Thousands protest Iraq war at Pentagon

WASHINGTON — Thousands of protesters demanding an end to the war in Iraq marched to the Pentagon on Saturday to mark the fourth anniversary of the American invasion and the 40th anniversary of the massive 1967 protest against the Vietnam War.

Other demonstrations to mark the war's anniversary were held elsewhere in the country and around the world.

On Friday night, a coalition of liberal Christian groups, including Sojourners/Call to Renewal, led several thousand marchers in a procession from the National Cathedral. More than 200 demonstrators were arrested while praying in front of the White House, according to the Washington police.

The organizers of Saturday's march — led by a group called the ANSWER Coalition, for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism — appeared to set their sights on a range of goals, from the impeachment of President Bush to the end of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

In a speech before the march, Cindy Sheehan, the mother who made headlines camping outside Bush's Texas ranch after her son was killed in Iraq, called the president and his military advisers "war criminals."

As they gathered for the march, the protesters were confronted by several hundred counter-demonstrators. Many were veterans in biker jackets who said they had come to protect the nearby Vietnam Memorial from potential defacement, citing rumors that had circulated among veterans groups.

Crossing the bridge toward the Pentagon, the marchers met another group of about 50 counter-demonstrators by the Arlington Cemetery. One member of the opposing group held a sign that said, "Go to hell, traitors. You dishonor our dead on hallowed ground."

Police on horseback and foot separated the two groups of demonstrators, but war protester Susanne Shine of Boone, N.C., found herself in a crowd of counter-demonstrators, and came out in tears, with her sign in shreds.

"They ripped up my peace sign," she said after police escorted her, her husband and two adult daughters from the group.

Alan Rainey, who said he was a publisher from Indiana, said the last protest he attended was in 1973, after he had returned from military duty in Vietnam.

On Saturday, he carried a sign with a St. Patrick's Day theme that said, "Help drive the snakes out of the White House," depicting Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney as snakes.

Zohrea Whitaker said she came from Sacramento, Calif., for the protest.

"I have a son serving over there and I want him home," she said. Five people were arrested after the demonstration when they walked onto a bridge that had been closed off. They were cited and released.

In Sacramento, nearly 200 veterans and parents of troops gathered on the steps of the state Capitol to rally in support of U.S. troops in Iraq. Police in Los Angeles said 5,000 to 6,000 protesters turned out for an anti-war rally there. Other demonstrations were planned for or held in Austin, Texas, San Francisco, San Diego and Hartford, Conn., where more than 1,000 rallied at the Old State House.

Protests were also staged or planned in Australia, Britain and Canada. Tens of thousands marched in Madrid as Spaniards called not only for the U.S. to get out of Iraq but to close the prison for terrorist suspects at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. Smaller protests were staged in Greece and Turkey.

Also

Delivering the weekly Democratic radio address Saturday, Washington Sen. Patty Murray touted a Democratic plan to narrow the mission of U.S. forces in Iraq and begin redeployment of U.S. troops within four months.

"Regrettably, our effort was blocked by Senate Republicans and a president who stubbornly refused to listen," Murray said, adding that Democrats will keep pushing in Congress until there is a change of course in Iraq.

Murray, the fourth-ranking Democrat in the Senate, also criticized the Bush administration over its treatment of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Additional information from The Associated Press