SAN MARCOS — Peace activist Cindy Sheehan visited Cal State San Marcos to speak on her experiences, first as an anti-war movement leader, and more recently, as a congressional candidate, on April 17. It was her first visit to San Diego in two years.

Sheehan became an anti-war activist when her firstborn son, Casey, was killed in Iraq in 2004. Her busy career has included protests around the country, the most famous of which was her monthlong vigil outside President George W. Bush’s Crawford, Texas, home in the summer of 2005 as she waited in vain for an interview.

Three years later, Sheehan said she can’t believe how little impact the war seems to have had on the American people despite the toll in money and lives.

“You probably had grandparents alive during World War II. I had parents who were. They talk about the sacrifices. The rationing ... They had scrap drives. They bought war bonds. Everybody in this country was involved in the war effort. Not here.”

According to Sheehan, the war’s cost will be paid for generations to come. She recalled how, at a conference in Amman, Jordan, with members of the Iraqi parliament, she met with a sheik who had been beaten by American soldiers and whose wife had been raped, all in front of their 14-year-old son who vowed to become an insurgent as a result.

“(If this happened to you,) would you say hold on a second, I’m going to get you flowers and chocolates because you’re really winning my heart and mind?” Sheehan asked the audience. “(This government) killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people, destroyed a country. They have created more enemies for us and for my children and my grandchildren than Osama Bin Laden would ever have been able to do on his own.”

Sheehan is now running for Congress in California’s 8th District on an independent ticket against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Her platform includes environmental sensitivity and a uncompromising call to withdraw American troops from Iraq.

“If things were honest and aboveboard in our country, our children would put on uniforms that were covered with patches like NASCAR drivers that say Exxon, Haliburton ... Blackwater Security … because that’s what our troops are used for,” she said.

However, her No. 1 objective has remained the same since she declared her candidacy last summer.

“I will go to Congress on Jan. 4, and George Bush and Dick Cheney will still be in office until Jan. 20 ... I will introduce articles of impeachment every day,” Sheehan pledged. “These people need to pay for their war crimes.”

Sheehan wrapped up her comments with a plea to the audience to exercise their right to democracy, not just at the polls, but between elections. She cited herself as an example that one person can make a difference.

The peace activist-turned-candidate’s comments were received warmly by the student body and faculty of the college.

“I think that she’s such a powerful speaker and I think that one of the most important things that she does is to bring it all into perspective,” said Morgan Hoodenpyle, a history major.

Hoodenpyle echoed Sheehan’s sentiment that few Americans seem to realize a war is going on. “We can look at the newspaper and see this many American soldiers died today or this many Iraqi civilians were affected in this way, and then we turn to the sports section. ... One of the most important thing that we can do is to pay attention, to care about that story in the news.”

The Progressive Activist Network, a Cal State San Marcos student group, scheduled its annual Iraq War protest to coincide with Sheehan’s visit in a show of solidarity.

“Peace is not going to come through dropping bombs and forcing people to get behind democracy at the barrel of a gun. It’s going to happen via diplomacy, via talking to people, via being peaceful,” said Felipe Zanartu, president of the Progressive Activist Network.