No war on Iraq.

Hundreds of thousands of people opposed to the Iraq War marched in Washington, D.C., on September 24. Anti-war protests were also held in other cities.

NBA player Etan Thomas spoke at the protest at the capital. He's a basketball player with the Washington Wizards. Here's an excerpt: "I'd like to take some of these cats on a field trip. I want to get big yellow buses with no air conditioner and no seatbelts and round up Bill O'Reilly, Pat Buchanan, Trent Lott, Sean Hannity, Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, Bush Jr. and Bush Sr., John Ashcroft, Giuliani, Ed Gillespie, Katherine Harris, that little bow-tied Tucker Carlson, and any other rightwing conservative Republicans I can think of, and take them all on a trip to the 'hood.... I want to drop them off and leave them there, let them become one with the other side of the tracks, get them four mouths to feed and no welfare, have scare tactics run through them like a laxative, criticizing them for needing assistance.

"I'd employ them with jobs with little security, let them know how it feels to be an employee at will, able to be fired at the drop of a hat. I'd take away their opportunities, then try their children as sending their thirteen-year-old babies to life in prison. I'd sell them dreams of hopelessness while spoon-feeding their young with a daily dose of inferior education ... and then I'd call them inferior....

"I'd tell them that instead of giving tax breaks to the rich, financing corporate mergers, and leading us into unnecessary wars ... maybe they can work on making society more peaceful."

Actress Jessica Lange also spoke at the Washington, D.C., rally: "They say there is no way to withdraw now. The truth is, they never intend to withdraw. What they planned was a continuing military presence in the Middle East, control over the region, control over the oil. They had their eyes on the prize, the master plan.

"And what they want of the American people [is] to remain in the dark, and to keep the American people unaware of the bloodshed, the torture, and the devastation.

"So, for all of us Americans, the majority now, who don't share this Administration's scorched earth brand of politics, who don't share their vision of a new America and their policies of shame, we must remain vigilant, and we will not be deterred, because what it comes down to is a question of conscience. And that question is deeply patriotic."

For more information, contact United for Peace and Justice at www.unitedforpeace.org.