Husband of peace vigil mom files for divorce

Cindy Sheehan says stress of son’s death led to separation

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updated 1:27 p.m. ET Aug. 16, 2005

FAIRFIELD, Calif. - The husband of Cindy Sheehan, the mother camped outside President Bush’s Texas ranch to protest the death of a son in the Iraq war, has filed for divorce, according to court documents.

Patrick Sheehan filed the divorce petition Friday in Solano County court, northeast of San Francisco. His lawyer did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday.

The couple’s eldest child, Casey, 24, was an Army soldier killed in April 2004. Cindy Sheehan has said the stress of the death led to the separation of the couple, who were high school sweethearts.

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Sheehan has vowed to remain in Texas through Bush’s August vacation, unless he meets with her. She began her protest 10 days ago and has since been joined by more than 100 anti-war activists.

“Our message is to bring the troops home,” Sheehan, of Vacaville, said Monday.
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Crawford incident
Aug. 16: One man is arrested as police investigate an incident in which a truck plowed over crosses honoring men and women killed in Iraq that were planted near President Bush's Crawford ranch.
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The White House on Monday again issued a statement saying that Bush sympathizes with Sheehan. The president has given no indication that he will meet with her.

Sheehan, 48, and other grieving military families met with Bush in June 2004 at Fort Lewis, near Seattle, two months after her son’s death.

But she says the meeting was unsatisfactory, and it came before reports surfaced about faulty pre-war intelligence, which enraged her.

When Sheehan arrived in Crawford on Aug. 6, her small group started marching to Bush’s ranch, then was moved by authorities to a plot of land a few miles away.

Late Monday, a pickup truck tore through rows of white crosses that stretched about two-tenths of a mile along the side of the road at the Crawford camp. The crosses bore the names of fallen U.S. soldiers. No one was hurt.