Bush Moved, Not Swayed By GI's Mom

President Bush said Thursday he understands and respects the views of anti-war advocates like a California mother camped outside his Texas ranch to mourn her soldier son fallen in Iraq, but that it would be a mistake to bring U.S. troops home now.

"I understand the anguish that some feel about the death that takes place," Mr. Bush said.

"I also have heard the voices of those saying: Pull out now," he said. "And I've thought about their cry and their sincere desire to reduce the loss of life by pulling our troops out. I just strongly disagree."

Immediate withdrawal "would send a terrible signal to the enemy."

Cindy Sheehan has been camped along a road near Mr. Bush's ranch since Saturday, asking to talk to the president about her son Casey and vowing to remain until his Texas vacation ends later this month. Casey was killed five days after he arrived in Iraq last year. He was 24.

"I sympathize with Mrs. Sheehan," Mr. Bush said. "She feels strongly about her position, and she has every right in the world to say what she believes. This is America. She has a right to her position, and I thought long and hard about her position. I've heard her position from others, which is: Get out of Iraq now. And it would be a mistake for the security of this country and the ability to lay the foundations for peace in the long run if we were to do so."

Sheehan responded by saying, "All we're asking is that he sacrifice an hour out of his five-week vacation to talk to us, before the next mother loses her son in Iraq."

By Thursday, about 50 people had joined Sheehan's cause, pitching tents in muddy, shallow ditches and hanging anti-war banners; two dozen others have sent flowers. Her name was among the most popular search topics Wednesday on Internet blogs.

Mr. Bush spoke to reporters on a day when he played host to his administration's top national security, foreign policy and defense advisers at a time of increasing violence in Iraq and new nuclear worries involving Iran and North Korea.

Mr. Bush also indicated that the new Iranian president will receive a U.S. visa to attend an annual United Nations gathering next month and welcomed the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency's warning to Tehran about consequences of its nuclear ambitions.

Mr. Bush said U.S. investigators still have not yet determined what role Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have played in the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Even so, Mr. Bush said, the United States has separate obligations to other countries as the host nation for the United Nations, which is headquartered in New York.

Sheehan, 48, did have a meeting Saturday with two White House officials. The White House said that meeting lasted 45 minutes but Sheehan said it lasted 20 minutes and called it "pointless."

"I don't understand why he can't take an hour to speak with somebody whose life he has devastated," the Vacaville, Calif., mother said.

But not everyone supports her. Kristinn Taylor, co-leader of the Washington, D.C., chapter of FreeRepublic.com, said Sheehan's protest is misguided and is hurting troop morale.

"She has a political agenda that goes way beyond her son's death in combat," said Taylor, whose conservative group has held pro-troop rallies since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and counter-protests of anti-war demonstrations.

Sheehan, a Catholic youth minister for eight years, never wanted Casey to join the military. She said he did after being misled by his recruiter. Although he also opposed the war, he didn't try to back out.

"I begged him not to go," she said through tears. "I said, 'I'll take you to Canada' ... but he said, 'Mom, I have to go. It's my duty. My buddies are going.'"

Sheehan has spent the past several days in rainy weather talking to scores of reporters, hugging fellow protesters and taking brief breaks to eat sandwiches and fruit brought by supporters.

She and her husband are separated, affected by the stress of losing their son. But her three other children, ages 19 to 24, may join her in Crawford, she said.

Sheehan did meet with President Bush in June 2004: She was among grieving military families who met with the president at Fort Lewis, Wash. She has said her feelings have shifted from shock to anger since then, in part because of various reports that have disputed some of the Bush administration's justifications for the war.

Many supporters decided to go to Crawford because of rumors that Sheehan would be arrested.

But no protesters will be arrested unless they trespass on private property or block the road, said Capt. Kenneth Vanek of the McLennan County Sheriff's Office.

Nearly 40 Democratic members of Congress have asked Mr. Bush to talk to her. On Wednesday, a coalition of anti-war groups in Washington also called on the president to speak with Sheehan, who they say has helped to unify the peace movement.

"Cindy Sheehan has become the Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement," said Rev. Lennox Yearwood, leader of the Hip Hop Caucus, an activist group. "She's tired, fed up and she's not going to take it anymore, and so now we stand with her."