Judge rejects plea, so protest canceled

NEW YORK - A judge rejected a last-minute plea from antiwar activists seeking to hold a large rally in Central Park the day before the Republican convention, saying they were too late.

The group said it would cancel the rally, but planned to march to Madison Square Garden, the convention site.

State Supreme Court Justice Jacqueline Silbermann ruled Wednesday that United for Peace and Justice was "guilty of inexcusable and inequitable delay" in bringing the case to court after months of back-and-forth negotiations over plans for the Sunday demonstration.

The antiwar coalition sued the city last week after pulling out of a deal to hold the rally on a west Manhattan highway after a march from 23rd Street to the Garden. The event is expected to draw 250,000 people, and the Parks Department said that would ruin the park's lawn.

United for Peace and Justice had sought an order prohibiting the city from denying its use of the park, noting that the area has been used for events including a Dave Matthews show that drew more than 70,000 spectators and performances by the New York City Opera and the New York Philharmonic attended by tens of thousands.

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Teeing off from two reports detailing abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Sen. John Kerry on Wednesday renewed his call for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resign, citing the need for "accountability that runs through the civilian command."

"It's not just the little person at the bottom who ought to pay the price of responsibility," Kerry told union members at a steamfitters hall in Philadelphia before heading to Green Bay. "Harry Truman had that sign on the desk and it said, "The buck stops here.' The buck doesn't stop at the Pentagon. And in this case it doesn't just stop with any military personnel."

Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, also called on President Bush to appoint another commission to probe the scandal, focused on the chain of command and the Geneva Conventions.

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