Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Maschek, Iraq War Hero, Heckled at Columbia Over ROTC

I got the heads up on this first from Dana at CSPT, "The students at Columbia University have an absolute right to express their opinions ... and so do I: some of them are worth less than the remnants of dinner I flushed down the toilet this morning."

Dana's reporting on this from New York Post, "Hero's unwelcome: Wounded Iraq vet jeered at Columbia

Columbia University students heckled a war hero during a town-hall meeting on whether ROTC should be allowed back on campus.

"Racist!" some students yelled at Anthony Maschek, a Columbia freshman and former Army staff sergeant awarded the Purple Heart after being shot 11 times in a firefight in northern Iraq in February 2008. Others hissed and booed the veteran.

Maschek, 28, had bravely stepped up to the mike Tuesday at the meeting to issue an impassioned challenge to fellow students on their perceptions of the military.

"It doesn't matter how you feel about the war. It doesn't matter how you feel about fighting," said Maschek. "There are bad men out there plotting to kill you."

I'm speechless, really. I don't know --- and I can't identify with --- some of my fellow Americans anymore.

See the additional commentary at Black Five, "Columbia University brings shame and dishonor to the Ivy League." And at JammieWearingFool, "Classy: Columbia Douchebags Heckle Wheelchair-Bound Purple Heart Iraq War Vet." (Via Memeorandum.)