"I am more passionate than ever about the Iraq War because it has ruined our economy," said Thomas Brinson, 63, a Vietnam veteran from Deer Park, Long Island. "It's killing innocent civilians, and the National Guard was deployed in Iraq and they weren't here for natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina."
The anti-war march, organized by the group United for Peace and Justice, started in the garment district on the West Side and stretched along a dozen blocks to the United Nations on the East Side, where there were speeches.
A contingent of a dozen "Raging Grannies" wore colorful hats and dresses.
"After Vietnam I thought the U.S. had learned a lesson," said Lillian Pollack, 91, a retired city schoolteacher. "But Bush was planning this war for two years. He tried to make it look like it was legitimate. But it backfired."
Bush, in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, told world leaders. "My country desires peace." He told Iraqis, "We will not abandon you in your struggle to build a free nation," and he said that its neighbor Iran "must abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions."