Iraq Protest Draws Tens Of Thousands

Jesse Jackson, Cindy Sheehan Lead Thousands In New York City Rally

(CBS/AP)  A day after the U.S. military announced that April was the deadliest month for American forces in Iraq this year, hundreds of thousands of anti-war protesters converged on Manhattan Saturday to call for an immediate withdrawal of troops from that country.

On the same day, President Bush told the nation there will be "more days of sacrifice and struggle" in Iraq.

Organizers claimed 300,000 people turned out for the protest, but the New York Police Department told CBSNews.com the actual number was much lower. The police would not release an estimate for the crowd.

One of the many signs in the crowd read "End this war, bring the troops home." Another read "Veterans for Peace."

One woman who marched says she "had a lot of anger" and has to do something. Marjori Ramos of Staten Island said, "We've been lied to."

The demonstrators stretched for about ten city blocks. There were no arrests reported.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, actress Susan Sarandon, and Cindy Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son died in Iraq, were among the marchers.

One group marched under the banner "Veterans for Peace," while other marchers came from as far off as Maryland and Vermont.

"We are here today because the war is illegal, immoral and unethical," said the Rev. Al Sharpton. "We must bring the troops home."

"The Bush Administration hopes to diffuse pressure at home and in Iraq to end its occupation by bringing a portion of the troops home (maybe)," organizer Leslie Cagan said in a statement before the rally. "But withdrawing some troops is completely unacceptable."

Cagan also said marchers are opposed to any military action against Iran.

The New York Police Department closed streets in lower Manhattan in anticipation of the demonstration.

The U.S. military said Friday that at least 67 U.S. troops have died in Iraq in April, and that number climbed to 70 by Saturday.

Although that figure is well below some of the bloodiest months of the Iraq conflict, it marks a sharp increase over March, when 31 American service members were killed. January's death toll stood at 62 and February's at 55. In December 2005, 68 Americans died.

President Bush warned in his weekly radio address Saturday of tough fighting to come and "more days of sacrifice and struggle" in Iraq.

"The enemy is resorting to desperate acts of violence because they know the establishment of democracy in Iraq will be a double defeat for them," Mr. Bush said.

"There will be more tough fighting ahead in Iraq and more days of sacrifice and struggle," he cautioned. "Yet, the enemies of freedom have suffered a real blow in recent days, and we have taken great strides on the march to victory."

At least 2,397 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to the AP count.

In other developments:

Al Qaeda's No. 2 said the terror network's branch in Iraq had succeeded in “breaking the back” of the U.S. military with hundreds of suicide bombings, in a video posted Saturday that was the latest in a string of new messages by al Qaeda's leaders. The video by Ayman al-Zawahiri, posted on an Islamic militant Web forum, came within the same week as an audiotape by al Qaeda's top leader Osama bin Laden and a video by the head of al Qaeda's branch in Iraq

The bodies of six handcuffed, blindfolded and tortured men were found in the Baghdad neighborhood of Dora on Saturday, said police Capt. Jamil Hussein.

American troops killed a local al Qaeda in Iraq leader and two other insurgents in a raid north of Baghdad. Just outside Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, U.S. forces raided a house where Hamid al-Takhi, the local al Qaeda in Iraq leader, and the two other insurgents were hiding, the military said in a statement.

Iraq oil exports have slipped to their lowest levels since the 2003 invasion. "Iraq could be making a tremendous difference," said Dalton Garis, an economist at the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi. Instead, its shortfall is "a significant contributing factor to the high price of oil," he said.

Former leader Saddam Hussein, who is being tried in Iraq on charges of crimes against humanity, turned 69. U.S. officials declined to say what Saddam had done on his third consecutive birthday in captivity in Iraq.

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©MMVI CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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