Here are some quotes from some of the speakers at the rally:

"We stand against a brutal [Israeli] occupation which is seemingly endless.... Stop funding the zionist occupation regime.... The Iraqi people are seemingly absent from the Beltway banter [despite] over 4 million refugees and over 1-1/2 million dead."
-- Mounzer Sleiman, Vice Chair, National Council of Arab Americans



"And now we have the people of New Orleans denied their right to return."
-- Zahi Damuni, co-founder of Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition



The highlight of the rally was Cindy Sheehan, who received a very warm welcome. Sheehan has caught quite a bit of flak in some quarters for breaking with the Democrats over their support for the war. She recently announced that she will be running for Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's seat as a Green Party candidate.

Antipicating the die-in at the Capitol Building later that day, Sheehan said:

"The power of the people must stand up against Nancy Pelosi. The power of the people must stand up against George Bush and Dick Chaney.... I retired [from the movement] last May and I said I’d never just march down the street again. It’s time for everyone in this country with a conscience to say we love the people in Afghanistan and Iraq, that we love the troops enough to to say that we’ve had enough. It’s time for the students to shut down the campuses. It’s time for the people to shut down the federal buildings. It’s time for the people to shut this city down. Show congress that we represent the people and not the corporations.... It’s time for us to lay down for peace. It’s also time we lay down for accountability. Congress needs to put impeachment on the table."



Representative from Voters for Peace (name unknown):

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama "are war candidates," he said, citing Clinton's refusal to take first strike use of nuclear weapons off of the table, and Obama's threat to bomb Iran a few years ago and his recent threat to invade Pakistan.