Public Comment

Many people familiar with the Berkeley City Council’s resolution calling the Marines Corps Recruiters unwelcome intruders and the resulting protests might be surprised to learn that they had been deliberately bamboozled into believing that the Berkeley leaders were insulting the men and women who serve in the Marines. The mass hysteria was fanned by the nation’s mostly pro-war media who were willingly led by the nose by Republican war hawks. Their goal was to paint war critics like Berkeley as unpatriotic haters of the troops and to deflect attention from the disgraceful behavior of the Marine Recruiters which was the topic of the Berkeley resolution. 

Testimony and public comment were first presented at Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission regarding the following practices by the recruiters. 

1) The recruiters have long been guilty of not honoring the agreements and contracts they make with recruits. Though not a new problem, this dishonest activity continues and has even been ratified by some conservative high court decisions. 

2) Recently the Pentagon has been failing to meet minimum recruitment goals most likely because of the unpopularity of the Iraq War and the fear of permanent deployment of troops due to stop-loss regulations. The Republican administration does not want to activate a draft because sending the sons (and daughters) of the middle and wealthy class families to war is what hastened the end of the Vietnam War. In order to dupe more young people into enlisting, the Pentagon has initiated a new program titled “Try One,” where a wavering recruit is told they can enlist for one year and then leave if they choose to do so. After the year they are then informed that due to Stop Loss regulations they cannot leave and end up permanently deployed. 

3) Incidents of rape of female recruits by recruiters have increased significantly and the Pentagon has acknowledged the problem by issuing an order prohibiting any recruiter from being alone with a female recruit at any time. Alleged perpetrators have gone uninvestigated and women who report the assaults continue to be penalized for doing so. 

The Berkeley resolution specifically addressed the Marine Recruiters as acting dishonorably and being unwelcome. 

The Recruiters are not the Marines. The Recruiters are Marines who have been ordered to deceive potential recruits by their commanding officers. Many of the current commanding officers have recently replaced others who were critical of the botched illegitimate war and occupation in Iraq. 

This is not the first time we have seen the pro war crowd and their supporters in the media target critics as being against the troops. Much like the debunked myth of protesters spitting on the returning soldiers from Vietnam, the lie that people in Berkeley hate the Marines has been widely circulated to deflect attention from hard truths about the increasingly unpopular war. 

The Berkeley people and their Council are not against the Marines or any other enlisted personnel. The Marines are our sons, daughters, husbands, wives. fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. The Marines are us and ours and it is our duty to protect them and all American enlisted from losing their health and lives in illegitimate adventures for profit by liars and criminals. 

The troops facing their fifth or sixth Iraq tour have probably figured out that the only way they are getting out of Iraq is on a hospital gurney or in a body bag. Who then truly supports the troops, the flag wavers and Berkeley boycotters or those who challenge the con men and their false promises? 

Mark McDonald served on the Peace and Justice Commission when the Marine Recruiter resolution passed.