"Every time Bush talks he should be removed from office," Sheehan screamed into the microphone. "None of the chicken hawks have served our country the way our children have," she continued, referring to Bush and members of his administration who support the Iraq war but did not fight in previous conflicts.

Hundreds of people participate in last night's candlelight march through Oakland. (Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette)

Sheehan, co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, and more than 300 others gathered yesterday for a memorial service at Flagstaff Hill in Schenley Park. That was followed by a candlelight march to Soldiers & Sailors National Military Museum & Memorial in Oakland.

The event was part of the national "Bring the Troops Home Now" campaign to take the message of Sheehan's 26-day vigil in Crawford, Texas, to people across the country.

Sheehan, of Vacaville, Calif., camped out near Bush's ranch in August, attempting to get the president to talk to her about her son's death and the war. Others joined her at "Camp Casey," named after her son. She is now on the national tour, which is making its way to Washington, D.C., for a Sept. 24 rally.

The Thomas Merton Center helped organize the event and re-created Sheehan's encampment on Flagstaff, including crosses representing troops killed. It was called "Camp Neil" in honor of Lt. Neil Anthony Santoriello, a Penn Hills native who died in August 2004 while serving in Iraq.

Santoriello's mother, Diane Davis Santoriello, told the crowd that her son died for a lie.

"The Pentagon has failed our troops," she said. "My son died for people who are worse off now than before we got there."

Santoriello said she was outraged at the callousness of the Bush administration.

"They betray our troops by not having an exit strategy, not having proper equipment, and not planning for an insurgency that had been predicted," she said. "It seems this administration never plans for a worst-case scenario."

For her, that worst-case scenario was the detonation of IEDs -- improvised explosive devices -- that killed Neil Santoriello. After his death, Santoriello said she saw photographs of Neil surrounded by Iraqi children.

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