CINDY SHEEHAN
Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Casey Sheehan, who was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004 and who inspired Camp Casey, which is currently set up near President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, as it is whenever he is scheduled to be there.

Sheehan’s latest piece about her experiences in the Mideast, where she recently met with Iraqi parliamentarians, is titled “Amman, Jordan: Day 32 of the Troops Home Fast.”

Sheehan was recently hospitalized after being on a liquid diet as part of the “Troops Home Fast” hunger strike for 37 days. She is author of the book Peace Mom: A Mother’s Journey Through Heartache to Activism.
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MEDEA BENJAMIN
JUDITH LeBLANC
GAEL MURPHY
DIANE WILSON
These four peace activists met with Iraqi parliamentarians in Jordan, and spent five days in Beirut, witnessing the impact of the war and contributing to the humanitarian aid effort.

Benjamin of San Francisco is co-founder of the human rights group Global Exchange and the women’s peace group CodePink; LeBlanc of New York is co-chair of the national anti-war coalition United for Peace and Justice; Murphy of Washington, D.C., is co-founder of CodePink; and Diane Wilson of Texas is a fisherwoman, peace and justice activist, and the author of the book An Unreasonable Woman.

In Jordan, the women met with officials of the Iraqi government, including official representatives of the Shiite coalition now holding power, the minority Sunni bloc, the anti-occupation Muslim Scholars Association, parliamentarians and torture victims from Abu Ghraib. The meeting, which was also attended by Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan and former California State Senator Tom Hayden, resulted in an agreement by the Iraqis and Americans present to promote a specific timetable for American withdrawal combined with efforts to “fix the problems” of the occupation as the withdrawal proceeds.

For more on the peace delegation to Jordan, see the recent article “Iraq is Dying” by Tom Hayden.

From Jordan, the women traveled to Lebanon via Damascus. They met with humanitarian groups and visit improvised refugee camps where internally displaced people from southern Lebanon and southern Beirut are living.

Benjamin’s blog from Beirut is available here.
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167