HOLLYWOOD — The first anniversary of the war in Iraq war since President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney left office was apparent at the annual march down Hollywood Boulevard on Saturday against the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Effigies of the nation’s former leaders, either on posters or in mannequin form were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, more traditional signs bearing anti-war statements and messages of peace were in greater abundance as protestors observed the sixth anniversary of the war.

Phrases such as “occupation is a crime, from Iraq to Palestine” and “no justice, no peace, U.S. out of the Middle East” were brought back from last year.

Other than that, there were very few differences between the march on Saturday and rallies from previous years.

Thousands were in attendance, either representing an organization or on their own accord.

They all gathered at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street at noon where a series of speakers took to the microphone on top a large truck.

Popular protester Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in 2004 while serving in Iraq, drew a connection between the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and another crisis the country is currently facing.

“Our resources are being squandered on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when we have a devastating economic crisis at home,” she said.

Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic, who wrote the anti-war book “Born on the Fourth of July,” also addressed the marchers and sent a message to President Barack Obama urging for more funding for care of former veterans and an immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan.

A group of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who returned from serving their tours spoke out against the respective conflicts they fought in.

Mike Kaiser served in Iraq when its occupation began in 2003 and said he learned the truth about Iraqis during his tour, which was the opposite of what he was told by the media outlets he had grown accustomed to watching while he was home.

“What I learned after spending a year fighting in Iraq is that the heroes are not the ones wearing the uniforms of the U.S. military, the heroes are on the other side,” he said.

Bush’s name was sparsely mentioned during the many speeches given during the rally and was usually only brought up for historical purposes.

Some of the criticism that usually would have been directed to the former president was shifted toward Obama.

Although he has been in office for a little over two months, some speakers criticized the president for recently announcing he plans to cut the number of troops in Iraq, but keep up to 50,000 there by Aug. 31, 2010.

Many speakers also bashed Obama for expressing his interest to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan by 17,000.

“The Obama administration is telling us that we must expand the war on Afghanistan. We’re saying that war needs to stop as well or we’re going to stop it!” said Carlos Alvarez, one of the speakers who also was a candidate against Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in the recent citywide election.

Linda from Huntington Beach, who did not want to provide her last name, said she does not understand why the government wants to keep fighting in Afghanistan, because we have to acknowledge the fact that “religion is their life.”

“We don’t need to go there,” she said. “Nobody has won in Afghanistan. The Russians couldn’t do it. ... It’s a theocracy. We can’t make them into our style of democracy.”

After the rally, marchers walked for about a mile and half until they reached the Armed Forces Career Center.

Leading the march were people carrying dozens of coffins, some draped with American flags while others were from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Upon arrival, many participated in a symbolic “die-in,” where they lied down on the asphalt and sidewalk in front of the center to create a representation of the 4,710 U.S. troops that died in the two conflicts.