User:Habap/Chronology

Camp Casey
On 6 August, 2005, Sheehan created a makeshift camp in a ditch by the side of the road about 3 miles from George W. Bush's Prairie Chapel Ranch near Crawford, Texas and announced her intention to stay (sleeping in a pup tent at nights) until she is granted a second face-to-face meeting with the President. Sheehan started her protest the day the President started a planned five-week vacation. A few days later, the media began referring to Sheehan's camp as "Camp Casey."

She spent the next four weeks in Crawford (except for 5 days spent in California to see her elderly mother, who had suffered a stroke). On some days as many as 1500 supporters visited Camp Casey, including members of Congress, as well as several notable actors, singers, and civil rights activists. After a few days of protest, a state representative conjectured that Sheehan and her companions might be considered a threat to national security and be arrested. None of the protesters were arrested at Camp Casey during August.

Bush's motorcade passed within 100 feet of Sheehan's roadside encampment on 12 August en route to a nearby ranch to attend a fundraising barbecue expected to raise US$2 million for the Republican National Committee; Sheehan held a sign reading "Why do you make time for donors and not for me?"

Gold Star Families for Peace, of which Sheehan is a founding member, released a TV commercial featuring Sheehan, broadcast on Crawford and Waco cable channels near Bush's ranch. The group conducted a walk to a police station just outside President Bush's Crawford ranch and delivered a bundle of oversized letters written by them to First Lady Laura Bush, appealing to her as a mother for support towards their movement.

On 16 August, Sheehan moved her camp closer to the Bush ranch after being offered the use of a piece of land owned by a supporter, Fred Mattlage, who also happens to be a third cousin of Larry Mattlage, a rancher who had fired a shotgun on his property near the demonstration site several days earlier.

In late August, Sheehan stated that she would continue her campaign against the Iraq war even if granted a second meeting with the President. She also announced the Bring Them Home Now Tour, to depart on September 1 and arrive in Washington, D.C., on September 24 for three days of demonstrations.

Hurricane Katrina, a Category 4 storm, made landfall in southeastern Louisiana on 29 August. The following day, President Bush ended his five-week vacation early to focus on relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Support
Sheehan received support from across the nation when, on 16 August, MoveOn.org announced a nationwide "Vigil for Cindy Sheehan" to take place the next day. More than 1,600 anti-war candlelight vigils in support of Sheehan were held around the United States, including one outside the White House.

Counter-protests
A week after Camp Casey opens, during a morning counter-protest, over 250 people shouted pro-Bush slogans for several hours. Some local residents attempted to disrupt Sheehan's protest (one by firing a shotgun nearby, another by driving his truck through the rows of white crosses representing soldiers killed in Iraq) and even set up an opposing camp, named "Fort Qualls," behind Bill Johnson's "Yellow Rose" gift shop in Crawford, Texas. The next day, a bomb threat was received via telephone at the gift shop.

On the same day that MoveOn.org announced the "Vigil for Cindy Sheehan", Move America Forward announced a "You Don't Speak For Me, Cindy" caravan leaving from San Francisco and ending in Crawford, Texas. Opponents of Sheehan set up "Camp Reality," located in a ditch across the road from Camp Casey. Conflicting estimates of between 1000 to 4000 Pro-Bush supporters rally when the caravan arrived.

Notable visitors to Camp Casey

 * folk singer Joan Baez
 * Native American activist Dennis Banks
 * country musician Steve Earle
 * a group of Iraqis living in Texas
 * Rev. Peter Johnson, organizer and former staffer of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
 * actress Margot Kidder
 * U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas)
 * Minnesota State Senator and gubernatorial candidate Becky Lourey
 * Rev. Joseph Lowery, preacher and co-founder of the SCLC
 * Texas singer-songwriter James McMurtry
 * Native American activist Russell Means
 * actor Viggo Mortensen
 * Former FBI agent and Time Magazine Person of the Year Colleen Rowley
 * Rev. Al Sharpton
 * actor Martin Sheen
 * U.S. Representative Maxine Waters (D-California)