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Turning America Into A Battlefield: A Blueprint For Locking Down The Nation
Submitted by John Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961
A standing army - something that propelled the early colonists into revolution - strips the American people of any vestige of freedom. How can there be any semblance of freedom when there are tanks in the streets, military encampments in cities, Blackhawk helicopters and armed drones patrolling overhead?
It was for this reason that those who established America vested control of the military in a civilian government, with a civilian commander-in-chief. They did not want a military government, ruled by force. Rather, they opted for a republic bound by the rule of law: the U.S. Constitution.
Unfortunately, with the Constitution under constant attack, the military’s power, influence and authority have grown dramatically. Even the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which makes it a crime for the government to use the military to carry out arrests, searches, seizure of evidence and other activities normally handled by a civilian police force, has been weakened by both Barack Obama and George W. Bush, who ushered in exemptions allowing troops to deploy domestically and arrest civilians in the wake of alleged terrorist acts.
Now we find ourselves struggling to retain some semblance of freedom in the face of police and law enforcement agencies that look and act like the military and have just as little regard for the Fourth Amendment, laws such as the NDAA that allow the military to arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens, and military drills that acclimate the American people to the sight of armored tanks in the streets, military encampments in cities, and combat aircraft patrolling overhead.
Making matters worse, we find out that the military plans to use southwestern states as staging grounds for guerilla warfare drills in which highly-trained military troops equipped with all manner of weapons turn American towns and cities in quasi-battlefields. Why? As they tell us, it’s so that special operations forces can get “realistic military training” in “hostile” territory.
They’ve even got a name for the exercise: Jade Helm 15.
Whether or not Americans have anything to fear from Jade Helm 15, a covert, multi-agency, multi-state, eight-week military training exercise set to take place this summer from July 15 through Sept. 15, remains to be seen.
Insisting that there’s nothing to be alarmed about, the Washington Post took great pains to point out that these military exercises on American soil are nothing new. For instance, there was Operation Bold Alligator, in which in which thousands of Marines and sailors carried out amphibious exercises against “insurgent” forces in Georgia and Florida. Operation Robin Sage had Green Beret soldiers engaging in guerrilla warfare in North Carolina. And Operation Derna Bridge sends Marine special forces into parts of South Carolina and the National Forest.
Yet if Americans are uneasy about this summer’s planned Jade Helm 15 military exercises, they have every right to be.
After all, haven’t we been urged time and time again to just “trust” the government to respect our rights and abide by the rule of law only to find that, in fact, our rights were being plundered and the Constitution disregarded at every turn?
Let’s assume, for the moment, that Jade Helm 15 is not a thinly veiled military plot to take over the country lifted straight out of director John Frankenheimer’s 1964 political thriller Seven Days in May, as some fear, but is merely a “routine” exercise for troops, albeit a blatantly intimidating flexing of the military’s muscles.
The problem arises when you start to add Jade Helm onto the list of other troubling developments that have taken place over the past 30 years or more: the expansion of the military industrial complex and its influence in Washington DC, the rampant surveillance, the corporate-funded elections and revolving door between lobbyists and elected officials, the militarized police, the loss of our freedoms, the injustice of the courts, the privatized prisons, the school lockdowns, the roadside strip searches, the military drills on domestic soil, the fusion centers and the simultaneous fusing of every branch of law enforcement (federal, state and local), the stockpiling of ammunition by various government agencies, the active shooter drills that are indistinguishable from actual crises, the economy flirting with near collapse, etc.
Suddenly, the overall picture seems that much more sinister. Clearly, as I point out in my new book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, there’s a larger agenda at work here.
Seven years ago, the U.S. Army War College issued a report calling on the military to be prepared should they need to put down civil unrest within the country. Summarizing the report, investigative journalist Chris Hedges declared, “The military must be prepared, the document warned, for a ‘violent, strategic dislocation inside the United States,’ which could be provoked by ‘unforeseen economic collapse,’ ‘purposeful domestic resistance,’ ‘pervasive public health emergencies’ or ‘loss of functioning political and legal order.’ The ‘widespread civil violence,’ the document said, ‘would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security.’”
At what point will all of the government’s carefully drawn plans for dealing with civil unrest, “homegrown” terrorism and targeting pre-crime become a unified blueprint for locking down the nation?
For instance, what’s the rationale behind turning government agencies into military outposts? There has been a notable buildup in recent years of SWAT teams within non-security-related federal agencies such as Department of Agriculture, the Railroad Retirement Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Education Department. As of 2008, “73 federal law enforcement agencies… [employ] approximately 120,000 armed full-time on-duty officers with arrest authority.” Four-fifths of those officers are under the command of either the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or the Department of Justice.
What’s with all of the government agencies stockpiling hollow point bullets? For example, why does the Department of Agriculture need .40 caliber semiautomatic submachine guns and 320,000 rounds of hollow point bullets? For that matter, why do its agents need ballistic vests and body armor?
Why does the Postal Service need “assorted small arms ammunition”? Why did the DHS purchase “1.6 billion rounds of hollow-point ammunition, along with 7,000 fully-automatic 5.56x45mm NATO ‘personal defense weapons’ plus a huge stash of 30-round high-capacity magazines”? That’s in addition to the FBI’s request for 100 million hollow-point rounds. The Department of Education, IRS, the Social Security Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the National Weather Service, are also among the federal agencies which have taken to purchasing ammunition and weaponry in bulk.
Why is the federal government distributing obscene amounts of military equipment, weapons and ammunition to police departments around the country? And why is DHS acquiring more than 2,500 Mine-Resistant Armored Protection (MRAP) vehicles, only to pass them around to local police departments across the country? According to the New York Times:
[A]s President Obama ushers in the end of what he called America’s “long season of war,” the former tools of combat — M-16 rifles, grenade launchers, silencers and more — are ending up in local police departments, often with little public notice. During the Obama administration, according to Pentagon data, police departments have received tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft. The equipment has been added to the armories of police departments that already look and act like military units.
Why is the military partnering with local police to conduct training drills around the country? And what exactly are they training for? In Richland, South Carolina, for instance, U.S. army special forces participated in joint and secretive exercises and training with local deputies. The public was disallowed from obtaining any information about the purpose of the drills, other than being told that they might be loud and to not be alarmed. The Army and DHS also carried out similar drills and maneuvers involving Black Hawk helicopters in Texas, Florida, and other locations throughout the U.S., ostensibly in order to provide local police with “realistic” urban training.
What is being done to protect the American populace from the threat of military arms and forces, including unarmed drones, being used against them? Policy analysts point to Directive No. 3025.18, “Defense Support of Civil Authorities” (issued on Dec. 29, 2010), as justification for the government’s use of military force to put down civil unrest within the United States.
Why is FEMA stockpiling massive quantities of emergency supplies? On January 10, 2014, FEMA made a statement enlisting the service of contractors who could “supply medical biohazard disposal capabilities and 40 yard dumpsters to 1,000 tent hospitals across the United States; all required on 24-48 hour notice.” This coincides with other medical requests seeking massive amounts of supplies, such as “31,000,000 flu vaccinations,” “100,000 each of winter shirts and pants and the same for summer” and other goods and services requests as well like tarps, manufactured housing units, and beverages. And why does the TSA need $21,000 worth of potassium chlorate, a chemical compound often used in explosives?
Why is the Pentagon continuing to purchase mass amounts of ammunition while at the same time preparing to destroy more than $1 billion worth of bullets and missiles that are still viable?
Moreover, what is really being done to hold the Pentagon accountable for its doctored ledgers, fraud, waste and mismanagement, which has cost the taxpayer trillions of dollars? According to Reuters, “The Pentagon is the only federal agency that has not complied with a law that requires annual audits of all government departments. That means that the $8.5 trillion in taxpayer money doled out by Congress to the Pentagon since 1996, the first year it was supposed to be audited, has never been accounted for. That sum exceeds the value of China's economic output.”
Given the similarities between the government’s Live Active Shooter Drill training exercises, carried out at schools, in shopping malls, and on public transit, which can and do fool law enforcement officials, students, teachers and bystanders into thinking it’s a real crisis, how much of what is being passed off as real is, in fact, being staged by DHS for the “benefit” of training law enforcement, leaving us none the wiser? These training exercises come complete with their own set of professionally trained Crisis Actors playing the parts of shooters, bystanders and victims in order to help schools and first responders create realistic drills, full-scale exercises, high-fidelity simulations, and interactive 3D films.
Given that Americans are 110 times more likely to die of foodborne illness than in a terrorist attack, why is the government spending trillions of dollars on “national security”? How exactly is the $75 billion given to various intelligence agencies annually to keep us “safe” being spent? And why is the DHS giving away millions of dollars’ worth of federal security grants to states that federal intelligence agencies ruled have “no specific foreign or domestic terrorism threat”?
Why is the government amassing names and information on Americans considered to be threats to the nation, and what criteria is the government using for this database? Keep in mind that this personal information is being acquired and kept without warrant or court order. It’s been suggested that in the event of nuclear war, the destruction of the U.S. Government, and the declaration of martial law, this Main Core database, which as of 2008 contained some 8 million names of Americans, would be used by military officials to locate and round up Americans seen as threats to national security, a program to be carried about by the Army and FEMA.
Taken individually, these questions are alarming enough. But put them together and they add up to the kind of trouble that the American founding fathers not only warned against but from which they fought to free themselves.
Indeed, when viewed collectively, they leave one wondering what exactly the U.S. government is preparing for and whether American citizens shouldn’t be preparing, as well, for that eventuality when our so-called “government of the people, by the people, for the people” is no longer answerable to “we the people.”
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you should decimate your text prior to posting which, as good zh'ers all know, means "reduce by 10%". At least.
One of the basic (and key) tools of a good writer . . . .at the same time PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD.
It is merely various versions of telling me to shut up . . .
Hey man, as far as I can tell from reading the feedback to your post no-one is telling you to "shut up". Seems to me that most folks would just like to see your comment(s) in a bit of a shorter format is all . . . . BIG difference.
One other thought comes to mind. From my own experience it is A LOT harder to organize my thoughts when stoned. Myabe you should cut back, or better yet lay off, before you write a post for ZH and see how that works out.
Regarding his comment: "I merely [post here] for my own amusement, to pass the time, since that is practically free to do so, taking only some fraction of a cent's worth of electricity to do so..." <-- If that's really the way he feels, then he's a boor, hardly worth the time wasted telling him to FUCK OFF AND STOP WASTING OTHER PEOPLE'S TIME. He probably plays this same tasteless control drama in person. Life is too short to waste on boors. Moving along...
Do you ever proofread?
Bump . . . seems to be a lost art for both the authors of the articles and the posters in the comment sections.
Misusing "there. their and they're" drives me nuts
. . . . about the only thing that I expect follows from publishing is that one's name gets added to the list of people to be put in concentration camps and mass murdered, when the martial law lockdowns kick into higher gear.
This comment is over the top to begin with (time to take your meds, or maybe you should switch to C. indica cause the C. sativa appears to be making you paranoid) . . . .
If there is any truth to this comment whatsoever do you actually think this will apply only to the authors of the main articles? .Gov/TPTB can find out where every comment on this site originated from - don't kid yourself.
Take a look at history, Dickweed, when the trends towards fascism go berserk, the first people they kill are the intellectuals.
Our society is terminally sick and insane, while anything that anyone writes about that is merely a diagnosis or prognosis, without any possible treatment that is any remedy that cures the problems. It will not make any significant difference to anything to present any better edited arguments. The established systems are well-developed to be able to continue to deliberately ignore any rational evidence or logical arguments that they do not like.
Reading Zero Hedge is like enjoying a front row seat to watch as things get worse, faster. However, it is clear that nothing which has ever been published on Zero Hedge has ever changed that in any significant way. Rather, the only thing that happens is that the more one learns, the worse it gets ...
I like to read Zero Hedge because many of its articles discuss issues that I am intrinsically interested in, and those provoke me to think my own thoughts about that, which I then articulate in the comments. However, OBVIOUSLY, nothing that anyone has ever published here has made any significant difference to what was really happening ... In that REAL context, I am developing my own ideas, to cope with comprehending the ways that the society I was born into has become too terminally sick and insane.
Welcome to the global hospice, Dickweed:
On a long enough time line, the survival rate of everyone drops to zero, while the more one learns about the problems, the clearer it becomes that those trends are on exponential growth curves ...
America turning into a battlefield is happening faster and faster, with no end in sight of how much that is going to accelerate. One can reasonably expect that Internet censorship is going to be imposed to do the final editing to what gets published on Zero Hedge, while nothing that anyone is saying about that seems like it is going to prevent that from happening ...
Kirk, it's an articulated comment. ;)
That's affirmative Captain!!! If someone can't keep their posts in the comment section to 500 words or so there's a problem. Either the thinking/argument is not concise enough or the person is covering too many issues in too much detail . . . . the alternative for the poster to submit something that long to the Tylers as a regular article is a good idea IMHO.
Just the link please or your synopsis.
(Too much wear on my mouse wheel scrolling down.)
There is NO link. I write a comment after I read an article, quoting those passages that I thought most noteworthy, while then also sometimes referring to some other Zero Hedge articles that add something worthwhile to the overall discussion.
Nobody is forced to read any comments.
A few like to ...
Meanwhile, those who make snide replies I will deliberately disregard as useless trolls.
Exactly. You go Rad !
WAYYYYY too long dude . . . get your own blog!
UPDATE - Did a word count . . . . your coment 3046 words/original article 2012 words, including the quotes!
So let me get this straight. You're complaining that RM's comments are too long for you to read, but you just spent an inordinate amount of time counting over 5000 words to make your point? You either need to adjust your priorities or stop reading his posts and stop quibbling.
0bama, Holder, Jarrett, Ayers etc etc are very, very excited about this situation. Their dreams are coming true! Now, when riots have escalated and no end seems in sight watch 0bama come out and declare himself a mussie. He will encourage the blacks to become mussie, thus ensuring a civil war like we have never seen before.
The Latest Craig Hulet radio interview http://www.eliasound.biz/hulet/mp3s/2015/04.27.15.mp3
Meanwhile, back at the ranch - http://greatideas.people.com/2015/04/28/white-house-state-dinner-menu-ja...
Department of Homeland Security (DoH) translates in German into Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) when it was run by Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich and encompassed German Counter Inteligence - GeStapo, normal police Schupo and Kripo, and Foreign Intelligence Sicherheitsdienst (SD) often confused with GeStapo in Occupied countries.
The Fourth Reich is English-speaking and rampant.......no wonder Iron Sky had them returning to the US under a female president
Of course you can be prepared. "Preparation" looks uncanninly like a Barrett M82A1 .50BMG. Optioned with a S.L.A.P barrel and Sabot armour piercing rounds. Muzzle V. @4300 FPS.....better ouside than inside a tank.
https://www.vpc.org/studies/roofone.htm
So let's see 1.4 million active duty military with roughly 300K stationed overseas. Most of them are not combat troops; they're records clerks, cooks, gas turbine technicians, etc etc etc. In fact, most Air Force and Navy enlisted have never fired a weapon and if they did it was a familiarization fire to learn which end the bullet comes out of. The only ones you really have to worry about are Marine 0311 and 0351 and Army 11B.
So if DOD mobilized all the individuals they could spare they'd have enough combat troops to occupy ... wait for it .. CALIFORNIA - maybe.
Now how many people go hunting in the US every year? Roughly 15 million and most of them use rifles with serious stopping power like 30-06, 300 WSM, 7MM REM MAG and what have you. Not some weak ass 5.56/223. If the military decides to take on the civilian population they are outgunned and outnumbered. So bring it on bitchez but be sure to bring enough gun.
And I'd guess a significant number of those mobilized military would probably either ignore orders, or turn their weapons on their officers rather than attack their fellow citizens.
I wouldn't count on that.
Depends on wheher they are white or a recent illegal alien.
But military combined with local and state police and national guard then comprises a quite different scenario, wouldn't you think? The loudmouths always spouting off about how ready they are when the military try to take over are the first ones rounded up and sent to FEMA camps, leaving the great majority of the population cowering in fear.
Don't shrug this off. These people are deadly serious and they have been planning this for many years now and preparing very carefully.
Go ahead and go up against an Army or, worse yet, a Marine unit with your 7mm WSM, 30/06 or whatever and you will come home (maybe) in a body bag . . . . 100% guaranteed.
He forgot to mention the Air Superiority called the Air Force, which, having fired a gun or not, has enough planes & bombs to level COUNTRIES.... The problem is, they are US citzens, but I wouldn't put it past the government to use chemicals if they had to... (America's leaders are NOT better than most of the nations we have invaded over the years.)
but I wouldn't put it past the government to use chemicals if they had to . . .
I agree but I wouldn't say "if they had to". It's more like if they "wanted to" because nothing the peeps will have to fight back would justify air attacks in the first place . . . . it will be chems or bio weps. The later is more likely IMHO as they could pass it off on the MSM as regular diseases in many cases. It's a lot harder to do that with chems because of the symptoms.
I sure hope the individuals in the military and police remember they have moms and dads and brothers and sisters that will be on the recieving end of this domestic military buildup.
the way the obamao admin has shit on the military, say the cops acted stupidly and blamed them for Ferguson and now Balt., had the cops stand down while beingpelted with bricks-how much loyalty do they feel.
btw, don't forget there area lot of former GIs who are now civilians.
guessthe choice is to fightand maybe die as a free man or live a slave.
Anyone ever think that an article like this is purposely designed to foment comments from people talking about their guns and willingness to use them against .gov/TPTB? Very stupid move IMHO. It's one thing to have them and know how and when to use them it's another thing to let anyone know about it, especially in a public forum like this . . . . . just saying.
Yup
That sir, is an astute observation....
I now regret feeling free enough to speak freely. You can't unring the bell, and I know every keystoke is recorded in Utah.
The only thing to do now is find a lake with an island on it and swim to it, loosing the cell phone on the way.
I sure wish JFK would have stayed out of Dallas. They probably would have got him elsewhere, but maybe not.
The idea that they are all powerful and all seeing is an idea they want you to have. One cannot have liberty while living in fear. I have guns. I will use them. I don't care who knows it. I know that when I bought them the purchase was recorded forever just like everyon else's who bought them retail. The one thing they don't know is where the tipping point is that will cause me to use them. That goes for every other firearms owner. The earlier they believe they will be used the better.
‘loss of functioning political and legal order.’
Well, that´s a given fact.
I have long said: The only reason people think they're free is because they haven't pushed at the boundaries surrounding them. They couldn't even identify, much less define, the limits of their freedom. The constitution, you say? That is nieve at best.
The great fallicy is that people who get arrested did something "wrong". Are you certain?
Hedges knows the score; so does Chomsky...
Oh, and if the police are any indication; I wouldn't count on the National Guard (remember Kent State?) or the army to refuse orders to kill U.S. citizens inside of the U.S.
The constitution is a joke, sorry to say but it is true. A bargain made with dead men, ignored by tptb, and it all sounds great, but it is still a list of commands by those that assume they have authority over you.
Assuming one human has 'authority' over another (outside the bounds of mutual benefit and consent), is an erroneous belief.
We've been cowed into thinking that following the commandments of the bully in charge is virtuous, but how can anyone really find virtue in being a slave to murderous monsters with often bizarre personal lives that operate well beyond your own moral framework?
'Slave' is a tough one to swallow. Not 'slave' in the same way that old ugly trade helped make western nations prosperous, but a very comfortable slave in a gilded cage.
'Voting' in another figurehead for the slave masters will not change anything. You don't need authority - your own morals and sense of responsibility often far exceed those of the controlling establishment.
We will never have a chance at peace unless we free ourselves from such false beliefs - which arm of the government gets the biggest budget?
Don't kid yourself. We all know what's coming. This isn't a fucking joke or a game.
Get ready.
Gather as much stuff and as much intel as you can, now, while you still can.
We need Colonel Angus to restore posse comitatus.
Yikes....a whole page of u guys fighting with each other...anyway, in regards to the article, which I almost forgot what it was about, lol, interesting times we live in when are financial portfolio is guns, ammo, food, and water..