Sheehan, Sheen to Attend Arlington West Benefit:

Cindy Sheehan and Martin Sheen are among the people who will attend a benefit screening of Arlington West: The Film, on Saturday, February 25, at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. Rev. Ed Bacon, the rector at All Saints will host the event, and actor/activist Mimi Kennedy will act as emcee. Among the other guests will be Gold Star Families for Peace, Fernando Suarez, Jane Bright and Bill Mitchell, Tim Goodrich and Richard Acosta from Iraq Veterans Against The War, Stephen Sherrill and Ed Ellis from Veterans For Peace, Arlene Inouye from the Coalition Against Militarism in Schools, Sonali Kolhatkar and Don White from KPFK, war resister Pablo Paredes, and teachers Mitch Crist and Jesus Ramirez.Arlington West filmmakers Peter Dudar and Sally Marr will present excerpts from the updated version. Two short films, Camp Casey and Carly’s Poem will also be screened. Sheehan’s son, Casey, was killed in Iraq in 2004. Carly is Casey’s sister. Last summer, Sheehan set up Camp Casey outside the gates of President George Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas in an effort to meet with Bush and ask him to explain why her son died and what he died for. Though Bush refused to meet with Sheehan, a great many other people joined her at the camp. Veterans for Peace set up Arlington West Memorial on the beach just north of the Santa Monica Pier in February, 2004, to honor American soldiers killed in Iraq. Since then, they have set up the ever-enlarging field of crosses every Sunday and on some holidays. Last Sunday, there were 2519 crosses, which is approximately five times as many crosses as there were when the Veterans for Peace inaugurated the unique memorial. The film combines the making of Arlington West and interviews with and statements by some of the thousands of people who have visited it. The views expressed range across the entire political landscape from anti-war to pro-war. The filmmakers and the Veterans for Peace would like to make the film available to schools across the country. The benefit screening will take place Saturday at 7 p.m. All Saints Episcopal Church is located at 132 North Euclid Avenue. General tickets are $15 or $25, priority tickets are $75 and include priority seating, an Arlington West DVD and a buffet reception with Sheehan and special guests in All Saints Forum from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.For tickets or information call 323-650-8166 or email: mail@arlingtonwestfilm.comEd. Note: See Cindy Sheehan’s account of her arrest at the State of the Union address on page 6.