Marine chastises 'die in' protesters

Protesters' "die-in" at Ohio University Friday (Photo: The Post, Ohio University).

After hearing of an anti-war "die in" protest at his university, a Marine serving in Iraq responded with a letter published in a student newspaper, inviting fellow students to exchange the comfort of their coffee houses for the hardships and dangers troops endure to preserve America's freedom and security.

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"It's a shame that I'm here in Iraq with the Marines right now and not back at Ohio University completing my senior year and joining in blissful ignorance with the enlightened, war-seasoned protesters who participated in the recent 'die-in' at College Gate," wrote Marc Fencil, a major in political science, criminology and Spanish at the Athens, Ohio, school.

Friday, more than 20 students, local residents and out-of-town visitors sprawled out on sidewalks around campus, symbolically "dying" in an event organized by a social activist group, Interact, according to the student-run paper, The Post.

Interact member Fiona Mitchell said the group was "looking for a way to visually represent the war in Iraq, something that would really make an impact."

One participant, 46-year-old Connie Harris of Columbus, Ohio, carried a sign with an upside-down flag with the word "shame" above it.

"I was born in America, and I can honestly say I'm not proud to be an American," Harris said, according to The Post. "People, they are proud, but they have to know it's my duty; it's my privilege to question a lot of what our government's doing."

Fencil invited the protesters to come and experience the real "die in" soldiers face in Iraq.

"Make sure you all say your goodbyes to your loved ones though, because you won't be seeing them for at least the next nine months," he wrote. "You need to get here quick because I don't want you to miss a thing. You missed last month's discovery of a basement full of suicide vests from the former regime (I'm sure Saddam's henchmen just wore them because they were trendy though). You weren't here for the opening of a brand new school we built either. You might also notice women exercising their new freedom of walking to the market unaccompanied by their husbands."

Fencil warned "it's not going to be all fun and games over here."

"You might have bad dreams for the next several nights after you zip up the body bag over a friend's disfigured face," he said. "I know you think that nothing, even a world free of terror for one's children, is worth dying for, but bear with me here. We're going to live in conditions you've never dreamt about. You should get here soon though, because the temperatures are going to be over 130 degrees very soon and we will be carrying full combat loads (we're still going to work though). When it's all over, I promise you can go back to your coffee houses and preach about social justice and peace while you continue to live outside of reality."

He concluded: "If you decide to decline my offer, then at least you should sleep well tonight knowing that men wearing black facemasks and carrying AK-47s yelling 'Allahu Akbar' over here are proud of you and are forever indebted to you for advancing their cause of terror. While you ponder this, I'll get back to the real 'die-in' over here. I don't mind."