National organizations bring voices to Peterborough to support Cindy Sheehan and military families.

As Cindy Sheehan, a grieving mother, endures the sweltering heat of Crawford, Texas waiting for George W. Bush to tell her what noble cause her son died for, across the country the war in Iraq has been vaulted back to the forefront of the nation’s consciousness.

On Saturday, August 20th at 7:00 pm, speakers from a coalition including Gold Star Families for Peace, of which Sheehan is a founder, Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, and Iraq Veterans Against the War will take part in an unprecedented forum in support of families of troops killed in Iraq. The Forum in Support of Military Families will take place at the Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church, located at 25 Main Street in Peterborough.

The participating national organizations believe that they are honoring their children and fellow soldiers by working for peace.

Last Thursday, Bush was asked to respond to Sheehan's protest. "I sympathize with Mrs. Sheehan," Bush said. "She feels strongly about her position. She has every right in the world to say what she believes. This is America." But Bush also said that he disagrees with those Americans, like Sheehan, who want U.S. troops to pull out from Iraq. And he didn't suggest he'd be meeting with Sheehan anytime soon, either.

When asked about the possibility of parents of other soldiers who've been killed not sharing her views, Sheehan recently replied,

 “I would say the majority would agree with what I'm doing, because the majority of Americans think that this war is based on lies and deceptions and they think it was a mistake and they want the troops to come home”.

Recent polls show that majorities of Americans -- in some surveys more than 60 percent -- disapprove of the way the president is handling the situation in Iraq.

The nearly 2,000 crosses, crescents and Stars of David that make up the Arlington West cemetery, erected by the demonstrators a few days ago to represent all the fallen American soldiers in Iraq, stretch almost a mile down a local road. Bush had to drive past that on Friday when he went to a fundraising event at the Broken Spoke Ranch. 54 crosses have been added to the cemetery since he first showed up for his vacation at the beginning of August.

The forum is sponsored by True Majority’s SpeakEZ program and Congregation’s Social Justice Committee. The program is free and open to the public.