As debate surrounding the war in Iraq rages on, military families, both for and against the war, have been caught in the political crosshairs. Some grieving families are using a soldier’s death as a call to end the war, while other military families argue that using war casualties as a protest point only serves to undermine morale of the troops and galvanize enemies of the United States.

The debate reached a fevered pitch in the summer of 2005 with the crusade of Cindy Sheehan. She, like Roxanne Kaylor in the film A FAMILY AT WAR, is grieving for a son who was killed in the Iraq war and disputes the Bush Administration’s stated reasons for starting the war.

“Camps” in Crawford

Sheehan, a resident of Vacaville, California, organized the group Gold Star Families for Peace with other parents of slain soldiers. During August of 2005, Sheehan set up a shantytown, named Camp Casey in memory of her son who died, outside President Bush’s Crawford, Texas ranch during his month-long vacation. Sheehan was demanding that Bush speak to her and justify her son’s death, referencing previous comments by Bush about the “noble cause” behind the war in Iraq. Sheehan’s crusade quickly gained attention from the media, and her name became a mainstay on news outlets around the country.

Responding to the enormous media attention on Camp Casey, other voices emerged to counter Sheehan’s war protests. Gary Qualls, parent of a slain soldier, started camping out across the road from Sheehan in an encampment dubbed Fort Qualls. Qualls fully supports Bush and the Iraq war, and considers Fort Qualls the antidote to Camp Casey. But comments from Qualls, suggesting that Sheehan supporters are comprised of Michael Moore, gay rights activists, peace organizations and radical feminists—each group more or less despised by the right wing of American politics— only underscore that the issue has been politicized beyond simple pro- or anti-war sentiments.

The Bush “Camp”

President Bush, for his part, refused to meet with Sheehan during the vigil, despite advice to do so from pundits across the political spectrum. (Bush had, however, met with Sheehan once after her son’s death.) Meanwhile, the president’s approval ratings for his handling of the war were dwindling. To counter the rising criticism, Bush took time off from his vacation to visit the conservative strongholds of Salt Lake City, Boise and San Diego to garner support for the war. While delivering a speech to the Idaho National Guard in Boise, he introduced Tammy Pruett, a war supporter whose husband and five sons are soldiers in Iraq. (One son and her husband recently returned from duty, and four other sons are still there.) Bush didn’t mention Sheehan directly during the speech, but most political analysts agree that the speech was intended to counter images of Camp Casey and show a mother who supports Bush and the military operations in Iraq.

By the end of August 2005, Sheehan and Bush had not met. The protests and Bush’s vacation were both cut short when Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast. The attention has shifted for now, but Sheehan supporters and detractors continue to traverse the country and make their cases to the American public.

Learn about families speaking out about the war in Iraq >>