NEW YORK -- Thousands of Iraq war protesters marched Tuesday to the United Nations, where President Bush was presenting his vision for the Middle East to skeptical world leaders.

An unidentified woman is handcuffed in front of United Nations headquarters during a protest,Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2006, in New York. The protests were scheduled to coincide with President Bush's speech to the U.N. General Assembly. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Marchers chanted "Hey hey, ho ho, the Bush regime has got to go" and hoisted signs that said, "Bush lies, who dies?"

Several hundred more demonstrators rallied in front of the U.N. later Tuesday in opposition to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was to speak there.

"I am more passionate than ever about the Iraq War because it has ruined our economy," said Thomas Brinson, 63, a Vietnam veteran from Deer Park, Long Island. "It's killing innocent civilians, and the National Guard was deployed in Iraq and they weren't here for natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina."

The anti-war march, organized by the group United for Peace and Justice, started in the garment district on the West Side and stretched along a dozen blocks to the United Nations on the East Side, where there were speeches.

A contingent of a dozen "Raging Grannies" wore colorful hats and dresses.

"After Vietnam I thought the U.S. had learned a lesson," said Lillian Pollack, 91, a retired city schoolteacher. "But Bush was planning this war for two years. He tried to make it look like it was legitimate. But it backfired."

Bush, in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, told world leaders. "My country desires peace." He told Iraqis, "We will not abandon you in your struggle to build a free nation," and he said that its neighbor Iran "must abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions."

Ahmadinejad was scheduled to speak to the body later Tuesday, but he was not at the country's table in the hall when Bush spoke.

Protesters against Ahmadinejad included Alireza Jafarzadeh, who heads the Washington-based Strategic Policy Consulting think tank and is credited with having aired Iranian military secrets in the past.

"This is going to remain as a shame on the United Nations for providing a red carpet welcome to Ahmadinejad," Jafarzadeh said in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza near the U.N.

Protesters chanted, "Ahmadinejad is a terrorist," and some wore skeleton costumes and wielded skulls on sticks to symbolize what they said were the deaths of 120,000 political prisoners in Iran since 1979.

Gabriel Buoc, a former judge from Sudan now living in Canada, hoisted a sign that said, "Stop Mullahs' nukes. U.N. Sanctions Now." Buoc said he flew to New York to join the protest because Iran and Sudan are allies.

"Iran has a totalitarian regime," he said. "And the regime at home is an ally of Iran. ... Both the United Nation and the United States should work for a regime change in Iran."

© Copyright 2006 Associated Press

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