In late January, the Berkeley city council voted 8-1 to declare the Marines working at a local recruiting office “uninvited and unwelcome intruders,” proceeding to express wishes to have said office removed from the city. The resolution further stated that the City of Berkeley applauded residents and organizations that “volunteer to impede, passively or actively, by nonviolent means, the work of any military recruiting office located in the City of Berkeley.”

This action is disrespectful and inappropriate. The United States Marine Corps includes some our bravest and most dedicated service men and women. Regardless of whether or not one agrees with particular actions taken by the current presidential administration or whether one has a moral opposition to current foreign policy, focusing attacks on the men and women who volunteer to serve this country at great risk to their person is deplorable.

In an interview, Councilman Laurie Capitelli publicly stated that “our issue is not with the troops; our issue is with the policymakers.” But contrary to this principle, instead of promoting a positive and constructive criticism of the war or of policymakers, the Council decided to take a shameful, cowardly and inappropriate swipe at the United States Marine Corps.

There are a plethora of ways to protest the war and the administration without hammering at the men and women risking their lives every day. In fact, the members of Code Pink, a self-dubbed grassroots peace and social justice movement, have been sitting in a parking space outside the recruiting office for the past four months to do just that since the group’s formation in 2002 — namely, protesting the leaders in Washington, not the troops.

Sitting outside of a recruiting office promoting peace is one thing, but to call the Marines “unwelcome intruders” is another. The second that protestors turned their attention from the war and the administration to the U.S. Marine Corps, they crossed a very important and unambiguous line. By attacking the troops in the service instead of the policy leaders in Washington, Berkeley took the American psyche back to the shameful days of the post-Vietnam era, a time when returning soldiers who had suffered and fought in the sweltering jungles of Southeast Asia were spat on and called baby-killers by the public. We would like to think that America as a whole has learned a lesson from that embarrassing section of history, but apparently the Berkeley City Council missed the memo.

Unsurprisingly, the City of Berkeley’s action drew immediate criticism both locally and in Washington, where Republican senators called for the immediate revocation of federal funding both for UC-Berkeley and the city itself. To nobody’s true astonishment, the council practically fell over itself in the hurry to take back what it had said, voting 7-2 to overturn its prior opinion — conveniently in time to secure the next federal paycheck. Not only did this call into question the council’s priorities and convictions, but it made one wonder why on earth the council made such inane, needlessly incendiary statements in the first place.

The City of Berkeley needs to grow up and take responsibility for this sincere lapse in judgment. Backing down from its initial position is not enough; there should be a formal apology to the Marines working at the recruiting office as well as to the Marine Corps in general.

The citizens of Berkeley are encouraged to continue protesting this administration and the war abroad if they disagree so passionately with current policy. In fact, they are more than welcome to continue their vigil outside of the recruiting office to try to convince potential candidates against signing on with the marines. However, they are not welcome to attack and denigrate the men and women of the United States Armed Forces who volunteer to serve on their behalf at home and abroad, and citizens should be mortified that the thought even crossed their minds.

Gunnery Sgt. Pauline Franklin, public affairs chief for Marine Corps Recruiting Command, said it best: “the members of the council are within their rights to voice their objections. They are citizens of the United States, and as citizens they have the right of free speech.” We only hope that, in the future, the Berkeley City Council will exercise its freedom to think before moving on to the right to speak.