When antiwar speech turns seditious (Michelle Malkin)

townhall ^ | April 9, 2003 | Michelle Malkin

[TLBSHOW]

When antiwar speech turns seditious

They've trashed 9-11 memorials. Blocked streets. Burned flags. Shut down bridges. Marched on Broadway. And trampled across the National Mall.

They've thrown stones at a uniformed female member of the Vermont National Guard, and hurled pie at a Bay Area television reporter deemed too pro-war.

They've carried signs that read "We support our troops when they shoot their own officers" and "Don't impeach Bush . . . execute him."

They've publicly wished for "a million Mogadishus" and privately hoped for 100 new bin Ladens.

They've issued manifestos calling for sabotage of military establishments in the name of peace. They've organized "die-ins" in the name of justice. And they've conducted "vomit-fests" to uphold their warped view of the American way.

The antiwar mobsters have gotten away with all this and more. But on Monday, one city finally drew the line.

In Oakland, Calif., local police arrested dozens of antiwar activists who flouted their free-speech rights in a treacherous attempt to shut down a port involved in shipping military supplies to soldiers during wartime. Elsewhere in the Bay Area, several others were cited for crossing a police line outside the Concord Naval Weapons Station; seven more face felony charges for stopping traffic nearby on Interstate 280.

Oakland officials say that the self-proclaimed pacifists, who still fancy themselves the righteous heirs of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., hurled concrete, wood, and iron bolts at cops. In self-defense, the outnumbered police fired appropriately named "dummy" bullets, sting balls, and bean bags at the unruly crowds.

Sporting grapefruit-sized welts and bruises -- their very own red badges of incorrigibility! -- the Oakland rabble-rousers wheedled that the cops were too "aggressive."

"I've never seen this level of violence in response to a community picket," complained David Solnit, a "veteran of two decades of civil disobedience" who helped coordinate Monday's blockade through an outfit called Direct Action to Stop the War.

But this was not your organic garden-variety "community picket."

The antiwar obstructionists did not set out simply to exercise their own free speech. They set out deliberately and specifically to prevent private businesses from fulfilling their federal contracts with the Department of Defense and U.S. Agency for International Development related to the war and post-war reconstruction in Iraq.

Cyprus Gonzalez, 19, of Oakland, who was struck during the port melee, made his and his antiwar collaborators' intentions clear: "It's direct. Here, we're actually trying to shut the place down for a day, to take a strike straight at the actual machine of the war."

The antiwar mob's primary target at the Port of Oakland was American President Lines, a longtime carrier of military cargo. According to the firm, all but two of the company's ships went into military service during World War I. In World War II, the company controlled hundreds of Liberty and Victory ships that carried troops and ammunition through enemy waters. APL provided converted commercial ships for the first Gulf War. And for Operation Iraqi Freedom, the carrier has made nine of its vessels available to the DOD in order to move ammunition and sustainment cargo to support U.S. military forces.

The Oakland punks weren't simply standing on the sidewalks outside APL chanting their mindless antiwar slogans. They were blocking its trucks, employees, entryways, and streets in order to stop the shipment of things like bullets, rations, lubricants, medical supplies, repair parts and chemical defense equipment to our troops.

These bolt-throwing peaceniks also targeted Stevedoring Services of America, which recently won a contract for assessment and a year's operation of the Port of Umm Qasr in Iraq. The firm will also handle 3 million tons of humanitarian aid.

So in addition to trying to block ammo and gas masks for our soldiers, the antiwar extremists also took a bold stand against sending food and medicine to Iraqi civilians.

Nice going, do-gooders.

Make no mistake: This continued campaign of "direct action" against private businesses and military establishments is not antiwar speech. It's anti-soldier, anti-cop, anti-American sedition. The Oakland police deserve medals of honor for appreciating the difference.

[maranatha]

I don't want to miss one MM. Please ping me

[P-Marlowe]

You're right, it isn't funny to see that little welt on her face. It would have been much funnier if it had put out an eye.

[Reagan Man]

>>> ... local police arrested dozens of antiwar activists who flouted their free-speech rights in a treacherous attempt to shut down a port involved in shipping military supplies to soldiers during wartime.

"[T]he right of the people peaceably to assemble ".
These people abused their constitutional right. This was insurrection against lawful authority. If they want to assemble peacefully and to demonstrate their antiwar views, that's fine. This type of public behavior is sedition.

[Burkeman1]

Fine - mow them down. I am sure you would pull the trigger. But somehow I don't think the law would protect you (or anyone in this administration) in that you were executing "traitors".

[Burkeman1]

Ah- nice.

[Ben Bolt]

Have you thought this post out to some degree after you wrote it Burke ?

[Lx]

OUCH, was that from a rubber bullet? As much as I despise these nitwits, what happens if they get hit in the eye or something?

Was she peaceably protesting or was she throwing rocks at the cops? Once they turn violent, then all bets are off. I refuse to believe that the cops would just shoot at someone peaceably protesting. Man, don't they use tear gas anymore?

I sure hope they took her to the hospital before jail.

Is that a tattoo on the side of her nose or is it a piercing? I wonder if she has a broken jaw or worse as well.

[SAJ]

Try to understand the very simple concept that 'sabotage' and 'treason' are two entirely different crimes.

I know ya can do it if ya try.

[Petruchio]

But to laugh and chuckle at some dopey woman protestor who got whoppled in the chin and is in pain- is a little over the top in my view.

The stupid bitch deserved more than a little welt on the chin. Attemppting to block needed supplies from getting to our troops is aiding and abeting the enemy. She deserves to be shot on sight as an enemy agent.

[Burkeman1]

Huh?

[TLBSHOW]

bump

[SENTINEL]

I do not delight in the shedding of blood, but do delight in boxing. We marines were always whacking each other and getting little bumps and bruises like the one pictured above. Does this make me a sadist ?

Withholding the justified urge to thump peace protesters requires much more emotional effort for me than not. I believe that freedom is greater than peace, and only feel inner peace when defending freedom to the moral limit. It is not wrong to rejoice when the long guilty are finally punished. If you don't have the stomache for it, don't look.

[Burkeman1]

You know what. Your right. It is treason and or sabotage and should be treated accordingly by the law and if that means summary execution or execution after a trial then so be it. I am wrong. Goodnight.

[JoJo Gunn]

That "dopey woman protester" went there with more than the intention to stand idle on the sidelines and screech like Leftist chimps usually do. When Collaborators start blocking traffic and try to keep decent people from their jobs, when they cost cities (ultimately the taxpayer) millions of dollars, when they interfere with military shipments, and target police officers with projectiles, they have crossed the line.

Those Collaborators got off too easy, in my opinion.

[SENTINEL]

This injury looks bad, but is nothing. I am a trained combat medic and EMT. The bump will go away in 24 hours and she'll just have a scrape. This type of swelling is caused by an impact though thin tissue onto bone. I've seen a few of these on shins, and one on an elbow. If the bone had broken, there would be a lot of bruising as well. This was probably no more painful than the last time your kid fell off his bike.

[Contra]

If a few of these a$$holes were shot and killed by police or National Guard (like at Kent State) a lot of this crap would stop. And shooting them is justified due to the fact that melees are riots and civil order must be restored by whatever means necessary. Nixon put down the riots with force, even Democrat Mayor Daley of Chicago had a shoot to kill order, and that crap stopped cold. This is not about the free speech of the few, it's about protecting the lives and freedom of the many. Those "few" that are anarchists, communists and the like and need to be done away with because they are actively working to undermine the system.

[Ben Bolt]

Most people feel the head they have upon there shoulders slamming against the walls of a dark hallway they journey into .

Good luck . Please stay in Boston . It does a society good .

[chuckles]

I keep hearing on the Discovery Channel about a new microwave truck that fries the skin of protesters. I was hoping to see it used here or Iraq during this perfect opertunity for human testing. It's supposed to be non permanent, but you will definately drop everything and go home. It comes on a Humvee roof mount and is about 5ft across the dish.

[thedugal]

given a couple of hours in the local jail which is like a badge of honor to them

Actually it's worse than that. They rarely even step foot in jail. They are simply picked up and "arrested" for the camera, and then released. They aren't even processed in the police station nonetheless prosecuted for sedition.

[tubebender]

This melee was exactly what these marxist wanted and have been building up to. They turned a Oakland City Council meeting into a screamfest today. I watched part of it on KTVU out of Oakland and it was a ugly as it gets They want anarchy and then martial law to disrupt our Republic.

Don't rule out the longshoremen in this clash. The SF Bay union was organized by Harry Bridges in the 30s. Bridges was a well know high up communist of that period and continued till he died.