Running down crosses

As you know, Cindy Sheehan is camped out at Crawford, Texas, asking for a meeting with President Bush in regard to the war in Iraq, in which her son was killed. Judging from news reports, it seems that many Crawford residents don't mind her peaceful protest, but are tired of the traffic and congestion that is accumulating around it.

Regardless of how you feel about Sheehan and her actions or Crawford's residents and their reactions, I hope we can all agree that purposely running over the crosses she had erected in memory of fallen soldiers is a callous act.

Here is how Reuters reported it:

"Some 800 white wooden crosses, bearing the names of soldiers killed in Iraq like her son, have lined the road near the area where Sheehan has pitched a tent. Witnesses said they saw a lorry dragging a pipe and chains drive over some of the crosses on Monday night.

Larry Northern, 46, of nearby Waco, Texas, was arrested and charged with criminal mischief in connection with the incident, Crawford Police Chief Donnie Tidmore said.

'We're trying to be good neighbours,' said Sheehan, whose soldier son was killed in combat in Iraq in April 2004. 'We're trying to make everybody happy and the only thing I want is to talk to one of their neighbours. If they want us to leave, they should talk to their neighbour, George Bush, and tell him to come to us.'

By Tuesday morning, many rows of crosses had been put back in the ground, where they are adorned with flowers and flags.

'It's so ironic that I'm accused of dishonouring my son's memory by doing what I'm doing, by the other side, and then somebody comes and does this,' Sheehan said.

Charles Anderson, a 28-year-old Iraq war veteran from Virginia Beach, Virginia, called the vandalism of the crosses a 'sacrilege.'

'These crosses represent five of my comrades in my battalion who are no longer with us,' he said at a news conference with Sheehan. "

So, what do you think?