Activist Cindy Sheehan Revives Anti-War Efforts

Activist Cindy Sheehan revives anti-war efforts
By Oren Dorell | USA Today

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan is restarting her campaign against wars in Iraq and Afghanistan today, setting up tents and teaching protest seminars near the Washington Monument.

Dubbed "Camp OUT NOW," the protest is geared to pressure President Obama and Democrats, whom Sheehan says have abandoned the anti-war cause now that they have control of the White House and Congress.

"Obama said there'd be one combat battalion coming home per month, and that has not happened," Sheehan says. "We still have significant troops in Iraq, and he's ramped up in Afghanistan.

"I don't think this is what people understood they were voting for. I think they were voting for a change."

White House officials declined to comment.

The number of U.S. servicemembers in Iraq have declined to 98,000 in February from a peak of 170,000 during President George W. Bush's surge. Obama has presided over plans to send 30,000 more servicemembers to Afghanistan and has expanded missile strikes against suspected militants in Pakistan and Yemen. Read more.