Her trip to Australia will take in anti-war rallies in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne and has been sponsored by the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, a group of Australian doctors who have campaigned strongly against Australia’s involvement in Iraq.

PERHAPS the world’s best-known protester against the Iraq war, Cindy Sheehan, has a clear message for Australians and their Prime Minister.

“My son was killed in an illegal and immoral war,” she said yesterday. “My country is carpet-bombing innocent civilians, my country is torturing people without due process. We, as members of humanity, need to reach across borders to end this. Australians need to get out on the street and say to John Howard, `You work for us, not Americans’.”

Ms Sheehan caught the world’s attention last year when she set up camp in a roadside ditch outside US President George W.Bush’s Texas ranch.

Her son, Specialist Casey Sheehan, who served in the US Army, was killed in April 2004 after volunteering to go to the aid of other American troops.

Her grief and outrage, along with that of other bereaved families, have long been an embarrassment to the Bush administration.

Ms Sheehan said she was puzzled that Mr Howard was so close to the US President and so strongly supported the war.

“George Bush’s approval rating is 29 per cent,” she said.

“He’s not popular in the US, much less anywhere else. The opinion polls are definitely in our favour. I didn’t speak up until my son was killed. I can’t bring my son back, but I won’t be silent any longer.”

Her trip to Australia will take in anti-war rallies in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne and has been sponsored by the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, a group of Australian doctors who have campaigned strongly against Australia’s involvement in Iraq.

NSW Attorney-General Bob Debus welcomed her to Sydney and said: “Those people who choose to criticise a parent who has lost a child should walk a mile in their shoes.”

Also published on news.com.au