Previous | Next :: Mothers Day Vigil : White House, Washington DC | May 14, 2006, 12:02 am

Cindy Sheehan and other gold star peace activist mothers gathered with their supporters for a 24 hour vigil at the White House. Their aim is to pressure the President to bring American soldiers home from Iraq. The women sang and read poetry, they were all at once happy and sad, peaceful and angry. They laughed and talked or stood alone in thought or prayer they embraced and cried together. It was a moving heartfelt protest, they clearly felt empowered to be together but still angry and frustrated at the continuing war. I am always moved by the sight of the mothers who have lost their soldier sons. A young woman whose nationality was both Iraqi and American spoke of her opposition to the war. She did not mention how her family came to be here in the USA and I wondered if her parents had escaped from "The Republic of Fear" that was Saddam's Iraq. At the end of the vigil each protester took a flower with the name of a mother or child killed in Iraq attached to it. They then held them aloft in a sad tribute to the most innocent victims of the war.