President Obama at West Point Dec. 1

During President Obama's West Point address last week in which he committed 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, he referred to his opposition to the war in Iraq, which he first voiced at a 2002 anti-war rally said to have helped launch his political career.

The rally, which drew some 2,000 participants, was planned by socialist and Marxist activists associated with Weatherman Underground founder William Ayers.

"I opposed the war in Iraq precisely because I believe that we must exercise restraint in the use of military force and always consider the long-term consequences of our actions," Obama declared Tuesday.

The Oct. 2, 2002, rally at Chicago's Federal Plaza that was widely credited with propelling to Obama to the national stage.

That event, meant to protest the impending invasion of Iraq, was coordinated on behalf of a small group, Chicagoans Against the War & Injustice, run by Marxist Carl Davidson and extremist activists Marilyn Katz and Bettylu Saltzman.

Davidson is a notorious far-left activist and former radical national leader in the anti-Vietnam movement. He served as national secretary for the infamous Students of a Democratic Society anti-war group, from which Ayers' Weathermen later splintered.

Davidson was a founder of the New Party, a controversial 1990s political party that sought to elect members to public office with the aim of moving the Democratic Party far leftward to ultimately form a new political party with a socialist agenda.

WND previously reported newspaper evidence showing Obama was a member of the New Party.

Davidson recalled in a WND interview that Obama participated in the New Party. He affirmed that Obama's views overlapped with those of his party.

Katz worked closely with Davidson, founding Chicagoans Against the War in Iraq. The two also co-authored a 2004 article, "From Protest to Politics," urging radicals to support Democrat John Kerry for president. One year later, they collaborated on a book, "Stopping War, Seeking Justice: Essays in a Time of Empire"

A Discover the Networks profile said Katz provided "security" for the Students for a Democratic Society and has known Ayers since the age of 17.

During the SDS's infamous Days of Rage riots in October 1969, Katz introduced protesters to a new weapon to deploy against the police: a cluster of nails sharpened at both ends and fastened in the center. Police later reported being hit by golf balls with nails through them, as well as by excrement. Katz would insist years later that her "guerrilla nails" were merely "a defensive weapon" to prevent "possible bad behavior by the police."

Katz served on the finance committee of Obama's presidential campaign.

Obama initially met Katz through his first job at a law firm run by Judd Miner. The New York Times reported Katz "gave [Obama] entry into another activist network: the foot soldiers of the white student and black power movements that helped define Chicago in the 1960s."

After Obama became president, Katz reportedly tried to convince Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to appoint Valerie Jarrett, Obama's top adviser, to Obama's open U.S. Senate seat. The New York Times describes Katz as "a friend" of Jarrett's who encouraged her to step out of Obama's shadow and "be the sun."

Saltzman, meanwhile, reportedly first met Obama when he was in charge of Project VOTE's registration drive for the 1992 election.

Some anti-American extremists, such as Ayers, the past few days have been protesting Obama's plan to deploy 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and begin drawing them down in July 2011.

"I am here demonstrating against the war because I am appalled and alarmed that once again we are escalating the war,'' Ayers said, in a video interview captured on the streets of Chicago last week. "The idea that there are benchmarks for getting out is a myth and a lie."

Also, principle Students for a Democratic Society organizer Tom Hayden last week wrote in the Nation magazine that he is removing an Obama bumper sticker from his car until all troops are removed from Afghanistan.

Editor's note: This article was compiled with additional research by Brenda J. Elliott.

www.wnd.com/index.php