The Peaceful, United, Really Needs to Happen!: On the same day that a couple hundred thousand people demonstrated against the Iraq war in Washington, DC, and tens of thousands in Los Angeles and San Francisco, several thousand took to the streets in Seattle, including labor activists, veterans, students, international solidarity groups, socialists, Greens, church groups, feminists, and others. It was a good start.

It was good to see Westlake Plaza full of the anti-war faithful on Saturday Sept. 24 for the demonstration organized by the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), but let's recall the anti-war demo of Feb. 15, 2003, just before the attack began, which gathered at the Seattle Center because Westlake would have been far too small and turned out over 50,000 people (not to mention many millions across the nation and around the world). According to polls, a much higher percentage of citizens oppose the war now (66% nationwide), yet only perhaps a tenth as many are turning out at a Seattle demonstration. Why?

In Seattle, with a strong anti-war infrastructure, hundreds of thousands opposing the war (literally millions in the greater Puget Sound region), and Bush at the most vulnerable point of his presidency, turning out 100,000 to call for bringing the troops home is both realistic and necessary. And it's realistic and necessary for similar efforts to happen in cities and towns across the country. At this moment in history, it could really make a difference. Can it happen? Let's find out next time. --Lansing Scott