Former Stanford provost ,alum and oil tanker namesake, Condoleeza Rice was confronted before her testimony in a House chamber today with a Code Pink member waving bloody hands in her face. Bay Area congressman and chairman of the House Foreign Relations committee Tom Lantos shouted “Out!,” while Desiree Anita Ali-Fairooz, the red paint wearing woman protester, was hauled away shouting “War Criminal! War Criminal!”.

Seconds later in a video, one catches the violent take down of more Code Pink members by Capitol security for who knows what offense, possibly wearing the same pink shirt too many times to the building. 5 demonstrators in all were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, including locally based activist Medea Benjamin.

It’s not the first time Code Pink has disrupted Rice. At a Commonwealth Club event in May, Benjamin and three others interrupted a speech by The Secretary of State at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall shouting “Stop the torture. Stop the killing. U.S. out of Iraq,” as police led them out of the auditorium.

Short video clip of Condoleeza’s less than enthused groupies at the Capitol building below…

The latest White House spokesperson, Dana Perino, referenced the day’s incident in her briefing and called it “despicable,” adding that it “seems that, increasingly, Congress is being run by Code Pink.”

House speaker Pelosi might challenge that assertion, as she herself has long tired of Code Pink’s visits to her offices here and in Washington, especially after they settled in to hold overnight vigils this year at her Pac Heights home under the name Camp Pelosi. The activists are outraged not only about the Iraq war, but the failures of the Democratic party controlled Congress to end the bloody billion upon billion dollar boondoggle.

As the demonstrators were dragged away loudly today from the hearing room, Condoleeza could be heard feigning nonchalant polite chit chat and small talk…

Ironically, polite chit chat is just the sort of activity she can’t ever seem to find the time to do with certain countries, especially when it’s considered more expeditious to threaten or attack them.

On Tuesday, Medea Benjamin was previously seen in DC protesting the Canadian embassy after she was refused admittance into that country recently due to her vociferous anti war protesting activities in the U.S. She attempted to enter our northerly neighbor earlier this month with Ann Wright, a retired U.S. army colonel and career diplomat who resigned in opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Both were told by Canadian border guards that their names appeared in an FBI database as criminals and were therefore “inadmissible.” Benjamin said that the data referenced three arrests she’d had for non-violent protesting since 2003, including activities at the Capitol, UN and outside the The White House. Despite the onslaught of questionable daily activities in these buildings, they are apparently considered by authorities as places where crimes are not permitted, but speaking about them is. Go figger that logic…

photo: copyright 2007 – World Photo Network –
Code Pink protester taken Oct 17th at Senate Judiciary hearings for Attorney General designate Mukasey

This weekend sees a big outdoor public protest coming to San Francisco and other parts of the country, as the Oct 27th coalition stages mass demonstrations in several cities across the country. Spending on the war thus far has exceeded over $465,000,000,000 tax dollars.

While most Americans oppose the war, politicians in charge of it in DC apparently see no end in sight.