"Thousands join Seattle march against war"

Bothell Times:

Thousands of people from all over the Pacific Northwest marched boisterously against the Iraq war in Seattle today.

A small group of Iraq war veterans took a lead role at the front of the march, which was swelled by peace groups from Washington and Oregon.

Chanan Suarezdiaz, 25, a Navy medic wounded while supporting the Marine Corps in Ramadi, Iraq, spoke from the stage at the main rallying point in Occidental Park, which was filled by the crowd.

"This is a racist war of oppression," said Suarezdiaz. "This is a war for profit."

At his prompting, protesters raised their fists in the air "in solidarity with the Iraqi people."

At the front of the demonstration, protesters stood a tightly packed 30-abreast as they marched down Jackson Street toward Pioneer Square from the initial rallying point at Judkins Park. The broad swath of protesters stretched six blocks from Maynard Street past King Street Station.

The mood was buoyant in the sunshine at Judkins Park as young and old mixed easily in opposition to the Bush administration, the Iraq war, and various other causes including resisting calls to attack Iran and support for Palestinians against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

Several young rock bands played heavy guitar riffs. A hip-hop singer declaimed an anti-war rap. Along the route, the marchers sang "We ain't going to study war no more."

As the march rolled, a group at the rear bobbed an impressively large canvas ball imprinted with a digital image of planet Earth, while ahead many large puppets presented caricatures of President Bush or representations of war victims.

Along the eastern side of Occidental Park, the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization that promotes peace and social justice, set up an exhibit of combat boots, one pair for each U.S. solider killed in Iraq. Washington was represented by more than 80 pairs, and Oregon by more than 90.

Banners and signs identified groups from Bellevue, Bremerton, Everett, Poulsbo, Kent, Leavenworth, Monroe, Sequim, Tacoma, Wenatchee, Vancouver and Vashon Island in Washington, as well as groups from Oregon, Idaho and a smattering of other states.

Kathy Griffiths, 61, had come from Albany, 70 miles south of Portland.

"I feel compelled," she said. "I don't want anyone thinking I support what this administration is doing."

That thought was echoed by Jami Williams, 18, a student at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia. She attended the march with a friend.

"It's a real shame that tons of people have died in my name," said Williams.

Mark Jensen, 56, a teacher of French at Pacific Lutheran University, carpooled from Tacoma with a group called United for Peace of Pierce County.

"Our organization opposed this war since before it began," Jensen said. "How could we not participate."