Families support troops in Iraq

Salt Palace rally meant to counter Sheehan's anti-war protests

Joseph Williams first met fellow Vacaville, Calif., resident Cindy Sheehan in May 2004, during a local parade held in honor of their sons. Williams' son, Marine Lance Cpl. Michael Jason, died while serving in Iraq — three days after the start of the war in March 2003. Just over a year later, Casey Sheehan died after his unit was attacked in April 2004.

The Cindy Sheehan he was seated next to that day watching the parade for their late soldier/sons was in no way angry, Williams said. The Cindy Sheehan he met again a year later was, and her attitude about her son's death, the war and President Bush was surprisingly and drastically different, said Williams, in Salt Lake Tuesday on the Move America Forward 20-city bus tour to counter what he and organizers say is Sheehan's negative, anti-war media campaign.

Williams and Sheehan were together a second time as part of a television news program on effects of the war back home. Clutching Casey's teddy bear, Sheehan expressed for the first time publicly her disgust for the war and the president that sent her son into it.

"All of a sudden, I started hearing more about her and it took me right back to Vietnam," the veteran said standing outside the Salt Palace Convention Center. "This country is not the country she makes it out to be. I was sick of the negative attention (toward the troops in Iraq) and needed to do more."

Williams took a week off his full-time job to join the "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy!" tour, sponsored by the non-profit conservative group. The anti-Sheehans or the pro-troop group, as they have been called, is en route to Washington, D.C.

Although the bus tour has yet to attract the media attention given Sheehan's roadside vigil near Bush's Texas ranch, they hope its positive message will counter Sheehan's negative one. The two camps have planned separate rallies this Saturday.

Deborah Johns, a bus tour leader from Roseville, Calif., and mother of soldier William Johns, currently serving his second tour in Iraq and is to return for a third next year.

"Cindy Sheehan is not the majority voice in America," Johns said. "She is the minority."

Regardless of political views, Americans should support the military fighting in Iraq, Johns said. People volunteer to join the military, she noted, adding, "My son in living his dream." At each stop, Move America Forward sets-up a "Victory in Iraq" banner for people to sign. The banners will be sent to active duty soldiers.

"They don't want to fight the media in another Vietnam," Johns said of the troops. "They are frustrated that Cindy Sheehan is getting so much attention. With her constant negative rhetoric, it inspires more suicide bombings. I think it's sad that she is the biological mother and dragging his name through the mud. I'm asking us to remember Casey as a true American hero."

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