Thursday, March 20th 2008
Five years in Iraq, as seen by the Bay
Wednesday was the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. The normal protesters were out to celebrate, with the usual yelling, lewd gestures, and even trying to burn our flags. If they were advocating for peace, they could have started by pacifying themselves.
I missed seeing the fun myself, as today also happened to be the day of my cosmology and high energy astrophysics midterm, the last Physics midterm of my undergraduate education. Luckily, the Patriot’s own News Editor Derek Yee was in attendance as well as Arnaud-Victor Monteux. I am pleased to present Derek’s first hand account of what happened in Berkeley and San Francisco.
Earlier today, the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, anti-war protesters gathered from across the Bay Area. As they converged on the Marine Recruiting Center on Shattuck, the Berkeley College Republicans took the opportunity to counter-protest. Code Pink and the World Can’t Wait were out in full force. “Soul,” of Berkeley Liberation Radio, a faithful protester, sported a cap with a medical marijuana pin. Though short in stature, she brandished the megaphone and belted out some of Code Pink’s anti-war ditties.
While I was holding an American flag, an elderly woman stuck out her tongue and her middle finger at me. I told her not to “disrespect our country.” She said that she was not American, but of the “universe.” Another protester, claiming to be a Native American, proceeded to call me a racist, and told me to get the f— out of the country.
Later in the afternoon, BCR joined forces with Leigh Wolf and the SFSU’s CRs at the Civic Center protest in front of San Francisco’s City Hall. Three BCR members walked through the center of the protest bearing American flags. One of the peace activists greeted us by attempting to set our flags on fire, and even tried to use her lighter on my friend’s clothing.
The anti-war activists were so dangerous the police asked us to move across the street to a secure place.
On this, the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, may God’s comfort be with the families of those who have been killed in the conflict. May God’s strength gird those who are fighting for freedom in Iraq. May God Bless America.
Pictures courtesy of Arnaud-Victor Monteux, the Frenchman who loves American more then many Americans.
Hey does anyone work in your town???
Comment by elvis the original terminator — 3/20/2008 @ 10:18 am
The protestors were so dangerous that nobody got hurt.
While I have nothing but sympathy for those serving in the military, I feel compelled to tell you who else is in danger. It is the Iraqi people. The 4,000 our finest who have been killed in Iraq are a pinprick when compared to the 80,000 (this is a low(!) estimate http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ ) of Iraqi civilians killed in the last 5 years in a country of around 20 million. Those who support this war have the blood of these innocents on their hands.
Comment by kickbass — 3/22/2008 @ 1:53 pm
I was standing behind Derek when he was subjected to gestures by the citizen of the Universe and the WCW! Staffer who claimed to be Native American and told us all to “Get the F*ck out of my Country.”
Taking the moral high road here is easy.
Comment by MondegreenMom — 3/28/2008 @ 4:03 pm
“Those who support this war have the blood of these innocents on their hands.”
They said that shit about the Colonial revolution. so if you are here in the states, then you support blood and death.
ha ha you are a fraud
kickbass
Comment by Anonymous — 4/1/2008 @ 11:21 am
“Get the F*ck out of my Country.”
Did Indians invent the word country? Or are they copying the europeans?
Comment by Anonymous — 4/1/2008 @ 11:22 am