Communists Against the Military [Archive] - Marine Corps

thedrifter

07-14-05, 07:46 AM

Kissinger of the Revolutionary Communist Party – an organization considered extremist and violent even by fellow Maoists – this “antiwar” coalition produced a “Statement of Conscience,” signed by thousands of leftists, condemning America’s “openly imperial policy towards the world.” NION showed its patriotic spirit this year in a Fourth of July rally for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention center, at which it distributed an American flag emblazoned with the phrase, “Torture is immoral and unpatriotic!” (Also present were former detainees, their lawyers, Code Pink, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and feminist idols Gloria Steinem and Eve Ensler.) After Bush’s re-election, NION issued a statement accusing the Bush administration of seeking “unquestioned world supremacy” and laboring to “impose a narrow, intolerant, and political form of Christian fundamentalism as government policy.” It has also supported Sgt. Kevin Benderman, who refused to return to Iraq and stands accused of desertion and larceny, and calls convicted Iraq deserter Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia “a prisoner of conscience.” NION is a member of UFPJ.
Peace and Freedom Party – A California-based “feminist and socialist” political party that nominated Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver for president in 1968, Benjamin Spock in 1972, and convicted cop-killer Leonard Peltier in 2004.
Party for Socialism and Liberation – A party that proudly proclaims, “we aim for revolution in the United States.” The most recent issue of their magazine hails the Iraqi terrorists’ “determination and ability to resist.” And they explicitly wish to play a role in our defeat in the region: “The experience of the Vietnam War proved that the anti-war movement in the United States can gain confidence from the resistance of the oppressed peoples standing up to and defeating the largest military power in the world.”
Peter Camejo – Ralph Nader’s Green Party running mate in 2004. As a member of the Young Socialist Alliance, California Governor Ronald Reagan named him one of the ten most dangerous revolutionaries in the state. Like Reagan, Camejo ran for president in 1976, Camejo running on the Socialist Workers Party ticket. Camejo is, next to George Soros, perhaps the most prominent far-Left agitator ever to become a professional stock broker.
Queers Undermining Israeli Terror (QUIT) – A homosexual organization opposed to Israel, as though their fate would be better in an Islamic society. QUIT took part in the attempted 2004 sabotage of the Oakland Port, which ships military material to the Iraqi front.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) (Local 790) – The largest union in the AFL-CIO, SEIU President Andrew Stern was a New Leftist protégé of avowed socialist Michael Harrington who studied union organization under former members of the radical Students for a Democratic Society.
Socialist Action – A Trotskyite “group of revolutionary socialists committed to the emancipation of working and oppressed people everywhere!” that believes in “permanent revolution.”
Socialist Organizer – Another Trotskyite organization and member of the Fourth International and founder of The Labor Party, SO dedicates a webpage to the writings of such distinguished intellectuals as V.I. Lenin, Karl Marx, John Reed, Eugene V. Debs, and, naturally, Leon Trotsky.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (SF Chapter) – The ADC is a veteran campaigner at the state and local ordinances, having spearheaded the movement to pass city resolutions condemning the Patriot Act or vowing a city’s non-compliance. The ADC also condemned the detention of terrorist detainees and the use of military tribunals, referring to American actions as “disappearances.” A member of UFPJ.

Another prominent resident to endorse the measure is Cindy Sheehan, the founder of Gold Star Families for Peace who demands an “immediate withdrawal of American and Coalition Forces from Iraq.” GFSP, “an affiliate of Military Families Speak Out,” works with UFPJ, September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, and Veterans for Peace.

Aimee Allison, a Green Party activist who gained Medea Benjamin’s coveted endorsement, supports the resolution, as does the Justice in Palestine Coalition, a group called “Revolution Youth,” and two left-wing music groups: Loco Bloco and Bateria Lucha (which also supports the “Dyke Rally and March”).

Joining this motley crew of leftist extremists are two chapters of the American Federation of Teachers: AFT Local 61 and AFT Local 2121. What is a coalition of educators doing joining hands with radicals whose advice would lead to the firing of several of its members? Why would any organization that puts the interests of its students first support a measure that would deny them funding and the right to an adequate public education? The San Francisco Unified School District shut military recruiters out of its schools for years before the “No Child Left Behind” Act deprived federal funds to schools that do so – a troubling sign that these teachers place political activism before education. It is their children who may pay up if their activism pays off.

The (Sometimes Violent) Wave of the Future

The movement to oppose military recruitment is nothing new, even at the high school level. Earlier this year, the Parent Teacher Student Association at Seattle’s Garfield High School passed a resolution calling on the school district to block recruiters. PTSA president and University of Washington professor Amy Hagopian explained, “We can’t physically stop [military recruiters], and we can’t legally stop them, but we can stand at the doors and explain that they're not welcome.” (Remember, one must never question the fact that the Left supports the troops.)

However, the “counter-recruitment” movement has had its greatest success on college campuses –often earned through violence and physical intimidation. On March 9, some 20 protestors, barred from holding a rally at the City College of New York (part of CUNY), entered a job fair under false pretenses and began shouting at military recruiters. Three students and a CCNY secretary then attempted to brutalize the college’s guards. CCNY President Gregory Williams, who is assuredly no conservative, classified their actions as “physical assault.” After the university suspended the quartet, the International Socialist Organization, United for Peace and Justice, the NY chapter of the ACLU, and Professional Staff Congress (CUNY’s far-Left professional union) protested on their behalf – many of the same organizations spearheading the San Francisco measure.

At Chicago’s Northeastern Illinois University, protestors physically prevented the military from speaking to interested students. Protestors have harried recruiters out of Seattle Central Community College and San Francisco State University, Southern Connecticut State University, and numerous other institutions.

In the Ivy League, physical disruption has sometimes given way to politically correct legal maneuvers. Yale Law School successfully sued Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to bar military recruiters from campus, because the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy violates the Ivy League school’s “non-discrimination” policy. A U.S. District Court ruled in favor of Yale, despite the fact that the Solomon Amendment cuts off federal funding to any college that closes its doors to the U.S. Armed Forces.

Now the Hate America Left is reviving the successful tactic is took in fighting the Patriot Act and federal immigration policy: ignoring federal law. With “lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification,” anti-American activists has taken to the city and precinct level to overturn the law of the land. The Radical Left hopes to first take its case to friendly, left-wing school districts and city councils, building up a “critical mass” of endorsers, before going mainstream. Counter-recruiter organizations have already told their activists which kinds of arguments to use in conservative vs. liberal areas. One such group says in conservative areas, the “most effective issues” are “student & family privacy, government intrusion on the lives of students, and truth about military service. An anti-military or anti-Bush approach may be very harmful to the campaign.” The radicals hope this facetious attempt to be all things to all men will help press its case against the “occupational” U.S. military.

Their campaign shows no more consideration for the troops than it does for the students deprived of a decent education. Lower recruitment means exhausted GIs who have already served their tour of duty must stay longer. As Medea Benjamin revealed in The Nation magazine, the Left has a multi-pronged strategy that includes drying up troop reserves, depressing morale, working with murderous Iraqi “insurgents,” and eroding public support for the military in order to cause the “occupation” to collapse and the Great Satan to return home defeated. When Bill Clinton withdrew U.S. troops from Somalia in 1993, it emboldened a budding multi-millionaire terrorist named Osama bin Laden to attack the great Paper Tiger. The Left’s psychological operations against the military only further endanger American lives at home and abroad.

Ellie