The Northwest's largest demonstration began at Seattle Center and ended at the Immigration and Naturalization Service building near Seahawks Stadium. It was one of a number of such events scheduled around the area. Some were anti-war, some were pro-U.S. troops.

All of the marches and demonstrations remained peaceful. There have been no reports of violence.

"I think the people who are going to participate in these events feel that democracy is not best served by foreign policy that is militaristic and aggressive," said Steve Johnson, who helped organize a protest scheduled for Port Angeles. "People around the world have serious questions about whether this administration is doing the right thing."

Many of the marchers were bused in from Everett, Bellingham, Port Townsend and elsewhere.

"It's increasingly touching a nerve," Haug said. "As more people realize that their misgivings or opposition to the war are widely held opinions, that makes it easier for them to get involved.

"As I tell people, we can do this every week if we have to. We are not going away."

Steve Hamm, a Vietnam veteran who works for the Port Townsend Peace Movement as a database manager, said he and other Jefferson County residents planned to carpool to Bremerton for a Saturday morning rally of peace-minded veterans at the USS Turner Joy before heading on to Seattle.

The Turner Joy, a gunship, was involved in the purported Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, which led to an escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

Most historians now agree the so-called incident of Aug. 4, 1964 - when North Vietnamese PT boats supposedly attacked two U.S. Navy destroyers - never occurred. Still, President Lyndon B. Johnson seized on reports of a clash to push through a congressional resolution that led to the bombing of North Vietnam and sending the first U.S. combat units into South Vietnam.

"We have concerns about domestic terrorism," Hamm said. "But Iraq doesn't have the capability of getting that stuff here, and if they could, why didn't they do that already?

"We believe we are a part of the world community. It's our responsibility to work things out so that if force needs to be used, it's an absolute last resort."

About 1,000 to 1,500 people were expected to rally in Spokane's River Park Square, according to the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane.

Organizers also planned events in Bellingham, Olympia and Tacoma. Activists in the conservative farming communities of the Yakima Valley planned to rally in Union Gap - where they figured on giving shoppers an earful.

"That's where people are on Saturday afternoon. There's a lot of shopping in the area," said Gail Pearlman, an English teacher at Yakima Valley Community College.

But not all of the rallies planned for Saturday were strictly anti-war.

Sheryl Sheaffer and her mother, Nadine Gulit, helped organize a "Support Our Troops" rally. Roughly 2,000 demonstrators lined the Interstate 5 overpasses near McChord Air Force Base in the Tacoma area.

Sheaffer said her 21-year-old son serves in the Army, and her husband was in Vietnam. She said she was motivated to help organize the rally because she didn't want another generation of troops to face the opposition Vietnam vets faced.

"We don't want to be painted as warmongers," she said. "That's the last thing I want; my son's going to be over there. But should our country make the decision to go in, we will support that.

"We want our soldiers, sailors and airmen to know we do support them, contrary to what the anti-war protesters would lead you to believe."

A similar support rally was scheduled in Oak Harbor, the closest town to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.