| GEO World | | Protests mark 6th year of Iraq invasion | Updated at: 0503 PST, Saturday, March 21, 2009
 BAGHDAD: The sixth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 has been marked by anti-war protestors across Iraq and the US.
In Iraq, supporters of the Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demonstrated against the continued presence of US forces in Baghdad's Sadr City.
The thousands of protesters burned American flags as a senior aide to the cleric, Sheikh Haidar al-Jabari, called for a larger rally on April 9.
In Washington, a group of war veterans made a modest protest near the White House on Thursday morning. Known as Iraq Veterans Against the War, the group said it would hold a three-day vigil outside the White House to call for an end to the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.
IMG Adam Kokesh, who served in Iraq, was critical of President Barack Obama's Iraq and Afghanistan policies, saying, "Relabeling the remaining forces in Iraq 'non-combat troops' will not change the fact that these occupations are being perpetuated to maintain a criminal empire."
Protests took place throughout California's Bay Area to mark the sixth anniversary of the Iraq war.
In San Francisco, police handcuffed several war protesters who blocked a downtown intersection in the afternoon. Some of the protesters wore pink stickers which read "Make Out Not War" and others carried anti-war signs.
In New York, hundreds of protesters held a demonstration in Union Square, saying that while they welcomed change in the US government, they would not relent in urging Obama to accelerate the withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq.
Debra Sweet, 57, one of the protest organizers, told the media that the Obama administration has continued the policy of secret rendition of terrorism suspects. |  |
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