Not many criminals want their names spelled right when booked into jail.

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But then Ann Mauney, 65, of Lake Claire and her nine partners in crime aren't most criminals.

First, they are older women; mostly grandmothers, who normally would never have their mugshots taken.

And, second they wanted to be arrested.

The Atlanta Police arrested the women, ages 57 to 80, for criminal trespass on Monday after they converged on the Army recruiting office off of Ponce de Leon in Midtown. The women said they were there to enlist and refused to leave when they were rejected.

They called themselves "Grandmothers for Peace," a play off "Veterans for Peace," whose members will lead a larger protest Wednesday back to the Army recruiting station at the Midtown Place Shopping Center to mark the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. They are part of the Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition.

The women arrested Monday, who were released on their own recognizance after about 10 hours in the booking area of the Fulton County jail, were brought together by their opposition to the war. Some, like Mauney are retired teachers, others are retired social workers or therapists, and at least two claim ties to the armed services.

They said they represented the metro area — from Little Five Points to Snellville— and while the Grandmothers for Peace may be more representative of the liberal wing of American politics, the war had brought together protestors from across party lines.

"There were two Republicans in that group," said Gloria Tatum, 65, of Decatur, who was arrested Monday. "We were bipartisan."

The women, who have 26 grandchildren between them, acknowledged that none have any children or grandchildren serving in Iraq.

"We consider all young people — including Iraqi children and US soldiers sent to kill and be killed in Iraq a- to be our children," said lifelong Republican Doris Benit, 80, of Kennesaw. "We believe our young people were sent to Iraq on a web of lies and deceit.

"We believe they are being used as cannon fodder in an illegal and unjustified war against a nation which posed no threat to us."

They came up with the idea of staging an enlistment stunt , saying they wanted to enlist so that a younger soldier could come home. The group feared that the public was forgetting about the war.

"We were trying to get media attention," Mauney said Tuesday night. "We are very distraught that the Iraq occupation is on the back burner and not on the front pages."

Mauney said she believes that many of the enlistees are drawn into the service for economic reasons and the promise of big bonuses. She doubted that many joined because they believed in the war.

Reminded they could have chosen another branch of service, Mauney said, " The Coast Guard doesn't spend as much money on advertising as the Army and I think that makes the difference."

The "Grandmothers for Peace" plan a press conference before the coalition's larger protest Wednesday that will come during evening rush hour.

On Wednesday, the coalition plans to march back to the Midtown Army recruiting station in the Midtown Place Shopping Center, across from City Hall East, following five coffins, from the intersection of Freedom Parkway at Ponce de Leon at 5 p.m in hope of focusing public attention on the Iraq War. The coffins represent what the coalition says is the victims of the war: U.S. troops, the Iraqi people, the economy, justice and the truth.

Monday's arrest was the second for Mauney, who said she was arrested in 1970 in a protest march in Atlanta on behalf sanitation workers. She said another of the women had been arrested during a civil rights march in the 1960s.

On Wednesday, she said, the protestors will have a permit to march so they won't fear arrest. Their biggest worry will be the weather.

"I'm hearing there will be thunderstorms (Wednesday) and that will determine how many people we have," Tatum said. "If we have bad thunder and lighting, it may be canceled but we're hoping we can run between the raindrops."