WASHINGTON, D.C. - Thousands of anti-war activists took to the streets of the nation's capital and several other major cities in North America and Europe this weekend, decrying what they called the Bush administration's "Protect America First" policy.

"We cannot stand idly by as Resident Bush and his big-oil cronies march our all-volunteer, highly trained, well-equipped army to war in the name of the almighty value of human life," said Maya Dillon, chairperson of the Socialist People's Action Movement, a non-profit activist group. "A pre-emptive strike against a dissolute nutcase with his finger on the trigger of weapons that could kill millions is simply a way to distract attention from the real crime that took place in Florida in 2000. And the Middle East's vibrant culture of war-mongering, gender intolerance and Jew-hating is at risk of being destabilized."

Mike Faltmeyer, a poet from Bennington, Vermont, added, "Is the risk of the destruction of one of our major port cities in a rain of nuclear fire really worth sending non-draftee, thoroughly prepared troops into battle against a demoralized fascist regime with little or no hope of victory? Remember, the bombs we drop don't care if they hit a Baath party apparatchik versed in hundreds of advanced torture methods, or a crazed jihadist hell-bent on forging clandestine links to a cadre of scientists who flout the Geneva accords on a daily basis--they kill indiscriminately."