Protestors in Helena joined hundreds of vigils and rallies Wednesday held around the nation to mark the 2,000th casualty suffered by the U.S. military in Iraq.

Peace activists from around the state gathered outside the Montana Capitol, inspired by the latest polls showing a drop in American support for the U.S. war in Iraq and President Bush’s handling of the conflict.

Results from a New York Times-CBS News Poll show that only 44 percent of Americans now believe the U.S. made the right decision to invade Iraq.

The same poll shows that 60 percent of Americans disapprove of Bush’s handling of the war.

“Our country has been hijacked by a government that’s incredibly immoral, and we need to take it back,” said Richard Notkin, a member of the Helena Peace Seekers. “The Bush administration is great at waving flags, but it has defecated all over our constitution. I don’t want to continue gathering here year after year reading the names of the dead.”

Others expressed concern for the mental and physical health of returning U.S. soldiers. Some condemned a corrupt Congress and suggested hypocrisy in Bush’s stance “against a woman’s right to choose while having no qualms in killing Iraqi children.”

Protestors passed a list around the gathering of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi children killed in the conflict. They paused to read each name aloud.

The list, organizer Frank Kromkowski said, was far too long to read in its entirety.

“True democracy can never be imposed upon a nation, nor can it grow from the barrel of an invader’s gun,” he said. “True democracy must come from the will of a people and their civil society.”

On Tuesday, nearly 79 percent of the 9.8 million voters in Iraq supported the ratification of the nation’s new constitution. The vote was lauded as a success by both U.S. and Iraqi leaders.

However, voters in two heavily Sunni Arab provinces voted against the constitution by 96 percent.

“The political arrangement evolving in Iraq as a result of the U.S. war is neither democratic nor just,” Kromkowski said. “The continuation of this U.S. occupation only strengthens the resolve of a violent Iraqi resistance to it.”

Sandy Benton held a flag of the Earth superimposed upon a blue background. The activist has been a member of the local peace movement since moving to Helena from Steamboat Springs, Colo., three years ago.

“Enough is enough,” Benton said prior to the vigil. “It makes my heart heavy to think of all the young men who have died for untruths, for all the lies. It just isn’t right.”

The president has urged the nation to stay the course while leaders in Washington have expressed concerns that if the U.S. were to “cut and run,” Iraq could slip into civil war and chaos.

But those peace activists gathered Wednesday called for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops, saying a U.N. peacekeeping force was more appropriate for the current mission.

Benton said the presence of the U.S. military has only been a detriment to the people of Iraq, not a deterrent to violence. A recent AP story reported that Iraqi civilian deaths have far exceeded the 2,000 suffered by the U.S. military.

“The longer we’re there, the more disruptive our presence will be,” Benton said. “In a state of war, I don’t think we’ll see any kind of peace as long as we’re there.”

Kromkowski pointed out that Bush’s approval rating is the lowest ever for a second-term president, aside from Richard Nixon.

The current peace movement, he said, is advancing faster than in Vietnam.

“This peace movement is much closer to bringing down this war than it was in the first two years of Vietnam,” he said.

Reporter Martin Kidston can be reached at 447-4086, or at helenair.com">mkidston@helenair.com.