Tears rolled down George W. Bush's cheeks. Twice, Hildi Halley handed him a tissue. Otherwise, she didn't let up on the president. ``I hold you responsible for my husband's death,'' she says she told him as they sat facing one another, alone in a teacher's lounge, their knees almost touching. ``You made a mistake, and it's your responsibility as a Christian man to end this war.'' ``I'm really not here to discuss public policy with you,'' she says Bush told her at the meeting in August 2006, two months after her husband, Army National Guard Captain Patrick Damon, died in Afghanistan. As the president rose to leave after 20 minutes, he said he hoped the visit would help the Falmouth, Maine, woman heal. Halley, 42, replied, ``What would really help my healing is if you'd start finding a way to bring our troops home.'' Bush, 61, has so far met with more than 1,500 relatives of the 4,200 American troops who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to White House officials. As he travels around the country, the president often makes the time to console them -- one family at a time, often including children - - in sessions that he calls ``one of the hardest things'' about his job. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=awwPmILea_Ag&refer=home