Anti-war activists bring their fight to congressional offices

WASHINGTON - It's not every day that Luke Ryan, an innkeeper from Washington state, yells at a congressman's chief of staff.

"I'm just furious. My mind is blown," said Ryan, 37 of Orcas Island, in a meeting Monday with the staff of Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., to protest the war in Iraq.

Ryan, along with nine other activists from his state, were part of a coordinated lobbying day by United for Peace and Justice, a non-profit coalition that organized Saturday's anti-war rally on the National Mall.

"I've never seen anything like this," Ryan said throwing his hands into the air and banging on the wall. "The country is united on its opposition to the surge" of 21,500 troops proposed by President Bush.