VANDALISM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE: John Brown notes that a 9/11 memorial on campus was vandalized:

As hard as it may be to believe, the 9/11 memorial placed on campus here at UT Tuesday night has been vandalized.

Apparently, some cowardly and despicable individuals snuck onto the amphitheater Wednesday night and removed all 3,000 flags. They moved them to Humanities Plaza (about 100 yards away) and replanted them, spelling out “The World Suffers.” They also chalked various antiwar and anti-Bush slogans on the buildings and on the pavement – in direct violation of University rules.

Fortunately, we were on top of this by 8 am. We quickly washed away the libelous cliches, and returned the flags to where they belong. The memorial stands again, despite the wishes of these idiots.

This is quite disturbing for many reasons. First of all, the memorial was a nonpartisan one – the College Democrats were invited to attend. People of all political persuasions were involved. It had nothing to do with the Iraq war. Yet apparently in this world of rabid antiwar sentiment, even a 9/11 memorial can be considered offensive by certain activists.

Secondly, the cowardice of those responsible is also telling. Why, pray tell, did they not do this during the day? Were they ashamed to be seen? Or were they simply cowards?

Finally, how could someone be so callous as to remove this? 3,000 flags were involved. Every one was taken out of the ground, moved about 100 yards, and planted in the ground again. This was not something that was done in five minutes. These people obviously put a lot of efforts into their vandalism. What message does the fact that they are willing to do this send to the families of those who died on September 11, 2001? Whose side are these people on?

Whose, indeed? He’s got photos, too. More here. (Via Michael Silence).