Tens of thousands of protesters crowded Washington on Saturday to demand Congress cut off funds for the Iraq war and stop troop increases ordered by President George W. Bush.
The crowds rallied at the foot of the Capitol, chanting, "Bring the troops home now!" and waving banners reading: "Escalation in Iraq? Wrong Way."
The moment for the protest was ripe, as poll numbers turned against Bush ahead of a Senate vote expected in early February on a non-binding resolution condemning Bush's new strategy to deploy 21,500 additional troops to Iraq.
Len Singer, 74, travelled 300km for the demonstration held just weeks after Democrats took control of Congress.
"If the Democrats squander this time period, they'll never have another chance again," he said.
The protesters want Congress to vote a binding resolution to cut off funds for the war in Iraq, which has lasted nearly four years, longer than the US participation in World War II.
In Iraq on Saturday, seven more US soldiers died, which would bring the US military's losses since the March 2003 invasion to 3,068.
"Our fellow Americans are dying as we stand here today," said actor Sean Penn. "We're going to push this until this resolution is binding, the money stops and the troops come home."
Medea Benjamin, founder of the women's peace organisation CodePink, said the non-binding resolution passed by a powerful Senate committee Wednesday was not enough for the protesters.
The resolution calls the Bush plan "not in the national interest" and calls for "transfer, under an appropriately expedited timeline, responsibility for internal security and halting sectarian violence in Iraq to the government of Iraq and Iraqi security forces."
"It's good, but it's not enough," Benjamin said.
In a Newsweek poll published Saturday, Americans said Congress needed to get tougher in challenging Bush on Iraq policy.
Sixty-four percent said the legislature had not been assertive enough over Iraq, while 27 percent said it was.
Still, after the Senate panel resolution passed, supported by Democrats and some of Bush's fellow Republicans, the president on Friday reminded skeptics: "I'm the decision-maker."
On Saturday, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Bush remained resolute.
"He understands that Americans want to see a conclusion to the war in Iraq and the new strategy is designed to do just that."
Also resolute was actress Jane Fonda, at her first anti-war demonstration since the Vietnam War. She branded the Bush government a "mean-spirited, vengeful administration."
"I haven't spoken at an anti-war rally for 34 years," said Fonda, whose 1972 Hanoi visit outraged many Americans and damaged her acting career.
"But silence is no longer an option," she told cheering protesters.
She said her daughter and two granddaughters were with her at the protest.
"I'm very proud that they're here, but I'm so sad that we still have to do this, that we did not learn the lessons from the Vietnam War," Fonda said.
Fonda led a roster of notables, including actors Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and civil rights leader Jesse Jackson.
"Keep hope alive. No more death. Keep hope alive. No more money. Keep hope alive. Bring the troops home," chanted Jackson, an African-American civil rights statesman.
Organisers of the umbrella group United for Peace and Justice said the rally drew 500,000 protesters. The same group organised anti-war protests in 2005.
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