The Declaration of Peace

7 arrested as hundreds take action to Shut Down the Army Experience Center

Reports, Photos, and Video from the May 2, 2009 Action to Shut Down the Army Experience Center at Franklin Mills Mall, outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

See photos and video at: http://shutdowntheaec.net/

Excellent photo essay at the Philadelphia Independent Media Center: http://www.phillyimc.org/en/protest-army-experience-center

Also see more photos here , _here__ and __here.

Fox TV in Philadelphia coverage of the Action

Video: Bob Smith, Rev. Robert Moore, Ann Wright and others speak at May 2nd Rally and Action.

Video: Bob Smith delivers Criminal Complaint at AEC

Criminal Complaint Served and Seven Arrested at the Army Experience Center in Philadelphia Mall

May 2nd Protest

by Elaine Brower

May 4, 2009

http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/Criminal-Complaint-Served-by-Elaine-Brower-090503-749.html

A few months ago, when I first discovered the existence of a place called “The Army Experience Center” in a Philadelphia mall that enticed kids as young as 13 to not only play violent video games, but allowed them access to a real Apache helicopter, M-16 rifle, automatic machine guns, an armored humvee and a tank, I decided that everyone who cared about our youth should be outraged and take action.

We couldn’t allow the Department of Defense to use this first-of-its-kind center, which cost an initial investment of $12 million, and has over 14,000 sq. ft. of space which houses a “Tactical Operations Center”, gaming stations allowing kids to play the most violent video games available, and the back room where they can touch and feel weapons created for killing, to produce any more around the Country. We decided to shut it down.

On Saturday, May 2nd, over 300 people from all over the northeast decided to take action. A coalition of over 30 anti-war, peace and justice groups rallied at St. Luke’s Church on Knights Road, just about a mile away from the Franklin Mills Mall, which houses the AEC. Everyone was fired up about shutting this atrocity down, and you could feel the energy in the crowd that ranged from Viet Nam vets to Iraq Vets to young students. Drums were heard, speeches and rallying cries to “Shut it Down!”

With that, everyone took to the street and marched to the mall, ready to deliver the “Private Criminal Complaint” to the commanding officer at the AEC, as well as to the mall owners, who allow this place to exist. The complaint states in part “the Army Experience Center is involved in “Endangering the Welfare of a Child” and “Criminal Solicitation of a Minor” and “Corruption of Minors” – soliciting underage persons to act in a violent manner, and thereby supporting criminal and corrupt behavior…”

Over 300 activists entered the mall banging drums and screaming their rallying cries to “SHUT IT DOWN!” and “WAR IS NO GAME!” as the complaint was handed to the recruiting officer in charge. The complaint was read out loud, which had a profound effect on everyone who was there shopping, and visiting the various eateries.

People stopped to listen, and really couldn’t believe what was happening. I myself, was part of a group of protesters who donned death masks and the names of fallen soldiers and stood directly in front of the AEC, which was at that point surrounded by police.

But that didn’t stop us from demanding that it be closed and they should cease and desist corrupting our youth. Those of us in death masks stood silently by and watched the rest of the group shouting at the recruiters. “Stop stealing our kids” “No wars for empire”, “SHAME ON YOU!” to the endless pounding of drums.

It seemed to me that the recruiters were becoming a bit unnerved, and the police were becoming extremely impatient. This was a peaceful protest, as we were not only exercising our first amendment right of “freedom of speech”, but trying to get our youth de-militarized, and away from the clutches of bloody war games.

Of course, since the AEC is open to the “public” many demanded to go inside, but weren’t allowed. Ret. Army Col. Ann Wright at that point was speaking directly to the kids who had gathered to witness what we were doing and told them not to “buy the recruiters stories” of patriotic glory. That there was “nothing glorious” about war, and it definitely was “not a game.”

Debra Sweet, National Director of World Can’t Wait, who co-sponsored and planned this event, took charge of the microphone and denounced the AEC and the government for allowing this place to exist, recruiting youth to participate in an illegal war, as well as enticing them with games when war is “not a game.”

Pat Elder of Peace Action, Montgomery, had packs of candy cigarettes which he labeled “Warning: Allowing teens to shoot weapons at the mall is like a heavy dose of CANDY CIGARETTES!” and gave out to youth witnessing our protest.

After only one warning, the police decided to aggressively arrest seven of the protesters who were wearing death masks, peacefully standing in front of the AEC and not blocking the entrance. Taken to a distant precinct, the civil affairs Captain vowed vengeance by trying to charge the seven with a “misdemeanor in the third degree.” After 6 hours in the most deplorable conditions, they were released to return to court in June.

We Must All Take Action

What is happening right under our noses is a transformation of the way in which the military plans on re-wiring the brains of kids at a very young and impressionable age to turn them into silent killers. By allowing anyone from the age of 13 to 18 to handle a machine gun, or use games that promote violence, it creates a generation that is wired to kill and think that killing is something that is easy and sanctioned.

Allowing this to happen is being complicit in the violence we see now occurring on our high school and college campuses. The numbing of the child’s brain to react to witnessing death and destruction is what is happening in this center. Common sense tells us that, and yet this place is allowed to exist and paid for by taxpayer funds.

The federal budget allocated to the Department of Defense is almost $700 billion, with increasing funding coming this fiscal year, yet the Department of Education is allocated approximately $114 billion.

There is definitely an imbalance which must be addressed.

The criminal complaint will go forward, and more protests and actions are planned for the future.

Visit http://www.shutdowntheaec.net for more information and see how you can get involved.

Report from Debra Sweet, Director of The World Can’t Wait

On Saturday, over 200 of us, with two sound systems, large banners and signs, marched a mile through suburban streets and into the Franklin Mills Mall in NE Philadelphia. We were loud outside, and louder inside, determined to resist the Army’s recruiting of youth through video games and war simulations.

We were stopped by rows of police and security guards from entering the Army Experience Center. We read aloud a criminal complaint against the AEC and the owners of the mall, for conspiring to draw people into the commission of war crimes. I explained what war crimes are. We chanted “Shut It Down!” “War is NOT a Game!” and “What are they recruiting for? Murder, rape, torture, war!”

Sue Niederer of Pennington, NJ, whose son 2nd Lt. Seth Dvorin was killed near Iskandariyah, Iraq on February 3, 2004, wore a t-shirt saying “Recruiters Lied!” She got on the bullhorn to suggest we all take a public tour of the center. The police spokesperson announced, “you’re not going to be going on the tour because this center is closed down now!” Oh — he didn’t say that! We chanted “shut it down” all the louder. Before the police warning to leave, some of the peace activists went outside to have a vigil on the road. But most of us stayed, attracting shoppers, and rows of young kids holding skateboards, from the skate park next door. Some of us sat down. We weren’t tired, but you’ve got to teach people how to sit down as resistance.

Check out this video from a professional gamers website: VIDEO

Thanks to Op Ed News who headlined an article by Elaine Brower. Editor Rob Kall called the action “very well organized.” Thanks to dozens of Veterans for Peace; to Pat Elder of the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth; Iraq Veterans Against the War; Code Pinkers and Grannies of all kinds, Peace Action, the Brandywine Peace Community, and activists from all over the east coast. Special thanks to the Activists Response Team, who did the March of the Dead, and took 7 arrests for disorderly conduct, which we will help fight.

Elaine Brower of World Can’t Wait, one of the 7 pictured in white masks who were arrested at the end of the action, wrote, “It seemed to me that the recruiters were becoming a bit unnerved, and the police were becoming extremely impatient. This was a peaceful protest, as we were not only exercising our first amendment right of ‘freedom of speech’, but trying to get our youth de-militarized, and away from the clutches of bloody war games. Of course, since the AEC is open to the ‘public’ many demanded to go inside, but weren’t allowed. Ret. Army Col. Ann Wright at that point was speaking directly to the kids who had gathered to witness what we were doing and told them not to ‘buy the recruiters’ stories’ of patriotic glory.”

A middle school teacher brought 4 of his students to the protest. They had already taken the tour of the AEC, and brought copies of the letters they sent to David & Melvin Simon, owners of the mall which leases to the Army.

Manny, who was about to speak to the crowd just as the arrests started, and was hustled out by his teacher (sorry Manny) wrote, in part:

“Do you believe money is worth more than human lives? You just probably said to yourself, ‘No, of course not.’ Well, now you are unknowingly answering ‘yes’ because of the space you have leased out to the Army. They have recently opened an Army Experience Center. They are supposedly not recruiting kids. They have video games set up for kids to play and have the ‘army experience.’ Last time I checked arcades don’t ask for your social security number….

The Army does not charge a single cent for this. They don’t charge admission; they don’t charge you for playing either. Instead, they give you an ID card that you have to swipe in order to play. They record this in their database. They see how many times you played the Humvee simulation. They see how many times you rode in the Black Hawk Helicopter. Then they decide what field to place the child in once he/she turns 18. The recruiters will come to the child’s home and ask them to take a test. The recruiters will not be regular run-of-the-mill men. They will pick strong, well built men who will try everything to convince them to take the test and join the Army. They will be sent to a war we don’t even belong in. We, the U.S., are like the strong kid who thinks he can beat everyone at the playground. We pick fights for no reason. Then we walk away not caring who got hurt or who died.”

Is Army Abusing Children With its Latest Experiment, the Army Experience Center?

by Rob Kall

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Is-Army-Abusing-Children-W-by-Rob-Kall-090504-927.html

An Iraq Veteran’s Reasons for Opposing the Army Experience Center

by Jesse Hamilton

http://www.opednews.com/articles/An-Iraq-Veteran-s-Reasons-by-Jesse-Hamilton-090505-668.html

Draft of speech given on May 2nd, 2009 to protest the Army Experience Center

We apologize for the Iraq War

by John Dear SJ

May 05, 2009

http://ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/we-apologize-iraq-war

Last week some five hundred of us gathered in Washington, D.C., to repent of the mortal sin of the U.S. war on Iraq. There we expressed our remorse and called for an end to our nation’s warmaking. Then we streamed onto the streets to take our plea to President Obama, arriving at his gate as he concluded his TV appearance marking his first 100 days. Some criticize Notre Dame for welcoming the president onto Catholic ground to deliver its commencement address. As for us, we criticize the U.S. government, including the Obama administration, for its ongoing warmaking.

We gathered under the banner of Christian Peace Witness for Iraq, an ad-hoc coalition of 20 Christian peace groups from around the nation (www.christianpeacewitness.org). For years we’ve gathered for protest and prayer. And this year we renewed our demands:

• A quicker end to the war on Iraq.
• The resettling of some five million war refugees.
• An immediate effort to rebuild Iraq.
• A public apology from our government for its pre-emptive aggression and for the suffering in its aftermath.

We gathered in the sanctuary of the National City Christian Church, a glittering neoclassical wonder chiseled from Indiana limestone. We prayed and sang and read scriptures and imbibed the inspiring words of an array of moving speakers. We heard first from Sr. Dianna Ortiz, U.S.-born survivor of torture in Guatemala, author of the powerful memoir, The Blindfold’s Eye, and founder of Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International. She read from her book, voice quavering, tears flowing: “No one fully recovers from torture: not the one tortured, nor the one who tortures.”

Then a word, through videotape, from Najlaa Al-Nashi, an Iraqi woman displaced by the war. She now serves as the Middle-Eastern Coordinator for Direct Aid Iraq in Jordan (see www.directaidiraq.org). Over her life looms the specter of death. Many whom she embraced have died — her husband, son, mother, many friends. Her home lies in rubble. And yet she refuses to see narrowly. She keeps mindful of the millions of Iraqis killed, injured, displaced — all of them, to her magnanimous heart, her neighbors.

“I don’t know what the future of Iraq is,” she said, “but my father taught me to ask, ‘What should I do to help?’ So we do what we can for peace. All of us can do something. I invite you to do more for the people of Iraq.”

And then a word from Rev. Tony Campolo, a respected evangelical author, pastor, and activist. “We have created a Jesus not from the scriptures, but a white Anglo-Saxon militarist. We have created God in the image of American militarism. So we wage war on Iraq and presume God is with us.”

He pleaded, “We have to start following the Jesus of the scriptures. When is the church going to start following Jesus, and feed, clothe, love and heal the enemy? When are we going to overcome evil with goodness? Our nuclear weapons are not providing us with any real security. There is no security except in following Jesus. Be agents of reconciliation. Believe the good news that the forces of darkness will not win. Be committed to the biblical Jesus.”

Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., president of the Hip Hop Caucus, followed. He spoke of his years in the military, his conversion to Gospel nonviolence, and his persecution by the government. An Air Force officer gone “bad” in the government’s eyes, his name made its way onto a no fly-list. And later in 2007, while vigiling as General David Petreus testified before Congress, he suffered a beating by police that left him with a permanent limp.

Tonight, he confessed, he being an African-American minister, it was hard to march on Obama’s White House, to protest against war, to court arrest. “But millions of Iraqis look down at us from heaven,” he said. “And until war and torture end forever, we cannot stop marching. We cannot stop working for peace.”

The speakers stirred our blood, but I found myself most stirred by my friend and mentor Elizabeth McAlister. Long ago, Liz and her husband Philip Berrigan co-founded Jonah House, a peace community in Baltimore. Peace and resistance are Jonah House’s raison d’être. For some 35 years they have consistently protested nuclear weapons and war.

Not unlike Jesus in the synagogue, she read from Isaiah: “Every boot that tramped in battle, every cloak rolled in blood, will be burned as fuel for flames” (8:22-9:5). “The U.S. is not the reign of God, but a reign of violent exploitation and terror, with fascism at home and empire abroad … Isaiah says all the implements of war must be destroyed. Then our hope will be realized. In Isaiah’s texts, the people make the difference, people like us. The consequence is that nations do not make war anymore.”

As she spoke a gentle rain fell outside, and afterwards we buttoned up our coats and gathered up our peace banners and trudged the many blocks to the White House, a police escort keeping close and keeping out a weather eye. We walked at length and finally arrived and there I delivered a message of support from Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.

Dear friends. Our God is looking at you and smiling and saying “How they have vindicated Me!,” because God had been wondering what had got into God’s head to create us sowing so much mayhem in Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib, Darfur, Gaza, and Iraq. “Oh dear, why did I create that lot?” God thinks. But now God says, “Thank you” for confessing that the war in Iraq should never have happened. You are conduits for God’s grace and compassion to flow into a world that is hurting, to heal it. Each of you is an oasis of love, compassion, goodness, laughter, and forgiveness. Hold up God’s world so that it may be doused with the waters of healing. God bless you all.

From there, Kathy Kelly led us all to the gates of the White House, there to offer bread — sign of compassion and rebuilding — a sign the gatekeepers summarily rejected. Then she and 18 others knelt in prayer and submitted to arrest. Off they went to D.C. Central Booking. The next morning 61 people were arrested at the White House, at the conclusion of the 100-Days-Against-Torture Campaign, calling for a criminal inquiry into the Bush administration’s use of torture and the immediate release of innocent detainees still held at Guantanamo.

None of us, need it be added, is deterred. We cling to the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq statement. It rings as true after the arrests as before. “We will pray and act to become a nation that funds human needs and programs of social uplift over armaments and military action, and through our conversion, we will experience the promise of resurrection and new life.”

With this hope in mind and heart, we continue our pursuit of a disarmed world.

St. Anthony Messenger Press has just published John Dear On Peace, by Patricia Normile. John’s two new books are A Persistent Peace (Loyola Press) and Put Down Your Sword, (Eerdmans). For information on his books and speaking schedule, see: www.johndear.org

Christian Peace Witness for Iraq

Twenty people were arrested in front of the White House, Wednesday night, during the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq.

Videos:

Prayer March and Action at the White House

John Dear reads letter from Archbishop Desmond Tutu in front of White House

The cloud of witnesses sing as the arrests take place at the White House

Noah Baker Merrill at the April 29th Convocation

Kathy Kelly at the April 29th Convocation

Rev. Lennox Yearwood at the April 29th Service

Many more videos here from the 2009 CPWI.

Photos and Audio:

See photos and read and listen to Liz McAlister’s words at the CPWI.

Reports:

“In the Name of Jesus, Stop the War!”

http://faithfulagitation.blogspot.com/2009/05/in-name-of-jesus-stop-war.html

Friday, May 1, 2009 report from the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship:

Three hundred Christians worship and witness together, twenty arrested in an act of nonviolent direct action in front of the White House, as President Obama held his “100 Days” press conference inside.

As more than three hundred Christians worshipped together at National City Christian Church in Washington on Wednesday night, they heard a rousing call from Tony Campolo to put an end to the war in Iraq. Campolo shared the story of the fourth century Monk Telemachus who was martyred when he entered the Coliseum in Rome during the fights of the gladiators and demanded “In the name of Christ, Stop.” After he was killed, a hush fell over the crowd and the Coliseum slowly emptied. The tradition of Gladiators fighting for sport had come to an end. Campolo suggested that,similarly, Christians who take the Bible seriously must be prepared to take great personal risks as they demand, “In the name of Jesus, stop the war.”

Others were also there to inspire the crowd, who had come from all over the country to worship and witness together on the evening that marked President Obama’s first 100 days in office. Elizabeth MacAlister, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Kathy Kelly, Sr. Diana Ortiz, Noah Baker Merrill and by video presentation, Najlaa Al-Nashi from Direct Aid Iraq all spoke strong words of criticism for the Iraq War, and implored President Obama and the U.S. Congress to bring the war to an end.

There was a light rain falling as the worshippers left the Sanctuary at National City Church and processed to Lafayette Park in front of the White House carrying candles and baskets of bread. There in the park, Rick Ufford-Chase called on all of those assembled, and on our President and Congress, to lead with apology, repentance for our actions, and a commitment to make amends to the people of Iraq for the spiral of violence unleashed by the U.S.’s “pre-emptive strike” in March of 2003. Fr. John Dear read a letter from Archbishop Desmond Tutu expressing his gratitude to Christian Peace Witness for Iraq for their continuing insistence that the war in Iraq must end.

After attempting to present a loaf of bread for President Obama, the group formed a large circle in front of the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, and sang together for over an hour. Eventually, twenty of those standing in the “arrestable space” on the sidewalk in front of the White House were arrested and put into police vans. Eleven of those arrested, including Presbyterian Pastor Tim Simpson and his son Stephen, were released just after midnight. Nine others, including Kathy Kelly, were held over night until they saw a judge the following day.

Presbyterian Pastor Clay Thomas, Associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Sarasota, FL and a member of the public policy advocacy team for Christian Peace Witness for Iraq, said that the conversations that CPWI supporters had with their legislators the following morning were a significant step forward in advancing CPWI’s effort to end the war. “In fact,” said Thomas, “we were given a 90 minute meeting with representatives from the Obama Administrations National Security Council and the Public Liaison for the religious affairs office.”

“In each of those meetings with government representatives,” said Rick Ufford-Chase, former moderator of the General Assembly of the PC(USA), “CPWI’s message was that “we must see a plan that indicates how we will remove all U.S. military personal and bases from Iraq, support reconstruction of Iraqi communities devastated by the war, resettle five million Iraqis displaced by the violence, and establish a commission of inquiry regarding our nation’s use of torture. Those moves, taken in concert with one another, will send a clear message to the rest of the world that we are truly interested in the things that will make for a just peace and a lasting security for all people.”

“We apologize for the Iraq war”

by John Dear SJ ~ May 5, 2009

Peace Witness Held to Mark First 100 Days of Administration

Pace e Bene participates in Christian Peace Witness for Iraq at White House

April 27, 2009 Press Release

Also check this out and this about the 2009 Christian Peace Witness for Iraq.

More information at http://christianpeacewitness.org/

Lockheed Martin - The Profits of War - Crucifixion Today

Beyond War/Beyond Lockheed Martin: A New Economy is Possible!

“…When they came to Skull Place, as it was called, they crucified him there and the criminals as well, one on his right and the other on his left. Jesus said, ‘God, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.’ They divided his garments, rolling dice for them….” - Luke 23: 33 - 49

“Let us pray that we will break the chains of violence and war; that we may resist war-making and stop Lockheed Martin with acts of justice and Jesus’ love. May the cross, which over time was transformed from a means of violence to a symbol of liberation and peace, be our symbol of nonviolence and justice, a sign of nonviolent resistance to Lockheed Martin, militarism, injustice, and war.” - Opening prayer from Good Friday Stations of Justice & Peace, April 10, Lockheed Martin, Valley Forge, PA

The Brandywine Peace Community (b.1977) campaign, now in its 15th year of nonviolent direct action at Lockheed Martin, continues.

Yesterday, yet another time at Lockheed Martin, yet another Good Friday Stations of Justice & Peace at the world’s largest weapons corporation and international war profiteer.

More than 50 people gathered at the corner of Mall & Boulevards, directly behind the King of Prussia Mall, for the Christian observance of Good Friday modeled on the traditional Stations of the Cross and recognition that war, and the works of Lockheed Martin, represent a continuing crucifixion.

After the opening Station (Pilate Condemns Jesus to Death) and accompanying reading, people processed to the main driveway entrance of Lockheed Martin behind a large wooden cross with the Lockheed Martin logo at the crucifixion nail points. Each successive Station and reading was followed by a different person carrying a cross into the drive and standing there cross in hand until the 12th Station - Jesus dies on the cross - and the sight of a line of people and crosses standing the entire width of the driveway.

Surrounded by police cars and vans and the sound of Adagio for Strings, the crosses were laid down in the drive with a banner reading “Beyond War: A New Economy is Possible!” and those in the action began walking down the drive toward the Lockheed Martin weapons facility. Each were stopped by Lockheed Martin security, and arrested by police when refusing to leave. The sixteen people arrested were taken to the Upper Merion police station and release on disorderly conduct citations.

(Good Friday Litany at Lockheed Martin)

By the cross and resurrection…(all:) We Stand Against War! By Jesus’ witness to truth…(all:) We Act for Justice and Peace! By Jesus’ passion and death…(all:) We Resist Lockheed Martin! By Jesus’ victory over the grave…(all:) Beyond War, a New Day and New Economy is Possible!

Sixteen people arrested Good Friday ‘09: Rich Conti, Tom Mullian, Annie Geers, and Bob Smith, all of Delaware County, PA; Shane Claiborne, Mary Jo McArthur, M.J. Gentile, Beth Friedlan, Carroll Clay, Joe Clay, Amber Christis, and Father Patrick Sieber, OFM, all of Philadelphia, PA; Theresa Camerota of Wyncote, PA; Tim Chadwick and Art Landis, of Bethlehem, PA; and Jackie Bauman, Elmwood Park, NJ.

Look for photos, readings, and more week’s end at http://www.brandywinepeace.com

Have a blessed Passover and a Happy Easter!

Next up to Stop Lockheed Martin …

April 15, 4:30-5:30 p.m., Tax Day Vigil Silver Lake Park next to Lockheed Martin, Route 413 bypass in Newtown, Bucks County, PA. Invest our Tax Dollars in a Peace Economy! NOT in Lockheed Martin. Sponsors: Coalition for Peace Action and Penn Action. Contact: 215-380-6804 www.cfpabuxmont.org www.pennaction.org

APRIL 23, PHILADELPHIA, Double Tree Hotel, 237 Broad Street, ANNUAL SHAREHOLDERS MEETING OF LOCKHEED MARTIN! Plan to Protest Lockheed Martin in Philadelphia!

8:30A.M. - Center City protest vigil and bannering at Phila. City Hall (west side), 15th & Market Streets; 9:30A.M. - Coffin-lead March to Double Tree Hotel/Lockheed Martin Shareholders Meeting, which begins at 10:30A.M. Join us in bringing to Lockheed Martin CEO and management the deadly consequences of Lockheed Martin war and weapons profiteering here and around the world.

Organized by the Brandywine Peace Community. Co-sponsored by: BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action, Phila. Jews for a Just Peace.

Lockheed Martin is the world’s largest weapons corporation, the U.S.’s chief nuclear bomb and space weapons contractor, the world’s largest international arms dealer, Israel’s largest arms partner, and the Iraq War’s chief weapons profiteer. Lockheed Martin is the very center of the corporate war economy, which is the “elephant in the room” of the current economic meltdown and enabler of war and violence around the world.

Beyond War, Beyond Lockheed Martin: A New Economy is Possible!

For more information: BRANDYWINE PEACE COMMUNITY P.O. Box 81, Swarthmore, PA 19081 - 610.544.1818 www.brandywinepeace.com

Protests in Washington, Calif. call for war’s end

Associated Press

Herald Times (Bloomington, Indiana)

Sunday, March 22, 2009

WASHINGTON — Before war protesters ended their demonstration Saturday afternoon, several placed cardboard coffins in front of the offices of northern Virginia defense contractors such as KBR Inc. and Lockheed Martin Corp. as riot police stood by.

“Lockheed Martin you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!” they chanted as part of a demonstration that began in Washington to mark the sixth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

Arlington County, Va., authorities estimated there were 2,500 to 3,000 protesters.

Organizers from the ANSWER Coalition said more than 1,000 groups sponsored the protest to call for an end to the Iraq war. Carrying signs saying “We need jobs and schools, not war” and “Indict Bush,” demonstrators beat drums and played trumpets as they marched from near the Lincoln Memorial past the Pentagon into Virginia.

Meanwhile, at a similar protest in San Francisco, tension grew after four or five dozen activists surrounded a group of riot-equipped police, throwing sticks and water bottles. Police responded by regrouping in riot formation and physically detaining several protesters who pushed and shoved with officers.

Protest leaders shouted from the stage, urging police to leave. Barriers were quickly erected between police and protesters as an organizer urged calm and the activists started to disperse.

In Washington, protesters demanded that President Barack Obama immediately withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq, saying thousands of Iraqis have died and thousands of American troops have been wounded or killed.

“We think it’s especially important for this new administration to feel the pressure from people that we don’t want more war,” said Obama supporter Pat Halle, 59, of Baltimore.

Anti-war activists said even though former President George W. Bush is out of power, they are disappointed with what they see as stalled action from Obama.

“Obama seems to be led somewhat by the bureaucracies. I want him to follow up on his promise to end the war,” said 66-year-old Perry Parks of Rockingham, N.C., who said he served in the Army for nearly 30 years, including in Vietnam.

Obama has said he plans to withdraw roughly 100,000 troops by summer 2010. He promises to pull the last of the U.S. troops by the end of 2011, in accordance with a deal Iraqis signed with Bush.

There were about 138,000 troops in Iraq as of March 13.

In southern California, hundreds of protesters gathered in Hollywood. Among them were peace advocate Cindy Sheehan — whose son was killed in Iraq — Oscar-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis and Ron Kovic, a paralyzed Vietnam veteran whose story was chronicled in the book and film “Born on the Fourth of July.”

Protesters in Los Angeles were expected to follow a rally with a march and then a symbolic “die in” where they would lie down in a major Hollywood Boulevard intersection to symbolize the soldiers who have died in the war.

Protesters waved signs and sold bumper stickers and T-shirts commemorating the event.

Denise Clendenning, 51, an environmental scientist from Chino Hills, Calif., said she hopes Obama will rethink his strategy to withdraw most of the troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and call all of them back instead.

“We all have a lot of confidence in him,” she said, holding two signs that read “Out of Iraq” and “End the War.”

In Washington, U.S. Park Police said no arrests were made. However, there sometimes was commotion among activists. At one point during the demonstration in Virginia, some taunted police while others urged their fellow protesters not to bother authorities. Some protesters then began arguing among themselves.

This year, the protest in Washington was held on a weekend — a few days after the March 19 anniversary of the war, which began in 2003. Last year’s weekday protest was marked by lower turnout than in previous years.