Worldwide protests mark four years of Iraq War

Four years after US forces invaded Iraq, tens of thousands of anti-war protesters took to the streets around the world on Mar. 17 to denounce the war and occupation. Spain's protests were the largest in Europe, with some estimates putting the number of people taking part at 100,000-400,000. In the capital, Madrid, protesters waved placards denouncing President Bush and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar for "war crimes." Left-wing political leaders and Spanish celebrities like film director Pedro Almodovar marched in Madrid behind a banner reading "End the occupation in Iraq, shut down Guantánamo." Almodovar said he was present to protest against "the barbarities they have been committing in Iraq for the past four years." The protest was just one of around 100 anti-war demonstrations across Spain involving the cities of Seville, Cadiz, Barcelona, Valencia, Pamplona and Granada. Major demonstrations against the Iraq War were held as well in the European capital cities of Athens, Copenhagen and Rome. About 1,000 people marched peacefully through central Athens to the US embassy. Protesters blew whistles and chanted "Americans out of Iraq" and "Bush the greatest terrorist." In the Turkish city of Istanbul, more than 6,000 took part in protests, carrying signs reading "Bush go home" and "We are all Iraqis." In Australia, demonstrations were held in Sydney, Melbourne and other cities. In Santiago, Chile, an estimated 200 people marched to the US Embassy in Las Condes. In Canada, protests were seen in cities across the country, including Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver. Holding signs that read "Together Against War" high above their heads, about 100 demonstrators marched under grey skies through downtown Halifax before stopping at a park for a rally. The speakers included former US Marine Dean Walcott, who served in Iraq and is now trying to claim refugee status in Canada because of his objections to the war. "I believe individual nations have the right to establish themselves as they see fit, and I believe they can do that without interference from the West," Walcott, 25, told a cheering crowd. "There's got to be a better way for nations to be free rather than us putting a gun in their face and demanding it of them." Walcott went on two tours of Iraq, where he served as a technician and worked with military police running convoys into Baghdad. The US invasion of Iraq officially began on Mar. 20, 2003, amid unsubstantiated claims that the Middle Eastern country possessed weapons of mass destruction and posed an "imminent threat." No such weapons were ever found. Four years later, deposed leader Saddam Hussein has been executed, more than 3,200 US troops have been killed, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed and the country has degenerated into daily violence. Halifax protest organizer Stu Neatby said the demonstration wasn't designed to chide military personnel, but rather the heads of both the US and Canadian governments. "We are here to condemn the leaders who send these people into failed, ridiculous and ill-thought missions to fight their own kind of colonial wars," he said. In Ottawa, about 250 to 300 protesters gathered near the National Gallery and US embassy. "I'm out here today because my union is opposed to having troops in Afghanistan. We don't see any valid reason for them to be there," said Deborah Bourque from the National Association of Postal Workers. In Victoria, about 150 people took to downtown streets in a pouring rain. They gathered at city hall before marching to an Armed Forces recruiting office.