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March 10, 2008
 Comedy Central, The Daily Show with John Stewart, March 10, 2008
Click
at the
link for the video
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Jon
Stewart: One of the downsides of having an all-volunteer military is
that you need people to volunteer. It’s not usually a huge problem,
you just have to ask nicely. But some people don’t want to hear the
question. Rob Riggle has more.
Rob
Riggle (VO): The United States Marine Corps has fought in countless
battles over the years. From Iowa Jima to Khe Sanh to the Battle of
Fallujah. But today the Corps faces its toughest fight yet.
Tape, Berkeley City Council meeting (woman): The Marines ought to have
better sense than to come here.
Rob
Riggle (VO): Yes, the Marines dared to rent office space and open a
recruiting center in Berkeley, California. I headed to the front lines
to get the story. Not only as a reporter but as a veteran of the
Marines.
Man on
the street interviewee: Berkeley is a bastion of liberal thought and
the Marines are just the opposite.
Man on
the street interviewee # 2: I kind of felt probably like the
Iraqis felt, like we were being occupied here in Berkeley.
Rob
Riggle (VO): He’s right. The two are practically indistinguishable.
That’s
Berkeley. That’s Iraq.
Berkeley. Iraq.
Not
sure.
Berkeley.
The
city fought back and hit the Marines hard…with a resolution telling
them to leave.
To earn
the trust of the locals, I had to blend in.
Bob
Meola, Berkeley Peace and Justice Commissioner (studio interview): I
don’t know a good use of the Marines in my lifetime. And what is
offensive about Marine recruiters in Berkeley is the fact that they
are recruiting people for mass murder. They are here to out-front
recruit people into their killing machine that’s perpetrating
educational institutions…
Rob
Riggle: Excuse me, Bob. (Leaves set.) Whooooo-aaargh!!! Hippies!
Boards! Hi-yaaaaaaaa! (Karate kicks boards and calms down. Returns to
interview.) Sorry, I had to go cool out for a minute.
Bob:
Oh, what happened?
Rob
Riggle: My buzz. It was getting a little wrecked, know what I mean?
Bob:
Right on. Marines train people to kill people. The Marines are
not a moral influence and…
Rob
Riggle: Excuse me, Bob, I hate to do this again. I’ve got to excuse
myself…[Crashing through wall] Hippies! Hippies! Aoooorgh!
Rob
Riggle (VO): With this amoral force refusing to live their stripmall
desk, Berkeley enlisted its own fighting force.
[Protesters outside recruiting center, singing:] We are hugging, we
are hugging for a peaceful world!
Rob
Riggle (VO): Code Pink! You may remember them from Operation Annoy
Senator Feinstein.
[Voice:] Waterboarding is torture!
Rob
Riggle (VO): Or Operation Yell At George Bush Doll.
And who can forget Operation Senate Interrupt?
But
their tactics in Berkeley may be their most innovative yet. They
called it, Don’t Enlist, Stay and Kiss. I called it, Shock and Awe.
Code
Pinker # 1: It is our responsibility as the public to shut this
station down, to shut this recruiting station down.
Code
Pinker # 2: Code Pink stands for free speech.
Code
Pinker # 1: It is very important to protect free speech and so we
clearly have the right to be here.
Rob
Riggle: If only there was an organization that was sworn to defend
that free speech.
Code
Pinker # 1: That would be great.
Rob
Riggle: That would be outstanding, right?
Rob
Riggle (VO): Why can’t these Marines see that they have no right to be
recruiting troops on US soil?
Code
Pinker # 3: The Marines…we don’t need to be worrying about their
rights. It’s not an equal relationship.
Rob
Riggle (VO): That’s obvious. Any giant-handed Constitutional scholar
will tell you that.
Code
Pinker # 1: Wars in general would stop if we didn’t have weapons just
like violence on our streets would stop if we didn’t have weapons.
Rob
Riggle: So if we got rid of police we wouldn’t have crime?
Code
Pinker # 1:Potentially.
Rob
Riggle (VO): It just makes sense. If they can shut down this
recruiting center, it will become yet another of Berkeley’s famous
Crepes A Go Go. And world peace will be at hand.
Bob
Meola: Well, just think if we had a Department of Peace, it could
reach down into every community talking about peace studies and
conflict resolution
Rob
Riggle: Sounds like a magical place, man.
Bob:
Um...
Rob
Riggle: Oh, I’m sorry, you think that could be a real place?
Bob:
Yeah!
Rob
Riggle: Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you were totally kidding.
Bob:
No.
Rob
Riggle: Oh, I’m embarrassed.
Rob
Riggle (VO): With the Marines refusing to leave, giving Code Pink the
last word was the least I could do.
Code
Pinker # 3: This is Berkeley, the most peace-loving city…
Code
Pinker # 4: US out of Iraq!
Rob
Riggle (VO): Really, you’re interrupting your own interview?
Semper
Fi, Code Pink. Semper Fi.
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