NOTEBOOK: People for, against Iraq war speak out in the capital

More Hollywood celebrities sparkled the dais than button-down Washington typically sees in a month.

Oscar-award winner Sean Penn had a warning for politicians on the ballot in 2008. "If they don't stand up and make a resolution as binding as the death toll, we are not going to be behind those politicians," he said.

With a reporter's credential, Penn visited Iraq in November 2003 and recently traveled to Iran.

The husband and wife anti-war duo, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, also spoke.

"This past November the American people sent a resounding signal to Washington, D.C., and the world. We want change. We want this war to end. And how did Bush respond? Twenty-one thousand, five hundred more will risk their lives for his misguided war. Is impeachment still off the table? Let's get him out of office," Robbins said.

The crowd responded, "Impeach Bush, impeach Bush, impeach Bush!"

Jane Fonda, who recently wrapped a film with Lindsay Lohan, brought along her daughter and grandchildren. Fonda said she used to take her daughter to anti-war protests in the 1970s. "I'm proud they're here but I'm so sad we still have to do this," she said. Fonda was married to anti-war activist Tom Hayden during the Vietnam war.

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There were a few tense moments outside the Capitol when several hundred protesters tried to rush the building. Police scuffled and wrestled with some and eventually set up barricades and a police line to keep them at bay. The protesters shouted "Our Congress!" and some carried riot shields with the slogan "U.S. out of everywhere."

Many of the protesters belonged to Students for a Democratic Society, an activist group founded in the 1960s by Tom Hayden (once married to Fonda) and others.

John Cronan, 23, from the Pace University chapter, said they were trying to send a different message than the main march. "These peace rallies really don't get anything done. With Congress historically, you have to force them to do something," he said.

The crowd eventually drifted away and many joined the larger march.

_By Steve Manning

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Dressed in civilian clothing, a few active-duty members of the military quietly lodged their opposition against a war that has cost the lives of more than 3,000 of their comrades.

Jeffrey Fitting, 24, a senior airman from Camp Hill, Pa., is a chaplain's assistant at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where he helps families waiting to receive the bodies of their loved ones. The bodies of dead soldiers are prepared at a mortuary on the base before they are returned to the families.

"When we have military members, their families and civilians for the same cause, we're united" against the war in Iraq, Fitting said. He asked his commander if he could attend the rally and was told he had the right to do so.

Marc Train, 19, an Army private stationed at Fort Stewart, Ga., asked not to be sent with his 3rd Infantry Division unit to Iraq. He said the Army has initiated proceedings to have him discharged.

Train said his specialty is intelligence analysis and believes that was a factor in the Army's decision to seek his discharge.

"When I joined, I was indifferent. I talked to people in my unit who have been there three or four times. They didn't feel like they were accomplishing anything," Train said.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Tassi McKee, stationed at Fort Meade and a specialist in intelligence, said, "I don't believe the war is being managed correctly."

McKee, 26, originally from Bastrop, La., said she joined the Air Force because of patriotism, travel and to save money for college.

_By Larry Margasak

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About 40 counterprotesters lofted "Support our troops" signs in front of the Navy Memorial, a few blocks from the main demonstration. Among the participants were soldiers being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Army Cpl. Joshua Sparling, who lost his leg to a roadside bomb in November 2005 in Ramadi, said the anti-war protesters, especially those who are veterans or who are currently on active duty, "need to remember the sacrifice we have made and what our fallen comrades would say if they are alive." Sparling, 25, is based at Fort Bragg, N.C.

The counterdemonstration vilified Fonda's appearance at the rally. They set up a fake Fonda doll hanging from a noose and taped a sign to it that read "Jane Fonda American Traitor."

_By Kasie Hunt.

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Mothers of soldiers made a poignant presence at the march. One woman held a sign with a picture of her son as a young boy, reading "Cpl. Nicholas Ziolkowski, born April 21, 1982, Baltimore, KIA Nov. 14, 2004, Falluja." Ziolkowski, a Marine, was killed by a sniper's bullet.

Peggy Gray, 51, of West Hartford, Conn., said her son Shane recently returned from Iraq after an 18-month tour. Gray, a grandmother and state employee for the Connecticut comptroller's office, said she has protested wars since Vietnam. The difference between then and now is that people support the troops even if they oppose the war, she said.

"In Vietnam, we blamed the troops. Now, we see a lot of support for the troops from those opposed to the Iraq war," she said. She held one end of a banner that said, "Military Families Speak Out," a Boston-based organization of people opposed to the war.

_By Larry Margasak.

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WASHINGTON (AP) _ He stood out in the crowd because of his Air Force flight jacket.

Holding a sign that said, "Mad cowboy disease," Theodore Seman said he was a former Air Force captain and retired FBI agent.

"I was 100 percent behind our government up until we invaded Iraq. I never thought as a former military officer in command of nuclear weapons that I would see the United States of American make a pre-emptive strike on another nation."

Seman said he was not only protesting the war, but also President Bush's warrantless surveillance policies. Seman said he swore out many warrants as an FBI agent and finds it hard to believe the government would conduct surveillance without first going to a court.

"If voices are not heard, nothing will be done," he said.

Seman said he was a radar control officer in an interceptor that had nuclear weapons and was an FBI agent in Tampa, Fla.

_By Larry Margasak.