By Ayesha Ahmad, IOL Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON, September 30 (IslamOnline) - After two days of anti-globalization protests that saw hundreds arrested, a regime change in Washington instead of Baghdad was only one of the slogans digging at U.S. foreign policy made at an anti-war rally, September 29, in Washington.

"Some people are talking about a regime change in Baghdad," said Damu Smith, head of Black Voices for Peace, at the start of the rally in Dupont Circle. "I'm beginning to think we need a regime change right here in Washington, DC!"

Protestors and police differed over the number of demonstrators present for the rally and march up Massachusetts Ave, past several embassies, to the home of Vice President Dick Cheney. D.C. police chief Charles Ramsey put the number flatly at 1,500, but organizers said as many as 5,000 people came out to protest the impending attack on Iraq and the policies of U.S. President George W. Bush.

"Al-Qaeda had a First Strike policy, too," one sign held up by demonstrators proclaimed. Others demanded more simply, "No blood for oil," "Don't bomb Iraq," and "End the sanctions."

Smith, whose group was established after September 11 last year and has since been active in collaborative demonstrations for peace and civil liberties, encouraged listeners to unite across racial, cultural and gender lines, saying, "We cannot be divided."

The rally's speakers included singing artist Michelle Shocked, an Iraqi representative from the group "Seeds for Peace," Institute for Policy Studies fellow Phyllis Bennis, and many others, including musical performances.

Speaker Mike Zmolek, with the National Network to End the War Against Iraq, warned that military action against Iraq could be a repeat of the Gulf War in terms of the impact on Iraqi society and infrastructure.

"Let us call for inspections to proceed," he said, "because it's the only way forward right now."

And Bennis said that the "moment of choice" had come to decide between democracy and empire. "We need the U.N. to be calling the shots, not Washington," she said.

The march led demonstrators, carrying everything from signs to giant puppets and drums, to a barrier blocking their path to the gate guarding the vice president's house. At the front of the barrier, where police formed a second barrier with their motorcycles, the chanting became zealous.

"This is what democracy looks like!" the demonstrators shouted about their expression of freedom of speech. "That is what hypocrisy looks like!" they said of what Cheney symbolized.

As with the last several anti-war and anti-globalization protests in Washington, the protest brought all kinds of people together under the collective anti-Bush administration cause.

Rachel Solomon, a Jewish student who leads a Near East Club at her Rockville, Maryland, high school, said that "fighting Bush" was the only way to work against the rising violence in the Middle East.

"You can't really get rid of the problems in the Middle East until you get rid of Bush," she told IslamOnline.

Another protestor, Anne-Claire Marshall, volunteered to help hold a sign in front of the Egyptian embassy with a message of support proclaiming, "Egypt rejects any military action against Iraq."

"I think it's appalling that we're using our power across the globe," Marshall said. "We feel like our problems are more important than people's problems across the globe."

In front of Cheney's residence, Chief Ramsey spoke briefly to reporters, fielding questions about the arrests made at the anti-globalization protests on Friday and Saturday, September 27,28.

"We only enforce the laws when the laws are broken," he said. But he added that the current rally was "peaceful… we'll be here as long as they need us to be here."

University of Maryland student Ariel Vegosen was one of those arrested on Friday; after spending 26 hours in custody wearing plastic handcuffs, she came out again to protest the use of military force against Iraq.