"They were unable to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but we found them right here in Sunnyvale," said protest organizer Blair Thedinger.

"Weapons (are) being used against the Iraqi people in an unjust, illegal and amoral U.S. invasion," he said.

"To stop the war, we must stop the military-industrial complex driving the war", said Shahrzad Rose Broome, an Iranian-American student at Santa Clara University student.

"We're trying to pressure the government to change its policy," said Jessica Jenkins, student of international relations at nearby Stanford University.

"This is a nonviolent action" yelled the crowd as police on horseback began to clear protesters from one intersection.

Carrying signs reading, "War is a terrorist act," "Support our troops: Bring them home now," and "Welcome to Silicon Death Valley," a group of nearly 300 protestors, largely students from nearby universities, arrived before dawn and blocked three main intersections surrounding the Lockheed Martin Space and Strategic Missile facility in this town some 60 miles south of San Francisco.

Organized by the San Francisco Bay Area umbrella group Direct Action to Stop the War, protesters formed chains, their hands linked together through "lock boxes" made of plastic or metal tubes.

"Today's actions will in no way shift our focus in supporting our men and women who voluntarily put themselves in harm's way," said Steve Tatum, spokesman for Lockheed Martin Space Systems, in a telephone interview.

According to Direct Action to Stop the War, Lockheed manufactures the key tactical strike weapons used in the war against Iraq. Included among these weapons are AUP-3(M) Depleted Uranium missiles and anti-personnel landmines, said the peace activists.

"Even among weapons manufacturers, Lockheed stands alone in its total disregard for the human and environmental impacts of its production," explained Valarie Kaur Brar a Stanford University student.

"Lockheed blatantly violates human rights by continuing to produce anti-personnel landmines and depleted uranium weapons which have been banned by international human rights law."

SPACE.WIRE