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CNN REPORTS:

Iraq war opponents march to White House
Monday, March 15, 2004 Posted: 1:38 PM EST (1838 GMT)

Dozens of people marched Monday in Washington to protest U.S. military action in Iraq.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- More than 60 people gathered Monday in Washington for a march to the White House, calling for an end to U.S. military action in Iraq.

The protest, the second day of a two-day demonstration against the Bush administration, drew mostly peace activists, along with a few relatives of U.S. troops, organizers said.

Relatives of U.S. troops killed in Iraq gathered Monday outside Walter Reed Army Medical Center for an emotional protest.

The protesters are marching from the hospital, where many wounded troops are treated, to Lafayette Park across Washington's Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House -- a nearly six-mile trek.

There were also a few counterprotesters calling the demonstrators "traitors" and yelling, "Stop the left-wing violence."

On Sunday, several hundred protesters took part in a march from Dover, Delaware, to nearby Dover Air Force Base, where remains of U.S. troops first arrive from Iraq. The facility includes the U.S. military's main mortuary.

Some protesters complained about the Bush administration's policy of refusing the news media access to Dover, saying the White House is trying to hide the horrors of the war.

"I'm just trying to get the message out that I think this war is unnecessary from the start," said John Walker of Germantown, Maryland, whose younger brother, Army Sgt. Jeffrey Walker, 33, was killed in a helicopter crash near Fallujah on January 8.

Jeanine Walker of Germantown, Maryland, whose brother-in-law Jeffrey Walker died in Iraq, took park in Monday's protest.
"I don't want anybody else like myself who has lost a family member to have to go through this. ... I loved him very much. It's really difficult," he said.

Standing outside the hospital as the march got under way Monday, Walker said the protesters have nothing but support for the troops who are still in Iraq."We'd like for them all to come back safely."

Organizers of the anti-war march told CNN that, in addition to calling for an end to U.S. military efforts in Iraq, they wanted to honor the dead and bring attention to the plight of the nearly 2,800 wounded in action.

More than 400 other U.S. soldiers were wounded in non-hostile incidents, according to the Defense Department.