AMY GOODMAN: As we turn now to Tammara Rosenleaf, her husband is about to be deployed to Iraq.

TAMMARA ROSENLEAF: I’m Tammara Rosenleaf from Military Families Speak Out. I’m from Helena, Montana. And I have been in the great state of Texas since the 31st of July when I came to stay with my husband, who is at Fort Hood. He will deploy in November. Not quite imminently, but imminently enough for me. When I left Montana, they asked me, “What are you going to do when you get to Texas?” And I said, “I’m going to make their lives a misery in Washington.”

And guess what? I did. But I didn’t do it by myself. All of these people from Military Families, Gold Star Families, the Vets for Peace, the Iraq vets and all of the supporting people here have made that happen. There’s not very many military wives at Camp Casey. There were some last week. One of the reasons is because a mom never needs permission from a child to act in its best interest. But a husband and wife have a contract, and very fortunately, my husband is an admirable man, an honorable man, and he is so proud of what I am doing.

He visited Camp Casey last weekend, actually on Friday, and at that same day, there was a three-day holiday at Fort Hood, and there were other soldiers there, and they were all very curious to see what we were doing, and they were impressed. And I have heard from them. They don’t believe we’re weakening their cause. They don’t think that at all. They think that they signed up to be soldiers to defend our rights, and one of our rights is the freedom of speech and the freedom to say what we want in our country.

Our neighbor here appears to have forgotten something very important that the founders of this country charged us with. We must jealously guard our liberty. We must actually stay on top of our leaders, because if we don’t, they’ll be on top of us. Some people talk about our right to free speech, but it’s not just our right, it’s our duty. When our country goes wrong, it is our duty to make that correction, and that’s what we’re here to do.

When my husband got ready to deploy, the military gave me a book. It’s about this big, like this, it’s about this thick. And it’s called “Surviving Deployment.” And I have looked at it, and it tells me things like make a list of the plumber, make a list of the electrician. If your toilet gets clogged up, call the plumber. I am 47 years old; do you think I don’t know that? What I’d like to know is that at 4:00 in the morning when I wake up scared to death that my husband is dead or injured, who the hell do I call? And it’s not in that damn book!

When I came to Texas, I thought I was going to be all by myself, and instead, what I found out is I have a whole tribe of people. They’re right back here, and they’re right out here. And I thank you for being here. We needed you so much. Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Tammara Rosenleaf. Her husband is about to be deployed to Iraq. She is joining a growing number of military families at Camp Casey, outside of President Bush’s property in Crawford, Texas, speaking on Saturday night.