Berkeley Eases Anti-Marines Stance
By MICHELLE LOCKE
Associated Press Writer
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BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — City councilmembers who were criticized for telling Marine recruiters they don’t belong in Berkeley are moderating their position.
They now say they oppose the war in Iraq but support the troops.
Berkeley’s City Council voted two weeks ago to send a letter to a downtown recruiting station advising the Marines they were not welcome.
In a session that stretched into early Wednesday, the council said they recognize recruiters’ right to be in Berkeley. The council reiterated its opposition to the war but said, “We deeply respect and support the men and women in our armed forces.”
The meeting drew hundreds of people on both sides of the issue who rallied all day and into the night outside City Hall.
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City of Berkeley, Marine Corps facing off
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The city of Berkeley, Calif., has insulted all servicemembers risking their lives for their country as well as veterans, said Kriss Worthington, a member of the city council.
On Jan. 29, the council asked the city manager to write a letter to the local Marine Corps recruiting office and the commandant of the Corps, saying that recruiters were not welcome in the city, Worthington said Monday.
The letter would also say that the Marine recruiters would be considered “uninvited and unwelcome intruders” if they stayed, said Worthington, one of three city officials to vote against the move.
“I’m a lifelong peace supporter, [and] when someone like me is offended by something, you got to think, ‘What were they thinking?’” he said.
The council’s move has enraged Marine supporters, including Republican lawmakers, who have threatened to take federal funding from Berkeley and give it to the Corps; and now city officials will consider rescinding their action at Tuesday’s meeting.
Laurie Capitelli said he and another councilmember have proposed that the council take back its stance on the Marine recruiters and affirm its support for U.S. troops.
“Our issue is not with the troops; our issue is with the policymakers,” Capitelli said Monday.
Joe Pickell, a Vietnam veteran, said he was not insulted by Berkeley City Council’s actions.
“I’ve learned to grow up,” said Pickell, commander of the American Legion post in nearby El Cerrito, Calif.
Still, Pickell, who served in the Navy, said he feels the Marine recruiters should stay in Berkeley.
“I believe that everybody has got a right to their opinion, but we can all agree to disagree and I believe there should be people stepping up to the plate and saying the Marine Corps should be in Berkeley,” he said Tuesday.
Capitelli said he voted for the measure against the Marine recruiters last month because he thought he was voting to support the group Code Pink, which has been protesting outside the recruiting office.
“I frankly had not read the item carefully,” he said.
After the meeting, Capitelli felt he had made a mistake, he said.
“Although I might not want my son or daughter to join the Marines, I think in an open and free society, those choices have to be open to everyone, and for us to deny the free speech to the Marine Corps or deny them access to their potential recruits is a dangerous position to take,” he said.
But Zanne Joi, an activist with Code Pink, said she hopes the city council stands firm against the Marine recruiters.
“We are asking the Marines to not recruit our children because their recruiting our youth to fight an illegal and immoral war in Iraq,” Joi said Monday.
Troops who go off to Iraq come back wounded physically and emotionally, only to be “dropped on the streets,” she said.
Code Pink planned to hold an “emergency 24-hour peace-in” before Tuesday’s council meeting, Joi said.
“I have faith in our city council, that our city council will vote their conscious and not the political pressure of right-wing pro-war people,” she said.
But even if council backs down, Code Pink will continue to protest the Marine recruiting office in Berkeley, Joi said.
“We are going to be there until they leave, and not just us, but lots of other groups and individuals will be there,” she said. “We do not believe in this war. We are totally against this war. We want this war to be over.”
The Corps has no plans to move its recruiting station out of Berkeley, said Gunnery Sgt. Pauline Franklin, public affairs chief for Marine Corps Recruiting Command.
Franklin, who declined to respond to Joi’s comments about the Iraq war being immoral, said she does not know if any Corps officials have talked to the city council about the recruiting station, but she added there is no reason for the Corps to do so.
“The members of the council are within their rights to voice their objections,” she said. “They are citizens of the United States, and as citizens they have the right of free speech.”
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52426