Sheehan made her original internationally acclaimed trip to Crawford to ask President Bush “for what noble cause” her son, Casey, had died in Iraq and to encourage the bringing home of troops. Bush did not meet with her during the 26-day vigil last year that coincided with his annual August vacation on his Prairie Chapel ranch.
During that period, two camps were eventually established, Camp Casey I and Camp Casey II. On the first day of the original trip to Crawford, Sheehan and other peace activists walked in ditches to a point near the Bush ranch where they were blocked by law enforcement personnel from getting any closer to the ranch.
Sheehan explained Sunday that during their rallies last Easter, “We had about 300 people and it (Camp Casey II) wasn’t big enough and since they (the McLennan County Commissioners’ Court) passed the ordinances that we can’t camp at Camp Casey I, we needed to either rent abigger property or buy something. We were having trouble finding something for rent so I decided to buy something. When we don’t need Camp Casey III (located on the outskirts of Crawford) anymore and when the troops are home and after we use it as a peace camp I’m going to donate the property to the town of Crawford to use as a park. We’re going to build a playground and put in some picnic benches and we’re going to name it the Specialist Casey Sheehan Memorial Peace Park.”
When asked whether local residents were resentful about the way the property was purchased, through a third party, Sheehan said, “A lot of people have a third party buy land for them. I could have hired a lawyer, but it would have cost me more. I think they should be more resentful to a president that lied to the American public and lied to the world.
“I think Camp Casey III will be safer than where we were before,
