Scores of protesters led by the mother of a US soldier killed in Iraq urged President George W. Bush on Friday to bring US troops home and unveiled an anti-war monument in his adoptive Texas hometown.
"We're here to say that the killing has to stop," said Cindy Sheehan, who became the face of the US anti-war movement when she held a month-long vigil in August just kilometers from Bush's ranch.
"We're not going away. We don't hate anybody, we just want people to be held accountable," she said.
"And just because someone's president of the United States doesn't guarantee them immunity from accountability," she added.
Bush was out of sight, spending the Thanksgiving holiday on his Prairie Chapel estate outside this tiny town of 705 people, but was expected to make a renewed push next week to revive ailing support for the war.
Sheehan took part in dedicating a small garden with Yucca plants and cacti and a low stone monument marked "Sheehan's Stand" on the front and inscribed with the names of US soldiers killed in Iraq, including her son Casey.
The modest ceremony was briefly interrupted by the whistles of a passing train and heckling from Texans driving past in their dusty pick-up trucks, including one who honked and shouted "Go home, you freaking losers."
At a three-man counter-protest of sorts on the other side of the tracks, Gary Qualls said that Sheehan had the right to freedom of speech but fumed that she was dishonoring his son Louis, who was killed in Iraq one year ago.
"We've paid the highest sacrifice you can pay," he said.
"My son gave his life for others as well. She [Sheehan] doesn't represent us," he said.
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