Abby Smith stood away from the crowd. With tears in her eyes and carrying a "Bring our soldiers home" sign, the 42-year-old listened to the speakers while fighting back the memories that have haunted her for months. She came to honor her nephew, to accept that he's gone — for a cause that she says is unjust.

"They killed my nephew, the U.S. government killed him by sending him to Iraq," the Salt Lake native said. "I doubt Bush knows how it feels to lose a loved one in war. It's not like he ever fought in one."

Smith and more than 200 other protesters raised their voices Saturday as they marched from Pioneer Park to the Salt Lake City-County Building, demanding that the government end the war in Iraq and bring home the troops.

And they didn't rally alone. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators around the world — from Australia and Asia to London's Trafalgar Square and New York's Times Square — marched this weekend to mark the third-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

"It's obvious by now that Bush didn't go to war because of a security threat," said Michael Hermon, who teaches philosophy at the University of Utah. "Why did we go to war, then? That's the question no one asks."

In his weekly radio address Saturday, President Bush asked Americans "to look beyond the dramatic television footage and disconcerting newspaper headlines coming out of Iraq to see the clear progress that the country is making on the road to stability, self-rule and democracy."

But with more than 2,300 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis killed in the war, many Americans say they are fed up.

"How many more people need to die before the U.S. government admits this war was wrong?" said Deanna Taylor, a member of the Green Party of Utah. "We've already spent $250 billion on the war, but things in Iraq keep getting worse instead of better. Instead of approving another $72 billion for war, Congress should be figuring out how much money will be needed to bring our troops home now and take care of them when they get here."

Tom King, a member of People for Peace and Justice of Utah, organized Saturday's rally.

"People say we're anti-America, but it's the opposite," King said. "If they think that being pro-America means supporting an illegal war and fighting a nation that posed no threat to this country, then who is wrong?"

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