Actions Here, Across Nation Mark 5th Year In Iraq
The Capital Times :: FRONT :: A1
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Staff/news services
Police arrested more than a dozen people who crossed a barricade and blocked entrances at the Internal Revenue Service building today, the start of a day of protests marking the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
A crowd of more than 100 gathered outside the IRS headquarters, chanting "This is a crime scene" and "You're arresting the wrong people." A marching band led protesters down the street near the National Mall and around the IRS building before dozens of demonstrators gathered at the entrance.
The demonstrators said they were focusing on the IRS because it gathers taxes that are used to fund the war.
Protesters blocked the main entrance for a time, but no federal workers appeared to be trying to use those doors. Police detained 13 people who sat down at a side entrance.
Anti-war protests and vigils were planned throughout the day around the nation.
MADISON PROTEST
In Madison, about 80 people had gathered for a protest on the Capitol Square near State Street by 11:30 a.m.
Veteran peace activist Dennis Coyier of Cottage Grove was on hand with a sign that had President Bush's face and the word "evildoer."
"It's been five years since we've been in Iraq, and we think that's five years too many," Coyier said. "We think we were lied into the war and the lies have kept us there."
Nathan Berg, 38, of Madison said he was there because "I'm very much against the war. I think it was a mistake to go there and a mistake we haven't gotten out yet."
Protesters took turns with a microphone speaking to the crowd, and planned to have a silent vigil just before noon to be followed by a parade around the Capitol Square.
Other protests in Madison today include a drive-time picket starting at 4 p.m. at the intersection of John Nolen Drive and Blair and Williamson streets, a second protest at State Street and the Capitol Square also starting at 4 p.m. and a 7 p.m. prayer vigil at Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, 2401 Atwood Ave.
WAR AND WARMING
In the nation's capital, at the American Petroleum Institute, dozens of protesters held signs reading "Out of Iraq" and "No war, no warming," and chanted "No blood for Oil!"
Craig Etchison, 62, a retired college professor from Cumberland, Md., and a Vietnam veteran, said he has been protesting the war for years.
"I've watched with horror as Bush has lied about this war," he said in front of the building. "I'm appalled at the number of civilians we've killed just as we did in Vietnam."
College students from New Jersey to North Dakota have planned walkouts, while students at the University of Minnesota vowed to shut down military recruiting offices on campus.
"This is the first time coordinated direct actions of civil disobedience are happening," said Barbra Bearden, communications manager for the group Peace Action. "People who have never done this kind of action are stepping up and deciding now is the time to do it."
In suburban Miami, Linda Belgrave, a sociology professor at the University of Miami, and a handful of protesters dressed in black waved anti-war signs at drivers stuck in early morning rush-hour traffic near the U.S. Southern Command complex. Belgrave said the group planned to lay flowers at the complex's entry fence later Wednesday morning.
"This is the beginning of the sixth year of this horror and it's got to end," said Belgrave.
On Tuesday, 10 people were arrested at an anti-war rally in upstate New York. About 60 people participated in the demonstration that started at Binghamton University campus and moved through the street to a military recruiting station. Police said the demonstrators tied up traffic in the town of Vestal, N.Y., causing two traffic accidents.
The Iraq war has been unpopular both abroad and in the United States, although an Associated Press-Ipsos poll in December showed that growing numbers think the U.S. is making progress and will eventually be able to claim some success in Iraq.
The findings, a rarity in the relentlessly unpopular war, came amid diminishing U.S. and Iraqi casualties and the start of modest troop withdrawals. Still, majorities remain upset about the conflict and convinced the invasion was a mistake, and the issue still splits the country deeply along party lines.