Protesters hit streets on Iraq War anniversary

A few hundred protesters banging drums and waving banners that read "Was it worth it" took to the streets for a parade that blocked morning traffic.

Demonstrators also converged in Ohio, where more than 20 vigils, rallies, marches and other events were planned.

In New York City, women sang songs and counted out the war dead outside the military recruiting station in Times Square, which was recently the target of a bomb.

Half a dozen war protesters in Miami dressed in black placed flowers outside the U.S. Southern Command during rush-hour Wednesday morning.

Facing off at recruiting office
Outside a military recruitment office in Washington, protesters were met by a handful of counterdemonstrators, one of several shows of support for the war and the troops.

Colby Dillard, who held a sign reading, "We support our brave military and their just mission," pointed to some red paint that one of the war protesters had splattered on the sidewalk.

"The same blood was spilled to give you the right to do what you're doing," said Dillard, who said he served in Iraq in 2003.

Earlier, about 150 people, mostly with the group Veterans for Peace, marched down Independence Avenue. Many of them carried upside-down American flags, which they said symbolized a nation in distress.

Daniel Black, who was stationed in Fallujah with the Marines in 2004, said he came to believe the war was a mistake after he returned.

"The more I read the more it just didn't add up," said the 25-year-old, a student at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

A couple of miles away at the American Petroleum Institute, protesters chanted "No blood for oil!" and tried to block traffic by sitting in the street and linking arms. At least once, they were dragged away by police.

Vandals in Milwaukee damaged the front door of an Army recruiting center and spray-painted anti-war graffiti across its front windows. Milwaukee police said the vandalism occurred Monday night or Tuesday.

The Iraq war has been unpopular both abroad and in the United States, although an Associated Press-Ipsos poll in December showed that growing numbers think the U.S. is making progress and will eventually be able to claim some success in Iraq.

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