Posted on 10/17/2001 6:21:36 PM PDT by vannrox
BERKELEY, Calif., Oct. 17 (UPI) -- The left-wing bastion of Berkeley, Calif., narrowly voted Tuesday night to condemn U.S. military action in Afghanistan and not before the addition of an amendment denouncing the terrorist "mass murder" of thousands of Americans on Sept. 11.
The resolution, which passed on a 5-4 vote, was believed to be the first official statement by a U.S. city critical of the U.S. military response to the destruction of the World Trade Center and the damage to the Pentagon.
Although public opinion polls show the American public in favor of the military response by an unprecedented margin, former city council member Ying Lee Kelley urged the panel to "continue to honor Berkeley's tradition of opposition to brute force to solve profoundly difficult social problems."
Berkeley, home of the University of California at Berkeley campus, was the birthplace of the free speech movement in the 1960s with Mario Salvo and has been a hotbed of peace protests since the Vietnam War.
The San Francisco Chronicle said a recent poll of Berkeley students showed 65 percent were opposed to the U.S.-led bombing of Afghanistan.
While the Chronicle Wednesday described the council's makeup as split between leftist and centrists, there were a number of residents at Tuesday's meeting urging the resolution be defeated.
"War does solve something," said Kelso Barnett, the head of a conservative student group at the university. "Ask the people of Europe who were liberated after World War II."
The council passed the measure, however not before changing the wording to call for the bombing to end "as quickly as possible" rather than immediately.
At an Afghan restaurant in the "Little Kabul" district of nearby Fremont, home to the largest U.S. population of Afghan people, a couple who appeared to be in their 70s and had attended Berkeley, told United Press International that they had organized a group of 10-20 -- similar to the much larger group of 300 or so anti-war types in nearby Palo Alto -- that hold daily protests against the bombings and were gaining support from passersby.
"We get a lot of car horns honking and only an occasional call of 'traitor,'" said the woman, who declined to give her name, noting that the reception was encouraging given Fremont's overall conservative attitudes. "Smart bombs are not smart," she said, echoing the sentiment on the sign she holds up for Fremont traffic.
Hey! That would work for my house! I hereby declare my house an Anthrax Free Zone. Ahhhhhh, there. Whew, I feel a lot better now! That takes care of everything.
Bunch of hypocrites ...that is a perfect definition of what Socialism is!!
Ashamed of something?
Gee, they love Stalin and Lenin and Mao, and Ho and Jiang. I don't understand.
By taking this action, batteries and certain communications equipment necessary to law enforcement could not be purchased because those very companies made the equipment.
Our company had many a laugh with the cops and city/county employees would come in to purchase those items and vent their spleens over the ridiculous stipulations applied by people who do not understand actions have consequences. Which, I personally believe is why they do not understand the reason we are at war.
Looks like Berkeley will be starting up a recall election for the 4 right wing extremist wackos, eh?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.