For immediate release.

Online: http://tourdepeace.org

Contact: David Swanson david@davidswanson.org 202-329-7847

Sheehan and other riders are available for interviews.

WHAT: Gold Star Mother and "peace mom" Cindy Sheehan will lead a Tour de Peace bike ride across the United States from the grave of her son Casey in Vacaville, Calif., to Washington, D.C., following the mother road, historic Route 66 to Chicago, and other roads from there on to D.C. Bicyclers will join in for all or part of the tour, which will include public events organized by local groups along the way. Complete route: http://tourdepeace.org/the-route.html

WHEN: The tour will begin on April 4, 2013, nine years after Casey Sheehan was killed in Iraq, and 45 years after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was killed in Memphis. It will conclude on July 3, 2013, with a ride from Arlington National Cemetery to the White House.

WHY: This August will mark 8 years since Cindy Sheehan began a widely reported protest at then-President George W. Bush's "ranch" in Crawford, Texas, demanding to know what the "noble cause" was for which Bush claimed Americans were dying in Iraq. Neither Bush nor President Obama has yet offered a justification for a global war now in its 12th year. The Tour de Peace will carry with it these demands:

To end wars,

To end immunity for U.S. war crimes,

To end suppression of our civil rights,

To end the use of fossil fuels,

To end persecution of whistleblowers,

To end partisan apathy and inaction.

Watch the trailer: http://youtu.be/2uBctq4dzss

Some of the latest endorsements are from 9/11 Family Members Lorie Van Auken and Mindy Kleinberg. Here are some more:

"As a 9/11 First Responder, I am all too familiar with the 9/11 atrocities and how they have been used and abused. Right now, the 9/11 First Responders are fighting to make sure the sequester doesn't affect monies from the James Zadroga 9/11 Health & Compensation Act, an Act we spent years fighting for. I wholeheartedly support Tour de Peace, and I want these wars to end." - Reggie Cervantes, 9/11 WTC Survivor Rescue Worker

"Any event or title with" Peace" in it, well then, I am a supporter and believer." - John Feal, 9/11 Responder & Advocate

"I am so in awe of Cindy Sheehan’s perseverance and constant creativeness in devising actions and efforts to raise the public’s consciousness of the costs and horrors of war, war crimes, and war profits—along with the public and private corruption on every level that always accompanies the pursuit of imperialist EMPIRE (or rather as we now call it: “full spectrum dominance”) and which is rotting the U.S. from the inside. Blowback! I have always loved bicycling and even have competed in triathlons since my 40’s. So, even though the “Tour” doesn’t come through Minnesota, I will try to figure out a way to join some portion of it down south. At the very least, I will participate in spirit. If nothing else, I can order and wear the “Tour de Peace” t-shirt in the various Minnesota triathlons this summer and maybe lead a bike ride in solidarity! So go ahead and add Minnesota to the list of states that the “Tour de Peace” is coming through!" - Coleen Rowley, Former FBI Agent, 2002 Time Person Of The Year, 9/11 Whistleblower