IRAQ: The anti-Berkeley

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The news has been full of stories about the opposition of some residents of Berkeley, Calif., to having a Marine Corps recruiting office in their city.

The city of Dana Point, just north of Camp Pendleton, takes a different view of the Marines. Backed by the Chamber of Commerce, the city ‘adopted’ the 5th Marine regiment in 2004. It has organized many events for troops and for the families of those killed in action.

On Friday, the latest Dana Point gift boxes were distributed: two Humvees full of bags of home-baked oatmeal cookies, Bibles, blankets, and Nissin Cup Noodles.

‘They’re family,’ Lt. Col. Robert ‘Ogre’ McCarthy, the regiment’s executive officer, said of Dana Point residents.

The attitude of Marines toward Berkeley? Don’t ask.

— Tony Perry in Al Asad