Protesters gather for Iraq War anniversary

WILMINGTON — “End the war.” That’s the message protesters silently displayed to drivers. 2008 marks five years since the beginning of the war in Iraq.

Lynn Heritage of Grandmothers For Peace is ready for the troops to come home. She remembers the negative effects war had on her as a little girl. “One of my early childhood memories was being awakened at night by my father screaming from the memories he had from the Korean war, and I’ve carried that with me, and personally I don’t want that to happen to any children, for their dad or their mom to scream from the terrors that they encountered from the war,” she said.

Some believe the protesters are being un-patriotic and un-supportive of U.S. troops, but protesters argue that the numbers speak for themselves. Nearly 4,000 soldiers have died since 2003. Billions of dollars are being spent to keep the war going — a sign to Lynn, that the mission has failed.

“The best support we can give them is to bring them home and get them out of harms way and get them back with they’re family’s where they belong,” Heritage said.

That won’t happen anytime soon. President Bush has vowed to veto any bill with a timeline for a troop withdrawal. So it’ll be up to the next Commander in Chief to decide whether to pull out of Iraq, or stay put.