500,000 US protesters oppose more troops for Iraq

Iraq bombings kill seven US soldiers, US chopper downed in Najaf, 24 Iraqis killed ahead of Ashura rite.

Tens of thousands of protesters crowded Washington 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, traveled 300 kilometers (180 miles) 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 organization 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."