Code Pink demonstrates against Marines in "the belly of the beast"

[conradd]

On September 26, Code Pink members staged an after hours demonstration 9/26 protest in front of a Marine Corps recruiting office that happened to be in San Francisco.

Marge Lasky, a member of Grandmothers Against the War, said she had no idea that the office was there.

“I am pretty shocked it’s here,” she said. “Why would the marines come into the belly of the beast? Either they are really desperate for recruitment or they think they can get people by being near Berkeley High and the university.”

Kali Steel from Code Pink said the group would protest in front of the office every Wednesday until it was shut down.

“This is exactly where our kids hang out,” she said. “We don’t want military recruiters in Berkeley.”

“Keep it up,” said a lady in a silver Toyota. “We love what you do.”

No one came to drag the protesters away as they stood waving banners and talking for almost two hours.

“It’s my first-amendment right,” Budd said smiling. “Who’s going to stop me?”

Ironic when one considers that Marines, for the last 231+ years have fought, bled, and died to protect her first-amendment right.

In response, Cpt. Richard Lund, USMC officer selection officer for the northern Bay Area wrote this open letter to the Code Pink demonstrators:

While the protest that you staged in front of my office on Wednesday, Sept. 26th, was an exercise of your constitutional rights, the messages that you left behind were insulting, untrue, and ultimately misdirected. Additionally, from the comments quoted in the Berkeley Daily Planet article, it is clear that you have no idea what it is that I do here. Given that I was unaware of your planned protest, I was unable to contest your claims in person, so I will therefore address them here.

First, a little bit about who I am: I am a Marine captain with over eight years of service as a commissioned officer. I flew transport helicopters for most of my time in the Marine Corps before requesting orders to come here. Currently, I am the officer selection officer for the northern Bay Area. My job is to recruit, interview, screen, and evaluate college students and college graduates that show an interest in becoming officers in the Marine Corps. Once they’ve committed to pursuing this program, I help them apply, and if selected, I help them prepare for the rigors of Officer Candidate School and for the challenges of life as a Marine officer. To be eligible for my programs, you have to be either a full-time college student or a college graduate. I don’t pull anyone out of school, and high school students are not eligible.

I moved my office to Berkeley in December of last year. Previously, it was located in an old federal building in Alameda. That building was due to be torn down and I had to find a new location. I choose our new site because of its proximity to UC Berkeley and to the BART station. Most of the candidates in my program either go to Cal or to one of the schools in San Francisco, the East Bay, or the North Bay. Logistically, the Shattuck Square location was the most convenient for them.

Next, you claim that I lie. I have never, and will never, lie to any individual that shows an interest in my programs. I am upfront with everything that is involved at every step of the way and I go out of my way to ensure that they know what to expect when they apply. I tell them that this is not an easy path. I tell them that leading Marines requires a great deal of self-sacrifice. I tell them that, should they succeed in their quest to become a Marine officer, they will almost certainly go to Iraq. In the future, if you plan to attack my integrity, please have the courtesy to explain to me specifically the instances in which you think that I lied.

Next, scrawled across the doorway to my office, you wrote, “Recruiters are Traitors.” Please explain this one. How exactly am I a traitor? Was I a traitor when I joined the Marine Corps all those years ago? Is every Marine, therefore, a traitor? Was I a traitor during my two stints in Iraq? Was I a traitor when I was delivering humanitarian aid to the victims of the tsunami in Sumatra? Or do you only consider me a traitor while I am on this job? The fact is, recruitment is and always has been a part of maintaining any military organization. In fact, recruitment is a necessity of any large organization. Large corporations have employees that recruit full-time. Even you, I’m sure, must expend some effort to recruit for Code Pink. So what, exactly, is it that makes me a traitor?

The fact is this: any independent nation must maintain a military (or be allied with those who do) to ensure the safety and security of its citizens. Regardless of what your opinions are of the current administration or the current conflict in Iraq, the U.S. military will be needed again in the future. If your counter-recruitment efforts are ultimately successful, who will defend us if we are directly attacked again as we were at Pearl Harbor? Who would respond if a future terrorist attack targets the Golden Gate Bridge, the BART system, or the UC Berkeley clock tower? And, to address the most hypocritical stance that your organization takes on its website, where would the peace keeping force come from that you advocate sending to Darfur?

Finally, I believe that your efforts in protesting my office are misdirected. I agree that your stated goals of peace and social justice are worthy ones. War is a terrible thing that should only be undertaken in the most dire, extreme, and necessary of circumstances. However, war is made by politicians. The conflict in Iraq was ordered by the president and authorized by Congress. They are the ones who have the power to change the policy in Iraq, not members of the military. We execute policy to the best of our ability and to the best of our human capacity. Protesting in front of my office may be an easy way to get your organization in the headlines of local papers, but it doesn’t further any of your stated goals.

To conclude, I don’t consider myself a “recruiter.” I am a Marine who happens to be on recruiting duty. As such, I conduct myself in accordance with our core values of honor, courage, and commitment. I will never sacrifice my honor by lying to anyone that walks into my office. I will never forsake the courage that it takes to restrain myself in the face of insulting and libelous labels like liar and traitor. And, most importantly, I will never waver from my commitment to helping individuals who desire to serve their country as officers in the Marine Corps.

In a follow-up story on 10/5, [Code Pink demonstrators said "they think it is inappropriate to have a military recruitment office in a town that has passed a number of anti-war resolutions."

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Code Pink happens to oppose military recruitment nationally, it's one of their many campaigns in their multi-pronged anti-war agenda. I guess I don't know if this thread is for collecting and discussing stories about San Francisco groups to amass evidence that all or a majority of San Franciscoans hate the military, or if we're discussing Code Pink's agenda, or if we're talking about how some protesters let passion get in the way of their common sense and public image, or what.

[hadassahchana[$]]

I absolutely LOVE that letter! I always appreciate when soemone refutes wildeyed hysteria with calm reason. As for the Code Pink lady, her last statement pretty much says it all.

[conradd]

mjfrombuffalo said

Code Pink happens to oppose military recruitment nationally, it's one of their many campaigns in their multi-pronged anti-war agenda. I guess I don't know if this thread is for collecting and discussing stories about San Francisco groups to amass evidence that all or a majority of San Franciscoans hate the military, or if we're discussing Code Pink's agenda, or if we're talking about how some protesters let passion get in the way of their common sense and public image, or what.

Well, it's a San Francisco story and the quotes were referring to San Francisco events. I thought about starting a new thread, but it just seemed to fit here.

[erik_kosberg]

I guess I don't know if this thread is...

It's the two-debunked-non-stories-but-will-not-die-so-why-not-point-out-how-treasonous-those-dammned-libbies-are thread.

[AuntieEmma[$]]

conradd said

Well, it's a San Francisco story and the quotes were referring to San Francisco events. I thought about starting a new thread, but it just seemed to fit here.

In the real world, Berkeley is not a part of San Francisco, and events that occur in Berkeley do not simultaneously (magically!) occur in San Francisco as well.

However, I suppose that in the Fantasy Universe where "San Francisco" is not a real place that exists in actual geographically mapable space, but rather exists in the imagination of passionate haters of all things "liberal," and where the repetition of tales of events is important for its rhetorical value, whether or not the events actually occurred as described or even occurred at all, then demonstrations that occur on Berkeley's Shattuck Avenue can be used as proof of the evil that is embodied by the City and County of San Francisco -- an evil that is so great that it cannot be contained by normal geographical boundaries.

So, yes, in that sense the story does "seem to fit here."

[realtraveller]

Code Pink has no idea how this behavior turns off the the vast majority of Americans and belies the mantra of 'but we support the troops'.

[jgibson2[$]]

Can we have a new thread for this story so we can talk about it?

I learned 2 things so far, though. I had never realized that Berkeley is much closer to SF than say Baltimore is to Annapolis (less than 20 miles). Yes, across a body of water, but then so is Annapolis. Different political jurisdictions, same state.

The other thing I learned was just how clever Marine recruiters are. Not only did this one select a location likely to be convenient to potential recruits, he managed to place it where it would draw much attention from protestors, thus making it that much easier for potential recruits to find.

Oh, and I love his letter.

[AuntieEmma[$]]

Hoboken is a lot closer to Manhattan than Berkeley is to San Francisco, and those 2 cities are also separated by a body of water, so I suggest it would be relevant to tell about things that happened in New Jersey and call them "New York stories about New York events" in order to prove points about the moral deficiencies of New Yorkers. It's all East Coast stuff anyway, and we all know about those East Coasters.

[erik_kosberg]

realtraveller said

Code Pink has no idea how this behavior turns off the the vast majority of Americans and belies the mantra of 'but we support the troops'.

Wild guess? The "vast majority of Americans" have probably never even heard of Code Pink so they can be turned off only in some imaginary and entirely hypothetical way.

[jgibson2[$]]

AuntieEmma said

Hoboken is a lot closer to Manhattan than Berkeley is to San Francisco, and those 2 cities are also separated by a body of water, so I suggest it would be relevant to tell about things that happened in New Jersey and call them "New York stories about New York events" in order to prove points about the moral deficiencies of New Yorkers. It's all East Coast stuff anyway, and we all know about those East Coasters.

So you didn't notice my request for a new thread or you're intentionally being obtuse?

[AuntieEmma[$]]

Erik said

... only in some imaginary and entirely hypothetical way.

But imaginary and hypothetical events are so much more interesting and instructive than real ones.

[jgibson2[$]]

erik_kosberg said

Wild guess? The "vast majority of Americans" have probably never even heard of Code Pink so they can be turned off only in some imaginary and entirely hypothetical way.

First I've heard of them and turned off isn't the word. Amused, perhaps. "Fun" methods for protest? When I engage in protest, it's not a game. If they don't take themselves seriously, how can they possibly expect anyone else to do so?

[AuntieEmma[$]]

jgibson2 said

So you didn't notice my request for a new thread or you're intentionally being obtuse?

And did I stop beating my wife?

Yes, I noticed your request for a new thread, but I was responding to your other comment about distance, and also to Deb's comments about how what she posted were "San Francisco stories about San Francisco events" (statements which would still be untrue even if they resided in another thread, or in another universe for that matter).

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

IMO, I'd have thought that since it's Deb's story, it's Deb's option to post as a new thread - or yours, Judy, since you want to talk about it (and I would probably join you). I didn't think it would be Emma's responsiblity to do so, especially since she's talking about her perception of San Francisco-bashing (which has been in this thread) rather than the particular story itself (which is what I think you want to talk about).

[jgibson2[$]]

Apparently not, and while disregarding the part of that paragraph which indicated that I was aware that they are different political jurisdictions.

[jgibson2[$]]

mjfrombuffalo said

IMO, I'd have thought that since it's Deb's story, it's Deb's option to post as a new thread - or yours, Judy, since you want to talk about it (and I would probably join you). I didn't think it would be Emma's responsiblity to do so, especially since she's talking about her perception of San Francisco-bashing (which has been in this thread) rather than the particular story itself (which is what I think you want to talk about).

The original request wasn't directed to Emma, although she seems to think it was as it triggered more snarkiness.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

No, but

So you didn't notice my request for a new thread or you're intentionally being obtuse?

was.

[drmomentum[$]]

I'm a little afraid of Code Pink.