Peace Activists Urge Berman to Take Stand : Middle East: Marching outside the congressman’s Valley office, a coalition of anti-war protesters condemns his silence on military intervention in Iraq.

About 50 anti-war protesters, many of them senior citizens, marched outside Rep. Howard L. Berman’s San Fernando Valley office for nearly two hours Friday afternoon, calling for negotiations instead of war in the Middle East.

Although Berman (D-Panorama City) has consistently supported economic sanctions against Iraq as the first line of defense, representatives of the protest group said his failure to publicly condemn going to war against Iraq amounts to condoning it.

“His failure to take a position really indicates a position,” said Gary Lipton, senior assemblyman with the California Senior Legislature. “The appalling silence is unbelievable to me.”

Berman--who was en route to Washington, D.C., and unavailable for comment Friday--has said in the past that he would not rule out low-level military intervention if sanctions did not work. During an interview in September, he said he feared that, if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s offensive capability were not throttled, the United States would face an increasingly fortified foe.

Lipton and others said they want Berman to support legislation proposed by Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.) that would give economic sanctions against Iraq at least a year to work before more drastic action is taken.

The protesters identified themselves as the newly formed Peace Coalition, which has drawn members from such groups as the Gray Panthers, Beyond War, the county Democratic Party and the Unitarian-Universalist Church.

They said they would continue their protests with visits to other San Fernando Valley representatives in the coming weeks.

During a meeting with some of the group’s representatives, Berman’s chief district aide--Fausto Capobianco--said he would see that Berman received the group’s message as soon as he landed in Washington.

“I know Howard has an ongoing concern in this area,” Capobianco said. “But not only did we not discuss it when he was here, I don’t know what he is thinking on the situation at all.”

Coalition leader Jo Seidita, prefacing her remarks by saying she didn’t “want to sound rude or pushy,” told Capobianco that she was disturbed by his response and that of spokesmen for other Valley congressmen.

“I’m somewhat overwhelmed to hear chief aides don’t know where their congressmen stand on this,” she said. “It’s astonishing.”

Many of the protesters were veteran peace marchers, having participated in anti-war efforts during the Vietnam War. But they said anti-war sentiment is far more widespread today than it was then.

“I was considered almost an enemy of the Democratic Party then,” Seidita said. “Now people are much more alert, much more aware, much more concerned.”