Related: Bush takes blame in Iraq, adds troops

Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    

Protesters march in an anti-war rally in Washington Jan. 27, 2007.Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Washington on Saturday, demanding the Bush administration withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Washington on Saturday, demanding the Bush administration withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

    Speakers at the anti-war rally included such celebrities as actress Jane Fonda and Democratic Representative John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

    "Silence is no longer an option," said Fonda, a vocal critic of the Vietnam War more than three decades ago. She criticized President George W. Bush and the administration's policy on Iraq.

    Actor Sean Penn, a celebrity in Hollywood, warned that members of Congress would pay a price in the 2008 elections if they did not take firmer action than to pass a non-binding resolution against the Iraq war.

    "The founders of our country gave our Congress the power of the purse because they envisioned a scenario exactly like we find ourselves in today," said Conyers, hinting that the Democrat-controlled legislature might use its power on war funding to force the Bush administration to change its policy on Iraq.

    "Now only is it in our power, it is our obligation to stop Bush," he said.

    After sharp attacks on Bush's Iraq policy, protesters marched around the Capitol, chanting such slogans as "bring our troops home."

    The protest, one of several expected around the country, was sponsored by United for Peace and Justice, a coalition group.

    More than 3,000 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

    Bush announced a new strategy on Iraq earlier this month, which included a plan to send 21,500 additional U.S. troops to Iraq to help quell violence in the country. The plan has met strong from Democrats as well as a growing number of Republicans.

    In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Tuesday, nearly two-thirds -- 65 percent -- of those surveyed believed the president should not move ahead with his troop increase to Iraq if Congress passed a non-binding resolution opposing it.

    Another poll, conducted by The Washington Post and ABC News, found that for the first time, majorities of Americans said Bush could not be trusted in a crisis, had not made the country safer and should withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq to avoid further casualties rather than leave them until civil order was restored.