TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - About 150 people - those opposed to the Iraq War and those supporting it - gathered noisily outside the Tacoma Mall office building on Saturday as a protest marking the upcoming fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

Dozens of police officers, including some in full SWAT gear, served as a buffer zone separating the two sides.

The protest targeted the office building because of U.S. military recruiting stations located in it and because of its proximity to Fort Lewis, wihch has sent thousands of troops to fight in Iraq. Since the war began nearly five years ago, 179 Fort Lewis-based soldiers have died there.

Protesters held anti-war signs and banners, while counter-protesters waved American flags. The demonstrators shouted insults at each other and each side attempted to out-yell the other side.

Fort Lewis officials had warned soldiers stationed at the base to steer clear of Tacoma Mall this weekend because of the protest. But that didn't stop some members of the military community from showing up in support of the war effort.

Protesters held up photos of Iraq detainees tortured at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghad. They also laid out 281 pairs of shoes on the sidewalk in front of the building, including 81 pairs of combat boots that carried tags bearing the name of a U.S. military member killed in Iraq who listed Washington as his or her home state. The protesters said the 200 pairs of shoes represented the 200-to-1 ratio of the Iraqi-to-American death rate.

"We have created a religious civil war over there and there's no military solution to it," said anti-war protester Nathan Bowling. "There's people dying every day and there's people suffering and yet we go on about our business."

Vietnam War veteran Roger Ford also stood with the anti-war protesters. He said he's never supported the Iraq War and he doesn't like what he's seen.

"I know what it's like to be a in a war zone, and I think it's time for the Iraqi people to stand up and stop having our troops as referees in a civil war," he said.

But Shelley Weber, a counter-protester who supports the military, wasn't persuaded.

"We're not going to put up with this (anti-war protest)," she said. "We see what they're doing around the nation in recruiters' offices down in Berkeley, New York and elsewhere. It's a disgrace to our military."