Demonstrators held after Iowa anti-war protests

At least 10 anti-war demonstrators were arrested yesterday during protests in Des Moines over the lack of debate on the war on Iraq in the election campaign.
The protestors, ranging in age from 23 to 76, were taken into custody after briefly occupying the campaign offices of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney. Most were held by local police, though some were released with a citation to appear in court at a later date.

The protests were part of a coordinated effort by peace activists to raise the issue of the Iraq war in the campaign.
Earlier this week, the group - a loose coalition of Catholic peace activists and veteran anti-war demonstrators - occupied the Des Moines office of Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas.

They pledged a similar demonstration today at the campaign office of another candidate.

The decision to protest at Obama's campaign office displays the dissatisfaction among some on the American left with the leading Democratic presidential candidates' stances on the war in Iraq.

With varying degrees of urgency, Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards have called for a withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq, but would leave in place military personnel to guard US interests, and carry out counter-terrorism missions.

With the exception of long-shot Ron Paul, the Republican candidates have pledged to continue President George Bush's policy in Iraq and the "war on terror".

The protestors, who call their endeavour Seasons of Discontent: A Presidential Occupation Project, want the next president to withdraw all US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan within 100 days of taking office.

"I don't see Obama as the change we want to see," protestor Brian Terrell, 51, said. "We're asking Obama to change."

"This war is a bi-partisan war; the empire is a bi-partisan empire," said Frank Cordaro, a 56-year-old former Catholic priest and fulltime activist in Des Moines. "Clearly, Obama, Hillary and Edwards are lining up in a similar way. They're conceding the fact that they're going to have to continue a US military presence in Iraq. And that's unacceptable."

Four protesters were arrested at Romney's headquarters, charged with criminal trespass and taken to Polk County jail. Romney's campaign was not available for comment.

About 10 demonstrators later entered Obama's headquarters, unfurled a banner, and pledged to stay until Obama promised to do what he could to immediately end the war in Iraq.

The protestors read names of American war dead, then a speech by Dr Martin Luther King. After about one and a half hours, Des Moines police arrived and made the arrests, charging protestors with criminal trespass.

A spokesman for the Obama campaign had no comment.