For Recruiters, Antiwar Protests Raise Perils on the Home Front

[truthpusher]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/nyregion/21recruit.html?ex=1109653200&en=b3420b62d4ac7a91&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS

For Recruiters, Antiwar Protests Raise Perils on the Home Front
By DAMIEN CAVE

Published: February 21, 2005


Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times
Staff Sgt. Joshua N. Harris at his desk in the Army recruiting station in East Orange, N.J., where a window was found shattered on Feb. 5.

AST ORANGE, N.J. - The five United States Army recruiters who work from a storefront office here arrived on the morning of Feb. 5 to discover that a plate-glass window above the main entrance had been shattered, along with a window in the Navy office next door.

By noon, about 35 protesters were marching out front with antiwar placards, condemning the American invasion of Iraq and the recruiters' efforts to enlist new soldiers.

(snip)

The shattering of windows here followed two similar incidents in New York City and a third in the Midwest that week. On Jan. 31, authorities said, recruiters at a station near the Flatiron section of Manhattan reported that a door had been cracked, and that anarchist symbols had been scrawled in red paint on the building.

That same day, before dawn, the police arrested a 19-year-old Manhattan College junior who they said threw a burning rag into an Army recruiting station that was closed for the night in the Parkchester section of the Bronx, and jammed the door locks with powerful glue. He was caught carrying a handwritten note declaring that a "wave of violence" would occur throughout the Northeast on Jan. 31, aimed at the "military industrial complex" in response to American military actions, the police said.

complete Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/nyregion/21recruit.html?ex=1109653200&en=b3420b62d4ac7a91&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS

[davepc]

1. Didn't the anti-war movment learn in the 60's

That such practices of harassing recruiters and service men and women do little to dissuade enlistment and do a lot to turn off a good block of the population to their message?

The people who need to be protested live at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, they don't run a recruiting station in East Orange.

The military takes its orders from CIVILIAN LEADERSHIP. That is where the protest effort must be directed against.

The soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen are NOT the problem, the President and his War Cabal and enablers in Congress are the problem.

These radical elements will do more harm then good with their mis-directed assualts against parts of the machine that have no say in how they are used.

[TahitiNut]

2. One of the "lessons learned" was ...

... often such actions are undertaken by "agents provocateurs" - opponents of the movement who place people inside under the guise of protesters, but who engage in behavior that puts discredit on the movement. It's a tried and true tactic. While I'm pretty confident than any large dissenting group has a wide range of zealousness, I think it's always prudent to question whether such behavior is actually representative of the group.

[Mandate My Ass]

4. Funny how most of these "incidents" occurred when nobody was around

An anarchist symbol, huh? Why leave your calling card if you want to remain anonymous? A handwritten, threatening note to be left at the scene of a crime? Sounds fishy to me.

[Just Me]

8. I feel very confident such actions are NOT reflective of the group.

This is propaganda or, at the very least, an exaggeration/distortion of reality.

[rodeodance]

3. I agree, hurting property is no way to go. We did not want them

doing this stuff to abortion clinics either.

[movonne]

12. No we don't, but they do it anyway.....and is seems like it is working.

[truthpusher]

13. And don't forget the recruiters, they don't deserve this....

...I got in a fender bender about a year ago with a recruiter and he was probably the nicest guy you would ever want to get into a car accident with. I would hate to see that guy harassed. These guys are making a living just like the rest of us.

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. The Vietnam war would still be in full swing if there weren't large

sometimes violent and destructive demonstrations. Sadly, a large change in the direction the government seems to be brought about by massive violent action.

If you notice, three of Bin Laden's demands have been/ are being met: US airbase out of Saudi, the creation of a Palestinian state, removal of sanctions against Iraq.

[Gman]

10. Maybe Bush granting Bin Laden's demands is also

tied to Bin Laden's election eve video. I'm very sure this was a deal between Bush and OBL.

[Jacobin]

9. No. They learned that such actions WORKED

I was there. I remember the 60's and 70's vividly. Without the protests, civil disobedience and (yes kids gunned down by national guard in protests), we would STILL be in Viet nam

[IndianaGreen]

11. Military recruiters are like pedophiles, they prey on the most vulnerable

As Michael Moore showed in his documentary Fahrenheit 911, military recruiters prey on our most vulnerable youth, those that lack a job or a marketable skill, and those that want to get out of the socio-economic conditions in which they live.

Any monkey wrench that is thrown into the gears of the military machine is a good thing!

[maxsolomon]

5. when anti-draft protestors start murdering recruiters

get back to me.

otherwise, the keywords "peril on the home front" reek to high heaven.
why don't you call the 19 year old a terrorist while you're at it?

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. Yeah. Okay. Let's publicize the shit that has been going on for years

and blame anti-war protestors.

Hell, let's let the recruiters arm themselves and shoot everyone they suspect might deface their beautiful posters.

Sliddddddinnnng down the sloooooooope.....