Obama, Clinton, Huckabee and Romney Iowa campaign offices occupied by peace activists

Opponents of the occupation of Iraq occupied the Iowa campaign headquarters of presidential candidates US Senator Barak Obama (D-IL) and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney on Jan. 2, waiting for a response to a letter requesting them to oppose any more spending for the war or occupation and foreswear an attack on Iran. Eight people were arrested at Obama's Iowa campaign headquarters and four at Romney's, in this, the third day of such nonviolent "direct actions" organized by "Seasons Of Discontent: A Presidential Occupation Project" (SODAPOP) since the presidential primary season began in Iowa late last year. Explaining why Senator Obama's office was targeted, Voices for Creative Nonviolence co-director, Dan Pearson, pointed to the Illinois Senator's consistent support for war funding until a May, 2007 supplemental funding vote "which everyone knew was going to fail anyway. Even his proposed Iraq De-Escalation Act of 2007 wasn't really anti-war. It allows for thousands of US troops to stay in Iraq and others to be deployed to Afghanistan and other countries in the region when the only place they belong is back here." Pearson said the SODAPOP campaign has not yet received a response to a letter delivered to Obama last October, asking him to pledge to completely withdraw from Iraq within 100 days of assuming office; halt all military actions against Iraq and Iran; fund the rebuilding of Iraq as well as health, education and infrastructure needs in the US; and provide "…the highest quality health care, education and jobs training benefits for veterans of our country's Armed Services." "Today we will visit his Iowa headquarters and ask him to publicly pledge to fulfill those demands and become a true antiwar candidate," Pearson concluded. Another SODAPOP participant, Brian Terrell, Director of the Catholic Peace Ministry in Des Moines, said that as of Jan. 1 he was ambivalent about which candidate's office to occupy, "but now I see this statement from (Ohio Congressman Dennis) Kucinich which I think is really irresponsible, asking his supporters to make Barak Obama their second choice… that they both stand for change. But what kind of change is he talking about? Leaving 40-60,000 troops in Iraq? Leaving on the table the bombing of Iran? Asking Iowans to support increased military spending? I hope our action here counters the message Kucinich is putting out [about Obama]." Spokesperson Mona Shaw reported that at Obama's office Kathy Kelly, 55, Chicago; Dicki Andrews, 63, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Diane Haugesag, 48, Minneapolis; David Hovee, 37 and Tom Roddy, 76 of Evanston, Illinois; Dan Pearson, 26, Chicago; Brian Terrell, 50, Maloy, Iowa and John Tuzcu, 23, Des Moines were arrested and charged with trespassing. She also said that arrested at Romney's headquarters and charged with trespassing were Chris Gaunt, 51, a farmer from Grinnell, Iowa; Ed Bloomer, 63, Des Moines; Janice Sevre-Duszynska 57, Nicholasville, Kentucky; and Suzanne Sheridan, 31, Chicago. Asked what kind of welcome the demonstrators received at each office, independent photographer Mauro Heck said, "The Romney people were friendlier than at Obama's actually. They received the demonstrators about as warmly as one could expect, but at Obama's office they blocked the door at first." Independent journalist Michael Gillespie reported that while he was covering the occupations he saw only one US news outlet, a Des Moines TV station. "German, British, Italian and Japanese press were there, but no others from the US." The Romney and Obama Iowa headquarters were each contacted for comment, but campaign spokespersons were unavailable. Two days previously, three SODAPOP organizers occupied and were arrested at former governor Mike Huckabee's Des Moines office, and in November a total of 18 were arrested at the Iowa campaign headquarters of Senator Hillary Clinton and former NYC mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Clinton targeted again Hours before voting begans in the nation's first presidential poll, peace activists placed the Iraq War front and center again on Jan. 3 as they occupied Clinton's Iowa headquarters once more. Over a dozen members of SODaPOP went to Clinton's office, saying they still had not gotten a response to a letter delivered previously, demanding she publicly oppose any more spending for the war or occupation, and foreswear an attack on Iran. But as the peace activists approached Clinton's East Second Street office, staff members locked the main door and refused admittance. At a locked side door, a Clinton staff person was admitted but could not close the door before Jeff Leys, co-director of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, sat down in the doorway. Leys, speaking on the phone as he remained in the doorway, said about another 15 peace activists were standing outside the entrance helping block it, several Clinton staffers were blocking the doorway into the office, and that no one was going in or out. Asked why the campaign targeted Senator Clinton's Iowa headquarters again, Leys said "because she is the most hawkish of any of the leading candidates on foreign policy and she refuses to commit to ending the war in Iraq." He said that they are also concerned with Senator Clinton's connection to the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), at which she gave a keynote address for the center's launch in June 2007. One of its initial reports released that day, "Phased Transition," concluded that "…as a rough estimate 25,000 to 40,000 American troops might remain in Iraq" until as late as 2012. "While the people of Iowa are exercising their legal right to go to the caucuses to choose their presidential nominees, it is appropriate that we exercise our extra-legal rights of nonviolent protest to bring this war to an end," Leys concluded. Extra-legal or not, Clinton's office was reluctant to file a complaint that would trigger arrests, so police withdrew after being on the scene about an hour. Protesters continued their vigil until about 5 pm, by which time nearly all the Clinton staff had left.