Antiwar rallies draw about 1,000 people

About 1,000 protesters marked the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war today with rallies and a march in downtown Seattle where umbrellas outnumbered antiwar placards.

As many as 500 protesters gathered at Westlake Center, one of two sites where protesters turned out to voice their opposition to the war. At the other site, the U.S. Courthouse, 400 to 500 people had gathered. They left there about 4:15 p.m. and met with the protesters at Westlake Center.

Event organizers had hoped to attract 3,000 people or more but conceded they were unsure what to expect.

From Westlake Center, the two groups were taking a circuitous route around Seattle City Hall to end at the Henry Jackson Federal Building at Second Avenue and Marion Street, where another rally will be held.

Carol Kibble, one of those who was marching, said this is the first time she's protested against the war.

"We're giving all our money to the wrong causes. We need to heal our world, not kill our world," she said.

The Westlake rally, organized by the Troops Home Now coalition, was targeted at high-school and college students; the rally at the U.S. Courthouse was organized by a coalition of social-justice activists.

At the U.S. Courthouse, King County Executive Ron Sims invigorated the crowd with an impassioned speech, saying the United States is great when it defeats hunger and illness.

"I want us to be a great nation once again  We are a great people when we wage peace, not war," he said.

Another speaker, Joe Colgan, an Army veteran whose son Benjamin was killed in action in Iraq in 2003, said his son died a hero but his death had nothing to do with promoting peace or democracy.

"From the start it's been an abuse of our troops by this administration," he said of the war.

Meanwhile, one group of protesters earlier in the day tried to "occupy" the offices of U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell but were locked out, said Erin Alexander, a spokeswoman for the Seattle Occupation Project and an organizer of the Westlake protest.

"We come in with no appointment and try to disrupt as much as we can," said Alexander, a 26-year-old nanny.

The protesters have used the occupation strategy weekly since early February, but today were directed to a 28th-floor conference room in the Federal Building, which they sarcastically called the "free speech room."

"It's unbelievable -- they're sending aides down once in a while to speak with us," but if protesters go up to the offices, staff members "mouth through the glass: 'No, go downstairs,'(" Alexander said. "To be treated this way is extremely frustrating."

The group is part of a national movement trying to pressure Democrats to vote against authorizing $124 billion over the next two years to fight the Iraq war.

"This is the only chance Democrats have to stop the war -- otherwise, (President) Bush will have enough money till the end of 2008," said Alexander.

Elizabeth Ferranti, Cantwell's press secretary in Washington, D.C., said the senator's staff "proactively got a second room to accommodate people coming in for meetings. There are no sit-ins going on."

Murray's communications director, Alex Glass, said from D.C. that "meeting with our staff is a more effective way of getting their grievances out."

"We just want to give them an opportunity to talk about their concerns and about what we're doing to help end the war," Glass said. "Senator Murray believes it's time to redeploy our troops and bring them home."

The senator was among Senate Democrats last week who introduced a joint resolution to begin bringing troops home by March 31, 2008. The resolution was defeated 50-48.

U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, also has been a target of the occupation strategy, but has not locked out protesters, Alexander said. Instead, McDermott staffers ran a vacuum cleaner while protesters tried to use the phones in his office, Alexander said.

As protesters focused on Congress, the Seattle City Council -- which has no authority over international relations -- approved a resolution urging the president the bring the troops home.