For Immediate Release                                               Contact:
August 23, 2005                                                    Dave Therault  (719) 459-6471
7:00 PM                                                              ThreshingMachine
                                                                         
Colorado group heads to Bush's Texas ranch to stand by Cindy Sheehan

Colorado Springs-August 23

A caravan of 10 Colorado activists in 3 cars will leave for Crawford, Texas Sunday morning, August 28 to support Cindy Sheehan, the mother of fallen soldier Casey Sheehan, and the Gold Star families for Peace.

The caravan is supported by Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace, Gold Star families for Peace, Military families Speak Out,  Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission, and Springs Action Alliance, along with a broad, national coalition of groups like True Majority.org, Move On.org, and Democracy for America.com.

A press conference will be held on Thursday, August 25 at the offices of the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission at 214 E. Vermijo at 12pm noon, to announce the trip and gather donated items to support Camp Casey in Crawford. A banner that will accompany the group to Crawford has been gathering signatures all week.

Organizer, and local musician, Dave Therault, said, "I reached a point where the death of our soldiers and Iraqi people haunts me constantly, and I see in the gathering a Camp Casey an opportunity for me to stop being complicit in the murder perpetrated by our own government against it's own sons."

"I feel it is my duty as a patriotic American, and as someone who is living in Colorado Springs that cannot escape having a deep connection and friendship with our soldiers deployed in Iraq."

"George Bush has made his point and it's time for him to stop now", said Mr. Therault.

Sergeant Kelly Dougherty, of Iraq Veterans Against the war, who will be joining other members in Crawford said, "Being in Iraq strengthened my resolve as I became increasingly convinced from what I observed, in how the Iraqi people were being treated, that we were not helping them."

"I returned from the war and started meeting other vets, and learned what the soldiers were going through. I see that we are ruining so many lives. The only way to make it better is to leave."

On the controversy of protesters hurting the morale of the troops, Sergeant Dougherty said, "I have been there and seen how a typical soldier, through the day-to-day combat experience, and through an understanding of the political basis of the war, starts to turn from gung-ho, to eventually feeling as if their patriotic ideals have been betrayed by their commander in chief."

"So, I know that what really hurts morale is a war based on lies, a war with no plan, a war with no clear mission."

"What really hurts morale is a commander who does not look out for their welfare by sending them into unnecessary conflicts with repeated tours, and substandard equipment."

"What really hurts morale, and is at the root of much of the psychological problems the vets are experiencing, is a deep sense that the killing in this particular war is wrong. This leads to a feeling of failure, not a personal failure, but failure by our country which used to bear the standard of only using a military attack as a last resort. I joined for the right reasons; for patriotic reasons, but I didn't foresee myself being used in this immoral way", Sergeant Dougherty said.

Jim Beckenhaupt, Vietnam combat veteran and member of Veterans for Peace said, "George Bush seems to be out of answers". "Out of answers about Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, and an exit strategy." "I'm a Vietnam combat Vet and I have the same questions as Cindy Sheehan and Senators McCain and Hagel."

The caravan is being organized through the Threshing Machine website by Mr. Therault, and daily updates from Crawford will also be posted on the CSAction.org site and in that group's daily news.

Participant and Chaplain in residence at Penrose hospital, Pallas Stanford, said, "I am broken-hearted beyond words to realize that my country has asked and is this very moment asking our soldiers to lend their bodies to a war based on lies and greed and abomination. If I live long enough to look back on these times, I want to be able to say that I went to Camp Casey, that I lent my body, in the best way that I could, to the call to bring our soldiers home."

"One of the great gifts of my time as Chaplain with Penrose has been the opportunity this summer to work two mornings a week on the psychiatric unit. Almost every week, there is an Iraqi vet there.


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