DOVER, United States - Some 600 protesters, many of them relatives of US soldiers killed in Iraq or currently on duty in the region, marched against the war outside Dover Air Force Base in the northeastern state of Delaware.

One of the marchers, Fernando Suarez del Solar, said that he was "very disillusioned" with the US government of President George W. Bush.

"Bush lies and who dies?" he asked. "My son, Jesus Suarez del Solar Navarro."

Marchers line up outside the north gate of Dover Air Force Base, Sunday, March 14, 2004, in Dover, Del. Marchers gathered to honor those killed and wounded in Iraq. The group planned to form a funeral procession to Baltimore on Sunday night, then march from Walter Reed Hospital in Washington to the White House on Monday. (AP Photo/Gary Emeigh)

The Marine lance corporal was killed in Iraq on March 27, 2003.

For Bush "to get involved in an illegal war and to play with the emotions of the American people with 9-11 (September 11, 2001) for politics is wrong," he said.

The march was organized by Military Families Speak Out, a group made up of people with relatives in the military, as well as the group Veterans for Peace.

The bodies of dead US soldiers are flown into Dover, a base that has the military's largest mortuary. The government however has been reluctant to let cameras record airplanes unloading coffins, and reluctant to let news reporters interview personnel wounded in Iraq.

Another marcher, Al McLaine, said he had 10 relatives in Iraq -- including his son, an army captain, who he said is "behind us 100 percent."

"What Bush calls the war on terrorism is an impossible war because terrorism is a tactic," said McLaine. "You will not end terrorism by invading a country."

The Sunday march was a "memorial procession" to "honor our fallen brothers and sisters, sons and daughters," as well as "Iraqis and the increasing number of people from other countries who have been killed and wounded," the group said in a statement.

The protesters marched more than five kilometers (3.5 miles) from a local gathering center to the giant Air Force base, but were not allowed entry.

According to the groups, the Bush administration "refuses to acknowledge the toll of this war -- including those who are killed and wounded."

"We call on this administration to start telling the truth, and stop hiding the toll," Military Families Speak Out said in a statement.

The protesters marched up to the base gates and read one by one the names of the US military personnel killed in Iraq.

A similar protest is scheduled for Monday outside the Walter Reed Army Hospital in the US capital, to be followed by a protest march outside the White House.

The protests are being held to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the US-led attack on Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

© Copyright 2004 AFP

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