About a dozen Iraqi war protesters chose April 15th, tax day, to picket outside the main post office in Des Moines. They carried signs that said "Invest in America, not Endless War in Iraq."
Jim Mauer of Des Moines returned from Iraq in July of 2007 after serving in Anbar Province, the western part of Iraq, for 15 months. Mauer says he turned against the war when it became clear to him that the U.S. had no strategy to win it.
"Right now in Iraq, you know, we’re carrying out a policy when we don’t have a realistic and comprehensive plan for victory or a plan to redeploy responsibly," Mauer says. Mauer says his disillusion with the war began while he was on the ground in Iraq.
"There was no realistic plan in place. We were on the ground and it felt like we were just treading water. We weren’t making progress," Mauer says. "We weren’t looking forward to tomorrow. We weren’t looking for which we could stand up the Iraqi government and redeploy."
Mauer now directs the Iowa chapter of a group called Vote Vets-dot-org . Mauer favors a plan advanced by former presidential candidate Joe Biden that would give more power to local governments in Iraq.