From Students against War in the USA:
Friday, April 20th, 2007
With Major Protests Imminent, Military Recruiters Withdraw from UCSC Job fair
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Student Success Marks Third Year of Preventing Recruitment
Santa Cruz, CA – With hundreds of students expected to protest, U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps recruiters withdrew from the April 24th Last Chance Job Fair at U[niversity of] C[alifornia] Santa Cruz yesterday.
Student protests have made UCSC an increasingly ineffective site of military recruitment for almost three years.
This withdrawal represents a victory towards stopping war and militarism.
On Tuesday, April 24th, Students Against War (SAW) will be hosting a rally at Baytree Plaza beginning at 10 am in celebration of this victory.
Joined by members of Iraq Vets Against the War (IVAW), the rally and subsequent actions will demonstrate the student body’s continued opposition to war and will further the campaign to untangle the University of California from military-related research, nuclear weapons production, and the other aspects of what might be termed ‘the war machine.’
The UCSC administration claims that U.S. Marine Corps recruiters withdrew from participation in the April 24th job fair because they were “over booked.” This explanation seems unlikely for several reasons:
1) With the U.S. Marines consistently missing their recruitment goals, And a severe shortage of troops, it seems illogical that they would forgo access to a campus of 15,000 students.
2) The U.S. Army withdrew from the event on the same day as the Marines without providing a reason. Were they “over booked” too? Not likely.
3) Having had this event on their calendar for over two months, the military did not withdraw until a week prior to the event, shortly after publicity began for a protest hundreds of students were expected to attend. The recruiters had to forfeit their registration fee.
4) On Monday, student government leaders sent a letter of concern to administrators, noting that the protest was expected to be one of the largest in recent memory and expressing concern that military recruiters’ presence would inhibit students’ access to the job fair.
Recruiters withdrew the next day.
As the military loses more troops overseas and our generation refuses to take their place, UCSC’s success can be seen as a model for how communities can directly resist war without relying on the corrupt political process.
Although the law prevents schools from banning recruiters outright, UCSC students, through massive protests, have effectively prevented recruiters from operating on campus for nearly three years.
“We’ve upheld our community’s values of tolerance and nonviolence despite federal attempts to impose militarism on our daily lives,” said third year student Natalie MacIntyre.
“If every school prevented recruitment, if every port stopped shipping weapons, if every community refused to accept war profiteers as neighbors, war would be impossible.”
On April 5, 2005, Students Against War organized over 300 students to successfully kick military recruiters out of a campus job fair, landing the group on a Pentagon spy list as a “credible threat.”
On October 18, 2005, SAW held a Queer Kiss-In that effectively prevented the military’s ability to recruit.
April 11, 2006, the next visit by the military to a campus job fair, also saw military recruiters kicked off campus by hundreds of students.
Due to concerns of protests, this year’s job fair, originally scheduled for January 31 was cancelled.
April 24’s job fair would have been the recruiters’ first visit to campus this year.
With this latest success, UCSC has effectively been military-recruitment free for almost three years.
According to a U.S. Army study, unprecedented numbers of African American youth are refusing to join the Army and they are doing so for a very clear reason — opposition to the Iraq war. But you may not see this story on the front page of your local paper. The Pentagon has moved to squelch it: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Iraq opinion gulf leaving GOP in peril
Posted by: “Corey” cpmondello@yahoo.com cpmondello
Thu Apr 19, 2007 8:24 am (PST)
Iraq opinion gulf leaving GOP in peril
Poll shows independents coming down on Democrats’ side
By Charlie Cook
April 17, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18159190/
WASHINGTON – The polarization between Democrats, Republicans and independents on both politics and policy cannot be overstated. The war in Iraq is perhaps the most vivid and important example of the stark differences in opinions based on party affiliation.
There is a chasm the size of the Grand Canyon between Republicans and Democrats on the Iraq war. More ominous for the GOP is that independents are coming down on the anti-war side, if slightly less vociferously than Democrats.
This portends potential peril for Republicans in 2008.
Let’s look at the difference in attitudes on Iraq using a CBS News poll of 994 adults, conducted last Monday through Thursday, with a 3-point error margin.
Overall, 44 percent said the United States did the right thing in taking military action against Iraq, while 51 percent said the United States should have stayed out. Among Republicans, 76 percent said it was the right thing to do and 20 percent said the U.S. should have stayed out. For Democrats, on the other hand, it was almost the opposite: 21 percent said military action was the right choice, and 74 percent said staying out was the correct option. Just 38 percent of independents said it was the right thing to do, while 56 percent preferred staying out.
On the question of how things are going in Iraq, 2 percent of those polled thought the war was going very well and 29 percent said somewhat well, for a total of 31 percent. Thirty percent said the war was going somewhat badly and 36 percent said it was going very badly, for a total of 66 percent. Among just Republicans, 62 percent thought the war was going very or somewhat well, compared to 36 percent who said somewhat or very badly. Thirteen percent of Democrats said it was going well, and 85 percent said badly. Again, independents came down significantly closer to Democrats than Republicans, with 23 percent saying that it was going well and 74 percent saying it was going badly.
Those surveyed were asked, “regardless of whether you think taking military action in Iraq was the right thing to do, would you say that the U.S. is very likely to succeed in Iraq, somewhat likely to succeed, not very likely to succeed or not at all likely to succeed?”
Twelve percent said the U.S. is very likely to succeed; 33 percent said somewhat likely, 29 percent chose “not very likely” and another 24 percent said not at all likely.
Among Republicans, 72 percent said success is very or somewhat likely, compared with just 27 percent of Democrats and 36 percent of independents — yet another example of the thinking of independents aligning much more with Democrats than Republicans.
In terms of what the United States should do now, overall, 21 percent said it should increase troop levels in Iraq, 13 percent said keep the same number, 27 percent said it should draw down troop numbers and 33 percent said remove all troops. Sixty-six percent of Republicans were in favor of increasing or maintaining troop levels, compared with 13 percent of Democrats and 28 percent of independents.
Just 31 percent of Republicans said the United States should decrease the number or remove all troops, compared with 81 percent of Democrats and 65 percent of independents.
Regarding a timetable for withdrawal, 57 percent of the total sample said they were in favor — 34 percent of Republicans, 75 percent of Democrats and 61 percent of independents. Sixty-two percent of Republicans surveyed said no to a timetable, but just 19 percent of Democrats and 36 percent of independents opposed one.
Finally, when posed with three approaches Congress could take on Iraq, just 9 percent overall said all funding for the war should be blocked. Twenty-nine percent said funding should be provided without a time limit, and 58 percent said Congress should allow funding for a limited period of time. Interestingly, only 13 percent of Democrats were for cutting off all funding no matter what, tracking relatively closely with the 4 percent of Republicans and 10 percent of independents. Seventy-four percent of Democrats and 60 percent of independents favored continued spending with a timetable, along with 38 percent of Republicans.
Fifty-six percent of Republicans said Congress should allow all funding without a time limit, but just 10 percent of Democrats and 26 percent of independents went along with that.
Looking at the data, it is understandable why the natural reaction of Republican lawmakers and 2008 GOP presidential contenders is to hang with President Bush on the war: Their base remains pretty supportive.
It is just as easy to understand why Democrats are behaving the way they are.
Notwithstanding what they personally believe, it’s hard for lawmakers and presidential candidates to defy their bases. But pending some resolution or fundamental change in the fortunes of this war, the attitudes of independent voters may well come to haunt GOP candidates in the general election.
As with impeachment in 1998, Republicans are listening to their base, but independents are feeling very different, potentially setting the stage for another bad election for the GOP.
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The contact information on this press release was not intended for the general public to see, just for journalists. If you could please remove my phone number from this post, I’d greatly appreciate it. I’ve contacted the webmaster for MichaelMoore.com and asked him to do the same. Thanks!
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Hi Alexander, thanks for reacting, I will remove it!
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From: “Mhairi McAlpine”
Date: Sat Jun 9, 2007 10:39 pm
Subject: EIS seeks a ban on military recruiters in schools [in Scotland]
Teachers yesterday backed calls for a complete ban on recruitment
campaigns by the armed forces in Scottish schools.
The move follows concerns voiced earlier this year that the Ministry
of Defence is targeting secondary pupils, particularly in deprived
areas, to bolster numbers.
The armed forces argue that the purpose of the school visits is not
to recruit pupils, but to give appropriate careers advice and that
they only go to schools who have invited them.
However, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), the country’s
largest teaching union, voted at its annual meeting in Perth for the
practice to be stopped.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1459912.0.ban_sought_on_armed_forces_visits_to_schools.php
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