Berkeley Rethinks Marine Snub

Now under the glare of unwanted national attention, the city tonight is considering a possible retreat as it girds for hordes of out-of-town protesters and news media.

City officials, while unwilling to fully back down, have found themselves looking for the right words to calm their critics -- perhaps by toning down the resolution's language and by clearly differentiating, some said, between the war and the warrior.

While city leaders are accustomed to being dismissed by middle America, they were clearly unprepared for a public relations backlash that reached across the country -- fueled by talk radio, TV pundits and the blogosphere.

Both sides of the war debate are expected to be out in force in Berkeley's streets to rally for their respective causes on an issue that has sometimes ebbed but has never been fully quieted.

Video: Berkeley Wants Marines to 'Leave Town'

"It's not over. Our Soldiers and all of us want them to come home, but we want them to come home when it's over ... and when they win," said Mary Pearson, deputy executive director of Move America Forward, a Sacramento group that is mobilizing its supporters to counter anti-war demonstrators who began a vigil this week as a prelude to tonight's City Council session.

"They've gone too far. What are these people doing?" said Pearson. "We are not going to let them disrespect our fine Soldiers who are fighting overseas."

At its Jan. 29 meeting, the nine-member City Council reiterated its distaste for the war when it said a Marine Corps recruiting office, located a few blocks from a local high school and the flagship campus of the University of California, was unwelcome.

It also gave the anti-war group Code Pink a permanent parking space in front of the recruiting office, from which it could stage its frequent protests.

On Monday afternoon, the recruiting station was dark, its blinds drawn and doors locked. Police officers patrolled the area on bicycles.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Marines' recruiting center for the San Francisco region referred calls to recruiting command in Quantico, Va., but a spokesman could not be reached.

If Berkeley's mantra is to think globally and act locally, city officials were nonetheless caught off guard by the swift reaction, which included a call by conservative U.S. congressmen to withhold federal funds for the city.

"I've had an avalanche of calls from across the country. The right wing is calling us everything in the book and maybe hoping that we're killed. I'm really concerned about our safety," said Councilwoman Betty Olds, who voted against the resolution and has proposed that it be reconsidered.

"I'm very much against the war, and I hope the majority of the people in this country are," said Olds, whose twin brother was a U.S. Marine in World War II. "But we should have nothing to do with the ability of young people to join the Marines if they want to. If you want to blame somebody, blame Bush -- don't blame the individual Marine"

Julie Sinai, a senior aide to Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, said the mayor "feels the vote was a symbolic vote against the Iraq war and the Marine recruiting center has been a symbol of that war. We don't want to see our young people recruited for that war."

But some said the inflammatory language of the resolution overshadowed the city's heartfelt opposition to the war.

"Nobody could care less if Berkeley passed a resolution against the war, but some people thought they were making a statement against the troops," said Scott Sigmund Gartner, a professor of political science at UC Davis.

"Who does Berkeley think they are? We're not going to let our sons and daughters be treated despicably," said Deborah Johns, a "blue star mother" from Granite Bay, whose son served three tours in Iraq with the Marines.

"Why are they continuing to harass our Marines? Berkeley has brought it upon themselves," Johns said. "Berkeley has to be held accountable for their actions."

The City Council, in approving a recommendation from its Peace and Justice Commission, encouraged people to avoid cooperating with the recruiting office and applauded Code Pink for impeding the office.

City officials, mindful of the criticism, have been attempting to draft a resolution to clarify their position, said Councilman Maxwell Anderson, a Vietnam veteran. "There will be no retreat in our opposition to the war," he said.

"This was meant to be a very small effort to get out a countermessage to potential recruits," Anderson said.

"But in no way do we intend to denigrate the people who are still there (in Iraq and Afghanistan) and who are going to come home."