By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – The "Bring Them Home Now" tour is traveling across the US this month. It stopped in Buffalo Monday at Lafayette Square to continue calling on the Bush Administration to end the war in Iraq.
Cindy Sheehan captured national attention when she protested against the war outside President Bush's Texas ranch. That's when she established "Camp Casey" in honor of her 24-year old son, Casey Sheehan, killed while fighting in the Iraqi war.
Monday, the Bring Them Home Now Tour stopped in Buffalo. Tammara Rosenleaf was at Camp Casey for 22 days. She's now participating in the nation-wide tour. Rosenleaf says it is time for the US to leave Iraq.
"We refer to what we call the Pottery Barn defense, which is that we have to stay the course because we've broken it and have to fix it," Rosenleaf said. "Our response to that is if you go to the Pottery Barn, and you break something, you don't run down the aisle breaking everything else and build the Pottery Barn over again. No, you apologize, give them the money and get out."
The call to end the war is hitting even closer to home for Rosenleaf. She recently learned that her husband, stationed at Fort Hood, has been called to active duty and will be leaving for Iraq in November. Rosenleaf says she doesn't believe President Bush has shown compassion to US troops.
"He clearly has not visited vets in Veterans Hospitals," Rosenleaf said. "He hasn't seen the people I saw at Camp Casey. I saw a man there with all of his fingers and one of his legs blown off.
The tour attracted area citizens and downtown business people walking by Lafayette Square. But David Swift of Perrysburg traveled to Buffalo Monday to visit the tour. Swift says he believes Bush did not tell the truth about the reasons for the war.
"There's a lot of truth in what they're saying," Swift said. "George Bush didn't mean to lie but it amounts to a lie."
At least two Bush supporters stationed themselves across the street from the tour. Joseph Metty says he believes the tour is spreading propaganda.
"The thing is if you listen to a lie long enough, you start to believe it," Metty said. "That's what it is."
The two George Bush supporters carried a sign that read "pray for Bush."