Sheehan, Cindy

Cindy Lee Miller Sheehan (born in Inglewood, California, in 1957) is an antiwar activist best known for her critique of the United States government's occupation of Iraq. Her son, 24-year-old Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, a mechanic, was killed in an ambush outside Baghdad on April 4, 2004. Spurred by the grief of her son's death, Sheehan cofounded an antiwar group called Gold Star Families for Peace, named after the medal given to the families of dead soldiers.

She attracted international media attention in August 2005 by setting up an encampment outside of President George W. Bush's vacation home in Crawford, Texas, demanding a second face-to-face meeting with the president to contest his decision to invade Iraq and to argue for immediate troop withdrawal. In particular, she ...