Watch out, Nancy Pelosi. Cindy Sheehan is back. And she's angrier than ever

GRAVELY SERIOUS Cindy Sheehan took a break to recharge her outrage batteries. Now she wants Nancy Pelosi's House seat

Cindy Sheehan first came to national attention in summer 2005, when she set up a tent on a patch of baked earth in Crawford, Texas, and demanded to meet with the president. It was audacious. But she'd earned the right to be audacious—she'd lost her son, Casey, in a seemingly pointless war and wanted an explanation.

"People who are
against me attack me personally. They attack the way I look physically, they attack the way I dress, they attack everything but what I say"

Watching her that summer, it was hard not to think that this sleep-deprived housewife from Vacaville, California, was in over her head. A circus exploded around her, as hoards of shabby dogmatists and empty-headed professional protesters headed down to "Camp Casey" to show solidarity. Soon, the right-wing troglodyte fringe arrived to oppose them, and conservative pundits followed suit in the national press, heaping vitriol not only on Sheehan's positions, but on her physical appearance. Between the hangers-on and Sheehan's own dicey public assertions (the World Trade Center appeared to be taken down by demolition charges), a sane observer could be forgiven for believing that perhaps it was time for her to take a step back into private life.

In late May, she finally did, announcing on Daily Kos that she felt "eaten" by the system, and that her efforts had been for naught. It seemed a poignant end to her public story. But now, after a respite shorter than some of George W. Bush's summer vacations, she's back with a wide-ranging agenda: a road trip with a few dozen followers to drum up support for impeaching Bush and Cheney, a campaign to challenge Speaker Nancy Pelosi's House seat, and a somewhat vague plan to save humanity. Radar caught up with Sheehan last week, when she arrived in New York for the last stop on her tour.

RADAR: You've just completed a lengthy road trip. What's that been about?
CINDY SHEEHAN: It's called a Journey for Humanity and Accountability. We started in Crawford on July 10 and we're ending up in New York City, rallying people for the impeachment of Dick Cheney and George W. Bush. [Last] Monday in Washington we met with chairman John Conyers of the House Judiciary Committee. We gave him over a million signatures [demanding impeachment]. Then we had a sit-in in his office where about 47 of us got arrested.

I take it he wasn't particularly receptive.
No, he wasn't receptive. He doesn't think impeachment is the politically expedient thing to do. We disagreed with him—that's why we sat in his office.

How long were you in jail?
Nine hours.

Were the cops nice to you?
They were. Usually the police in Washington are.

Tell me more about this Journey for Humanity and Accountability.
It's been really amazing. We've had two dozen people traveling with us the whole time. We stopped at places along the way to hold rallies and highlight abuses of the Bush regime, like New Orleans, where people are still homeless, their property is being destroyed, and they're going to have a gentrification project to build upscale condos and casinos and stuff like that.

Having lost your son, you became a natural spokesperson against the war. Are you branching out too widely when you start taking on so many other causes—Katrina, for example?
I think it ties in so profoundly with the war. One reason we couldn't have a quick federal response is that our troops, our heavy equipment, and our funds were being used up in this war. I've always connected Katrina and Iraq. There are so many things that connect to the war. We don't have enough resources here, because we're spending $12 million an hour in Iraq. The slow response to Katrina is an impeachable offense.

In your farewell post on Daily Kos you said: "[The American political] system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or any more people that I love. Goodbye America ... you are not the country that I love. It's up to you now." Barely a month later, you were back. That's a pretty quick turnaround.
I never ever intended on coming back in just five weeks. But when Bush commuted Scooter Libby's sentence I just couldn't, you know, sit back anymore. I thought that was just another act of treason. I didn't see anyone responding right. So we started a new organization called People for Humanity.

RUNNING ON EMPATHY In response to Nancy Pelosi's refusal to initiate impeachment hearings, Sheehan will officially announce her candidacy this week

What did you do during your time off?
I went to Galveston, Texas, and spent a long weekend at the ocean. And I went to Sedona, Arizona. I just did some really intentional things.

Was it too hard giving up all the public attention?
No, it wasn't hard at all.

But you came back anyway.
Because I feel that somebody has to work for humanity. I got so many letters from soldiers and Middle Eastern people that just said "you can't give up because we need you."

You've named your new organization "People for Humanity"—what exactly does that mean?
We wanted to come back in a humanitarian way, and it's to help people who have been hurt by the corporate, imperialist, militaristic America. We've been doing this work all over the world. We went to South Korea to work with people whose rice fields were being taken away by a base expansion. We've done work in Venezuela, Italy, Cuba....

So the objective is broader than just opposing the war.
Yes. The one thing I didn't want to do at all though was to be involved with politics or politicians. [Laughs.] I don't want to run against Nancy Pelosi, but I feel like it's the right thing to do. I'm very excited and energized by the campaign, because I feel like it's a way to challenge the military industrial complex.

Do you consider Nancy Pelosi part of the military industrial complex?
She gets money from [defense industry] lobbyists. I know she has investments in corporations that profit off the war. My campaign won't take any money from anyone with strings attached.

It's an obvious question, but are you running because you want to make a point, or because you actually think you can beat her?
It's both. I think it's going to change the discourse in our country. It's going to be a national campaign. She's speaker of the House and I'm a nationally known figure. I think we're going to be able to talk about accountability of all elected officials.

In general, do you think Democrats are any more interested in saving American and Iraqi lives than the Republicans who are currently defending Bush's failed policy?
Well, I think the Democrats are supporting the status quo and trying to protect the status quo. We had John Conyers tell us in a meeting in May that electing a Democratic president was more important to him than bringing the troops home from Iraq.

I take it you disagree with that.
Absolutely. I think if they stuck with integrity to saving lives and holding Bush accountable, and the public saw leaders who did have courage and spine, then they would support [withdrawal].