Sheehan Launches Bus Tour

CRAWFORD, Texas — After a 26-day vigil that ignited the antiwar movement, Cindy Sheehan took her protest on the road Wednesday, while a handful of veterans pledged to continue camping near President Bush’s ranch until the war in Iraq ends.

The mother of a 24-year-old soldier who died in Iraq boarded one of three buses heading out on tour to spread her message.

“This is where I’m going to spend every August from now on,” Sheehan said.

The group plans to stop in 25 states in the next three weeks, then take Sheehan’s “Bring Them Home Now Tour” to the nation’s capital Sept. 24.

Sheehan had vowed to stay in Crawford until Bush’s monthlong vacation ended or until she could question him about the war that claimed the life of her son Casey and nearly 1,900 other U.S. soldiers. She missed a week of the protest because her mother suffered a stroke.

Although two top administration officials talked to Sheehan the first day, the president never did -- though he said that he sympathizes with her. He ended his vacation Wednesday to monitor federal aid to hurricane victims on the Gulf Coast.