War of Wits

“This fight is about war” - Bay Area Code Pink

The Berkeley, California City Council has declared war on the US Marine Corps.

On January 29, 2007, the Peace and Justice Commission of the Berkeley City Council recommended that the City Manager study the city’s options for running the US Marine Corps out of Berkeley. The recommendation referred to the Marines as a “violent influence”, directed the City Manager to send letters to the Shattuck Avenue Marine Corps recruiting station and the Commandant of the Corps telling them that the recruiting office was not welcome in their city and threatening the Marines that if they chose to stay in Berkeley, that they did so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders.

Code Pink jumped on the Berkeley bandwagon with an initiative to force the Marines out of Berkeley using zoning ordinances that would impose the same restrictions on Marine Corps recruiting stations as a porn shop or sex offender on parole. Not to be outdone by Berkeley’s bombast, Bay Area Code Pink referred to the Marine recruiters as “invaders” in their web action alert.

Adding fuel to the fire, in a move that could have only come from an episode of “Married… With Children”, Council members Linda Maio and Max Anderson further recommended that Code Pink be given a waiver for a $36.00 sound permit and a reserved parking space directly in front of the recruiting center every Wednesday from noon to 4 P.M. for the next 6 months so they can hold baby playgroups and breast-feeding circles while protesting the continued occupation of the People’s Republic of Berkeley by the Marines.

Several reasons were cited for these attacks. Among others: 

• As an “agent” of the US government, the Marine Corps was morally responsible for President Bush’s illegal war.
• Because they oppose open homosexuality, the Marines are in violation of Berkeley’s anti-discrimination laws.
• According to Code Pink, the Marines habitually lie to their recruits about benefits and job training.

Not surprisingly, it didn’t take long for a significant national backlash to erupt over the tactics employed by Berkeley. And lacking the courage of their convictions, on February 12, 2008, two members of the Berkeley City council recommended to rescind the Council’s communication to the Commandant and the recruiters that the Marines were unwelcome, while maintaining that they support those who voluntarily defend the country “in time of need”, but not the actions of the current administration.

You simply cannot offer your support for our military, but not their mission. It just doesn’t work that way. It is an absolute certainty that those who oppose this war will find some reason to oppose all wars, no matter how justified. The Berkeley City Council took sides, found their position to be extremely unpopular outside of Berkeley, and is now trying to be all things to all people, supporting the military, but opposing the war. Americans cannot choose which missions they will support from their living rooms any more than the Ehren Watada’s of America can choose which wars to fight in. Our defense capabilities would collapse. But that’s what Berkeley and Code Pink want…

The Code Pink Harpys are simply wrong on the recruiting issue. The publicly documented incidents where recruiters were allegedly caught lying about anything all involved Army recruiters. The US Marines, with very few exceptions, have consistently met their recruiting targets for decades - war or no war. They don’t need recruiting gimmicks because recruits come knocking regardless. I challenge Cindy Sheehan or any of her gargoyles to put forth one documented case where a USMC recruiter lied to a prospective Marine.

What about the free speech rights of the Marines and their recruiters? Apparently in fascist Berkeley, if your speech does not conform to their standards, you have no right to exercise it. While claiming to be the birthplace of free speech, the city of Berkeley is actively suppressing speech they don’t agree with. You cannot possibly claim the mantle of free speech champion unless you support even the most unpopular speech. The city of Berkeley is exercising sedition and fascism, not freedom.

Liberal protest movements –particularly the current antiwar movement– have (ironically) become increasingly militant in how they choose to operate. Just as with Vietnam when protesters spat in the faces of men returning from battle, they now come out of the sewer like rats to gnaw at the toes and ankles of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines; infecting this nation with their black plague of cowardice and defeatism. 

The difference between Vietnam and Iraq, however, is that the current movement has learned their lesson from the previous generation. Today, when the antiwar movement bitchslaps the faces of our men in uniform, with a smirk on their face, they proclaim they’re doing so out of love.

If this is truly how Berkeley feels about having military recruiters fouling up their good city, then not just the Marines, but the Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard and Coast Guard should all pack up and double-time out of there, leaving  Berkeley to their debauchery. The city should then be systematically stripped of all federal funding; all disaster aid, pork projects, earmarks, emergency housing assistance, Homeland Security funding, gourmet lunches, cultural, arts and transportation funding; and bleed these self-absorbed snobs dry of every federal penny.