Last month, the anti-war women group CODEPINK St.Louis drove through the night to New Orleans for V-Day, the 10th anniversary of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues”, and to share in the struggle and celebration of 1,200 women who returned to New Orleans after being previously displace by Hurricane Katrina.

Anti-war group St. Louis Instead of War Coalition will have a protest in Clayton Wednesday, marking the anniversary of the Iraq War, which began this week five years ago.

Several hundred war protesters will stand in-between the two-and-a-half blocks from Senator Christopher “Kit” Bond’s office at the corner of Hanley and Bonhomme to the office of a Boeing subcontractor in the 7700 block of Forsyth.

The protest will last from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

The anti-war group is calling for an end to all funding for the war with the exception of money to withdraw troops from the region. The group also wants the US government to commit funds to the reconstruction of Iraq through international organizations once the withdrawal is complete.

This protest is in conjunction with similar protests that will take place throughout the country Wednesday.

Protesters are singling out Sen. Bond because of his connections with Boeing and other military contractors. The group claims Bond has received half-a-million dollars in campaign contributions from these companies, more than any other senator.

This afternoon, more than 200 Washington University students and St. Louis citizens gathered together to protest former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as he came to speak at Washington University.

Gonzales was invited to speak by the Wash. U. College Republicans, who, in conjunction with the Wash. U. Student Union executive board, paid him $30,000 to speak. Students and community members upset with the decision of the Wash. U. groups and the actions of Alberto Gonzales protested outside of the building.

Protesters marched up Delmar and Big Bend dressed in orange jumpsuits like the one worn by prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison shouting “Stop torture now, A-L-B-E-R-T-O, shut down Guantanamo” and other chants chastising the actions of Gonzales. While some protesters wanted to “let Washington University know that they have made a bad mistake in paying Mr. Gonzales to speak,” others agreed with the decision to bring him to Wash. U. but still wanted to make sure that people understood the problems with his views on torture and disregard for the Geneva Conventions.

In his speech, Gonzales addressed the protesters by mentioning that oftentimes some of the biggest protesters don’t even vote. He challenged protesters and students alike to “step into the arena” and serve their country. Gonzales said he “disagreed with those who say [Americans] have lost our way,” and explained that he believed current United State enemies did not deserve all the specific protections of the Geneva Conventions because they were not fighting lawfully. When asked how he would react to American soldiers being waterboarded, Gonzales said there was a distinction between American soldiers and their enemies because American soldiers fight lawful wars. As a result, his reaction to waterboarding American soldiers would be, “Don’t do that. Shouldn’t do that.”

Gonzales received a combination of boos and applause for his speech and was interrupted once by a sophomore who shouted “Perjurer, you broke the law; You should be in jail,” before walking out of the speech.

When former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales steps onto the campus of Washington University tonight, he will be met with a the familiar scene of hooded figures wearing bright orange prison jumpsuits—the kind made famous infamous by the photos of prisoner mistreatment at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

A coalition of student and community protesters will be staging the demonstration as part of a protest of the the Student Union’s decision to pay the controversial former Attorney General $30,000 to speak on the campus.

Adam Shriver, leader of the Wash. U. Peace Coalition, hopes the protests will show that many Wash U. students do not support Gonzales or the war and tactics he defended while in the Bush administration.