Everything seemed to be going swimmingly at a forum hosted by the conservative Heritage Foundation about Iraq on Thursday as the host finished introducing the day’s panel of experts who would debate progress in the unpopular, four-year war.

Then a middle-aged woman, dressed to match the think tank’s tony style, popped up onto the dais and announced a change in the program: the scheduled discussion would be delayed for a brief peace memorial honoring dead American soldiers.

A second woman rose to the dais with the bereaved father of a fallen U.S. soldier, who clutched his son’s uniform, boots and an American flag folded in funerary fashion into a blue triangle of stars.

A third held a pink banner that read: “Bring the Troops Home Now.”

CODEPINK, the feminist antiwar group that has been a constant presence at numerous congressional hearings dressed in pink, had penetrated an august center of conservative American political discourse and chaos soon erupted.

The organizers briefly tried to escort the activists from the stage, while a smattering of audience members attempted to shout them down. “This is un-American!” grumbled one aggrieved man in a business suit. 

In the end, with a C-SPAN camera filming, the Heritage Foundation gave the protesters about five minutes to make their presentation. It included a reading from a New York Times op-ed article criticizing the Pentagon that had been written by seven soldiers, including two who died in Baghdad on Monday.

CODEPINK activists also videotaped the spectacle and later posted it to YouTube.com.

The drama wasn’t over yet, however. With another half-dozen CODEPINK women in the audience, they managed to jar the atmosphere at least two more times.

The most boisterous was a woman in a dark pant suit who jumped onto the dais as the experts were speaking and loudly denounced both panel and audience.

“The country is falling apart! One million Iraqis have died since we invaded. One in every third child has died of starvation!” she shouted as U.S. Capitol Police (the first to respond to the request for police presence) removed her from the auditorium. “You are all complicit and so is the press!”

Police reported no arrests. A Heritage Foundation spokesman said he was not aware of any other protest being staged at one of the foundation’s events.  — David Morgan