Malachi Smith's List: U.S. MILITARY

• Brig. Gen. Tinsley, 3rd Wing commander at Elmendorf, dies of gunshot wound
• By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
  Stars and Stripes online edition, Monday, July 28, 2008
• ARLINGTON, Va. — Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Tinsley, commander   of the 3rd Wing in Elmendorf, Alaska, died Sunday at his home of a gunshot   wound, the Air Force announced Monday.
• Air Force officials would not discuss the circumstances of Tinsley’s death,
• but Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Michael Paoli said there are no indications   of foul play.

  • And who was that U.S. Navy admiral a while back who also committed "suicide?"
• Tinsley, who became wing commander in May 2007, was pronounced dead at   10:30 p.m. Sunday after medical officials responded to his home on base, an   Air Force news release said.

  • Any relationship, I wonder, between the General's "death" and the Air Force's series of woes afflicting it?
• Because the incident is under investigation, no further information was   available Monday, Paoli said.
• 
     
  Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Tinsley
• Capt. Kelley Jeter, a spokeswoman for the 3rd Wing, described Tinsley as a   charismatic leader who had the ability to make a lengthy briefing feel like it   only lasted 10 minutes.
• “He was a fantastic leader,” she said. “He was a mentor to so many people.   Everyone really looked up to him. He was a true airman leader.”
• The Tinsley family did not have a statement for the media on Monday, said 3rd  Wing spokesman Sgt. Jared Marquis.
• Tinsley was commissioned in 1984 through the Reserve Officer Training Corps   program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, according to his Air Force   biography.
• Before becoming wing commander at Elmendorf, he served as executive officer   to the Air Force chief of staff.
• In another previous assignment, he served on   the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.
• Tinsley, who served both as an instructor and test pilot, logged more than   3,200 hours in the air during his career in the F-15, F/A-18 and F-22A.
• With Tinsley's death, Air Force Col. Richard Walberg, vice wing commander, is  serving as the acting commander of the wing, Jeter said.
• "Elmendorf is focusing on taking care of Mrs.  Tinsley and her family right now," said Walberg said in a news release. "We ask  that your thoughts and prayers go out to his family as well as his Air Force  family who regarded him as a mentor, leader, world-class Airman and friend." 

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• Air Force exec resigns, cites leader changes
• Air Force logistic chief resigns, blames leadership changes made by Gates

• LOLITA C. BALDOR
  AP News

   

  Jul 28, 2008 11:57 EST
• The Air Force's logistics chief resigned Monday, saying that the recent leadership shake up by Defense Secretary Robert Gates has hurt his ability to do his job.
• In a sharply worded memo obtained by The Associated Press, William Anderson said the leadership changes limit his ability to take care of the airmen and their families with the vigor they deserve.
• "I can no longer draw on a critical mass of leadership within the Pentagon who share your vision for the support necessary to lean forward to aggressively support these American heroes," said Anderson in a memo to President Bush.
• The Air Force said Gates has accepted Anderson's resignation.
• Last month, Gates sacked the Air Force secretary and the chief of staff.
• He blamed them for failing to fully address a series of nuclear-related mishaps.
• His decisions were triggered largely by the conclusions of an internal report on the mistaken shipment to Taiwan of four electrical fuses for ballistic missile warheads.
• Anderson has been the assistant secretary for installations, environment and logistics since 2005. He made no reference in his memo to the string of missteps that has plunged the Air Force into turmoil for months.
• Instead, he spoke of progress the Air Force has made in improving energy programs, developing better housing for airmen, and creating the new Cyber Command, which will beef up the military's ability to wage war against terrorists hackers or other cyberspace threats.
• Last August, an Air Force B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., to Barksdale Air Force Base, La.
• At the time, the pilot and crew were unaware they had nuclear arms aboard.
• Then, in March, the Pentagon disclosed the mishandling of the fuses and launched a broad investigation into the military's handling of nuclear related materials.
• The report was completed last month, and asserted that slippage in the Air Force's nuclear standards was a "problem that has been identified but not effectively addressed for over a decade.
• Those findings led to Gates' decision to fire Michael Wynne and Gen. Michael Moseley, who were the Air Force secretary and chief of staff respectively.
• Bush has nominated Gen. Norton Schwartz, a 35-year veteran with a background in Air Force special operations, as the new Air Force chief of staff. And former Air Force official Michael Donley has been nominated to be the next Air Force secretary, and is currently serving as acting secretary.
• Both men told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that they will work to restore trust and confidence in the beleaguered service.

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• Stirling
• Thursday, August 7, 2008
• Operation Brimstone ended only one week ago. This was the joint US/UK/French naval war games in the Atlantic Ocean preparing for a naval blockade of Iran and the likely resulting war in the Persian Gulf area.
• The massive war games included a US Navy supercarrier battle group, an US Navy expeditionary carrier battle group, a Royal Navy carrier battle group, a French nuclear hunter-killer submarine plus a large number of US Navy cruisers, destroyers and frigates playing the "enemy force".
• The lead American ship in these war games, the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN71) and its Carrier Strike Group Two (CCSG-2) are now headed towards Iran along with the USS Ronald Reagon (CVN76) and its Carrier Strike Group Seven (CCSG-7) coming from Japan.
• Carrier Strike Group Two
• They are joining two existing USN battle groups in the Gulf area: the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN72) with its Carrier Strike Group Nine (CCSG-9); and the USS Peleliu (LHA-5) with its expeditionary strike group.
• Likely also under way towards the Persian Gulf is the USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) and its expeditionary strike group, the UK Royal Navy HMS Ark Royal (R07) carrier battle group, assorted French naval assets including the nuclear hunter-killer submarine Amethyste and French Naval Rafale fighter jets on-board the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
• These ships took part in the just completed Operation Brimstone.
• The build up of naval forces in the Gulf will be one of the largest multi-national naval armadas since the First and Second Gulf Wars.
• The intent is to create a US/EU naval blockade (which is an Act of War under international law) around Iran (with supporting air and land elements) to prevent the shipment of benzene and certain other refined oil products headed to Iranian ports.
• Iran has limited domestic oil refining capacity and imports 40% of its benzene. Cutting off benzene and other key products would cripple the Iranian economy.
• The neo-cons are counting on such a blockade launching a war with Iran.
• The US Naval forces being assembled include the following:
• Carrier Strike Group Nine
  USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN72) nuclear powered supercarrier
  with its Carrier Air Wing Two
• Destroyer Squadron Nine:
• USS Mobile Bay (CG53) guided missile cruiser
  USS Russell (DDG59) guided missile destroyer
  USS Momsen (DDG92) guided missile destroyer
  USS Shoup (DDG86) guided missile destroyer
  USS Ford (FFG54) guided missile frigate
  USS Ingraham (FFG61) guided missile frigate
  USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG60) guided missile frigate
  USS Curts (FFG38) guided missile frigate
  Plus one or more nuclear hunter-killer submarines
• Peleliu Expeditionary Strike Group
• USS Peleliu (LHA-5) a Tarawa-class amphibious assault carrier
  USS Pearl Harbor (LSD52) assult ship
  USS Dubuque (LPD8) assult ship/landing dock
  USS Cape St. George (CG71) guided missile cruiser
  USS Halsey (DDG97) guided missile destroyer
  USS Benfold (DDG65) guided missile destroyer
• USS Theodore Roosevelt (DVN71) nuclear powered supercarrier
  with its Carrier Air Wing Eight
• Destroyer Squadron 22
• USS Monterey (CG61) guided missile cruiser
  USS Mason (DDG87) guided missile destroyer
  USS Nitze (DDG94) guided missile destroyer
  USS Sullivans (DDG68) guided missile destroyer
• USS Springfield (SSN761) nuclear powered hunter-killer submarine
• IWO ESG ~ Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group
• USS Iwo Jima (LHD7) amphibious assault carrier
  with its Amphibious Squadron Four
  and with its 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit
• USS San Antonio (LPD17) assault ship
  USS Velia Gulf (CG72) guided missile cruiser
  USS Ramage (DDG61) guided missile destroyer
  USS Carter Hall (LSD50) assault ship
  USS Roosevelt (DDG80) guided missile destroyer
• USS Hartfore (SSN768) nuclear powered hunter-killer submarine
• Carrier Strike Group Seven
  USS Ronald Reagan (CVN76) nuclear powered supercarrier
  with its Carrier Air Wing 14
• Destroyer Squadron 7
• USS Chancellorsville (CG62) guided missile cruiser
  USS Howard (DDG83) guided missile destroyer
  USS Gridley (DDG101) guided missile destroyer
  USS Decatur (DDG73) guided missile destroyer
  USS Thach (FFG43) guided missile frigate
  USNS Rainier (T-AOE-7) fast combat support ship
• Also likely to join the battle armada:
• UK Royal Navy HMS Ark Royal Carrier Strike Group with assorted guided missile destroyers and frigates, nuclear hunter-killer submarines and support ships
• French Navy nuclear powered hunter-killer submarines (likely the Amethyste and perhaps others), plus French Naval Rafale fighter jets operating off of the USS Theodore Roosevelt as the French Carrier Charles de Gaulle is in dry dock, and assorted surface warships
• Various other US Navy warships and submarines and support ships.
• The following USN ships took part (as the "enemy" forces) in Operation Brimstone and several may join in:
• USS San Jacinto (CG56) guided missile cruiser

  • My youngest Marine was aboard this vessel for a while.
• USS Anzio (CG68) guided missile cruiser
  USS Normandy (CG60) guided missile cruiser
  USS Carney (DDG64) guided missile destroyer
  USS Oscar Austin (DDG79) guided missile destroyer
  USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG81) guided missile destroyer
  USS Carr (FFG52) guided missile frigate
• The USS Iwo Jima and USS Peleliu Expeditionary Strike Groups have USMC Harrier jump jets and an assortment of assault and attack helicopters.
• The Expeditionary Strike Groups have powerful USMC Expeditionary Units with amphibious armor and ground forces trained for operating in shallow waters and in seizures of land assets, such as Qeshm Island (a 50 mile long island off of Bandar Abbas in the Gulf of Hormuz and headquarters of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps).
• The large and very advanced nature of the US Naval warships is not only directed at Iran. There is a great fear that Russia and China may oppose the naval and air/land blockade of Iran.
• If Russian and perhaps Chinese naval warships escort commercial tankers to Iran in violation of the blockade it could be the most dangerous at-sea confrontation since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• The US and allied Navies, by front loading a Naval blockade force with very powerful guided missile warships and strike carriers is attempting to have a force so powerful that Russia and China will not be tempted to mess with.
• This is a most serious game of military brinkmanship with major nuclear armed powers that have profound objections to the neo-con grand strategy and to western control of all of the Middle East's oil supply.
• The Russian Navy this spring sent a major battle fleet into the Mediterranean headed by the modern aircraft carrier the Admiral Kuznetsov and the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet, the Guided Missile Heavy Cruiser Moskva.
• This powerful fleet has at least 11 surface ships and unknown numbers of subs and can use the Russian naval facility at Syria's Tartous port for resupply.
• The Admiral Kuznetsov carries approximately 47 warplanes and 10 helicopters. The warplanes are mostly the powerful Su-33, a naval version (with mid-air refueling capability) of the Su-27 family.
• While the Su-33 is a very powerful warplane it lacks the power of the stealth USAF F-22. However, the Russians insist that they have developed a plasma based system that allows them to stealth any aircraft and a recent incident where Russian fighters were able to appear unannounced over a US Navy carrier battle group tends to confirm their claims.
• The Su-33 can be armed with the 3M82 Moskit sea-skimming missile (NATO code name SS-N-22 Sunburn) and the even more powerful P-800 Oniks (also named Yakhonts; NATO code name SS-N-26 Onyx). Both missiles are designed to kill US Navy supercarriers by getting past the cruiser/destroyer screen and the USN point-defense Phalanx system by using high supersonic speeds and violent end maneuvers.
• Russian subs currently use the underwater rocket VA-111 Shkval (Squall), which is fired from standard 533mm torpedo tubes and reaches a speed of 360kph (230mph) underwater. There is no effective countermeasures to this system and no western counterpart.
• A strategic diversion has been created for Russia. The Republic of Georgia, with US backing, is actively preparing for war on South Ossetia. The South Ossetia capital has been shelled and a large Georgian tank force has been heading towards the border.
• Russia has stated that it will not sit by and allow the Georgians to attack South Ossetia.
• The Russians are great chess players and this game may not turn out so well for the neo-cons.
• UPDATE 8 August 2008 ~ War has broken out between Georgia and South Ossetia. At least 10 Russian troops have been killed and 30 wounded and 2 Russian fighter jets downed. American Marines, a thousand of them, have recently been in Georgia training the Georgian military forces. Several European nations stopped Bush and others from allowing Georgia into NATO. Russia is moving a large military force with armor towards the area. This could get bad, and remember it is just a strategic diversion....but one that could have horrific effects.
• Kuwait has activated its "Emergency War Plan" as it and other Gulf nations prepare for the likelihood of a major regional war in the Middle East involving weapons of mass destruction.
• The two-ton elephant in the living room of the neo-con strategy is the advanced biowar (ABW) that Iran, and to a lessor extent Syria, has.
• This places the motherlands of the major neo-con nations (America, France, the United Kingdom), as well as Israel, in grave danger.
• When the Soviet Union fell the Iranians hired as many out-of-work former Soviet advanced biowar experts as possible. In the last 15 or so years they have helped to develop a truly world class ABW program utilizing recombination DNA genetic engineering technology to create a large number of man made killer viruses.
• This form of weapon system does not require high tech military delivery systems. The viruses are sub-microscopic and once seeded in a population use the population itself as vectors.
• Seeding can be done without notice in shopping malls, churches, and other public places. The only real defense to an advanced global strategic biowar attack is to lock down the population as rapidly as possible and let those infected die off.
• Unless the public gets it act together and forces the neo-cons to stop the march to yet another war in the Middle East we are apt to see a truly horrific nightmare unfold in OUR COUNTRIES.

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• US military trainers not involved in Georgia conflict: military
• WASHINGTON (AFP) — The Pentagon took a hands off approach to outbreak of hostilities between Russia and Georgia Friday, keeping tabs on US military trainers there and dusting off contingency plans should Americans need to be evacuated, Pentagon officials said.
• However, there were no plans to redeploy the estimated 130 US troops and civilian contractors who are stationed in the area around Tblisi, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. He said all have been accounted for.
• "They are not involved in any way in this conflict between the Russian military and the Georgian military," said Lieutenant Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesman for the US European Command.
• The US military has had a longstanding program to train Georgian troops for deployments in Iraq, where there are currently about 2,000 troops, making Georgia the third largest troop contributor to the US-led coalition.
• The Georgian government said Friday it wants to bring home 1,000 troops from Iraq, and a US military official said the Pentagon has been asked for help in flying them home.
• But otherwise, Pentagon officials said they knew of no other requests for military assistance.
• The outbreak of fighting was being watched with concern at the Pentagon.
• Whitman said the US Defense Department has been in contact with Georgian officials over the situation in South Ossetia, the breakaway region at the center of the conflict.
• "We have forces in Georgia, so obviously the secretary is interested in the situation there," he said, referring to US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
• "We are watching it closely," a military official said. "We are looking at the situation, and how it develops. It's still early."
• The US European Command's plans and operations center has also been monitoring the situation in South Ossetia, said Dorrian.
• "What they do in a situation like this is contact the embassy, contact our troops there, assess the situation, and begin to receive any information or request for support from the embassy, or any reports about US citizens being in danger."
• "At this point we are early in the hostilities. The situation is sort of dynamic at this point," he said.
• Asked about planning for a possible non combatant evacuation, Dorrian said, "We do have robust plans in place to support needs like that if they are required."
• Pentagon officials said such plans would be reviewed as a precaution in light of the situation although no request has been made by the State Department to evacuate civilians.

• "Normally plans like this are dusted off and given a fresh look," said a defense official, who asked not to be identified.

  "There is always contingency planning that takes place over a continuous period. When a moment of crisis seems to appear, they are looked at with fresh eyes at that time," the official said.
• The United States, European Union and NATO have led international calls for an immediate end to violence in South Ossetia amid fears of all-out war between Russia and Georgia.

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• Dobbins Air Force Base
• Marrietta, GA  
• County: Washington
• Submitted by: Anonymous      Last updated on : 7/3/2006    
• Location Description:     
     
    Dobbins Air Force Base, Marrietta GA
• Function: test site for plasma and antigravity air craft, experimental crafts and weapons

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• From The Sunday Times
• August 17, 2008
• US to take over Afghan mission
• Michael Smith and Sarah Baxter
• The United States is planning to take control of all military operations in Afghanistan next year with an Iraq-style troop surge after becoming frustrated at Nato’s failure to defeat the Taliban.
• Plans are being drawn up to send as many as 15,000 extra troops to Afghanistan with a single US general always in command, as in Iraq, defence sources said.
• The Pentagon is also pushing for a permanent “unified command” in the south of the country that would sideline the Dutch and the Canadians.
• At present, control of the south is rotated between the British, Dutch and Canadians, the three countries that provide the bulk of the troops.
• From October next year, when the UK will take over from the Dutch, command of the south is expected to alternate between the British and the Americans.
• Although final decisions cannot be made until the new US administration takes over in January, plans are being drawn up to send two to three US combat brigades – a total of between 8,000 and 12,000 men, the sources said.
• Lawrence Korb, a defence expert at the Centre for American Progress, a Democratic think tank in Washington, said: “There is no doubt that the US wants to change the command structure as things have deteriorated in Afghanistan.”
• Both Barack Obama, the Democrat presidential candidate, and John McCain, his Republican opponent, have spoken of using “two to three [combat] brigades for the surge, amounting to 8,000-12,000 troops”, Korb said. “There will be a US general and the forces will be under US command.”
• The surge will also see US and other coalition special forces, which operate separately from the Nato command, absorbed into a single US command for the whole of Afghanistan.
• A report written by Barry McCaffrey, a retired US general, that is highly critical of the command structure in Afghanistan is circulating at senior levels within the Pentagon. “There is no unity of command in Afghanistan,” it says.

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• NATO ships enter Black Sea for exercises
• The Associated Press

   

  Published: August 21, 2008

   

  
• NATO warships entered the Black Sea on Thursday for what the alliance said were long-planned exercises and routine visits to ports in Romania and Bulgaria.
• The move is not linked to the tensions over Russia's invasion of Georgia, which lies on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, about 900 kilometers (550 miles) from the Romanian coast, said officials at NATO's military command in southern Belgium.

  • Oh.., of course not!
• Three warships — from Spain, Germany and Poland — sailed into the Black Sea on Thursday. They are due to be joined by a U.S. frigate, the USS Taylor, later this week.
• They are "conducting a pre-planned routine visit to the Black Sea region to interact and exercise with our NATO partners Romania and Bulgaria, which is an important feature of our routine planning," said Vice-Adm. Pim Bedet, deputy commander at allied maritime headquarters in Northwood, England.
• However, the move risks increasing tensions with Russia which has deployed ships from its Black Sea fleet to the Georgian coast.
• The NATO flotilla includes Spain's SPS Adm. Juan de Bourbon, Germany's FGS Luebeck and the Polish ship ORP General K Pulaski.
• Romanian and Bulgarian ships will join them for exercises during a three-week deployment which NATO says has been planned for over a year.

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• Howard Films presents: Loss of Liberty
• On June 8, 1967, Israeli warplanes and torpedo boats launched a ferocious two-hour attack against the USS Liberty, an American intelligence ship operating in the eastern Mediterranean.
• Of the 294 men aboard the vessel, 34 were killed and 172 were wounded.
• For years the survivors kept silent about what happened, under threat by military authorities of severe punishment if they revealed the truth.
• Now, in this powerful film documentary, USS Liberty survivors speak with moving candor about what really happened.
• “The Loss of Liberty” includes interviews with high-ranking Israeli military officers. High-ranking American military and civilian officials, including Dean Rusk, former U.S. Secretary of State, and Admiral Thomas Moorer, former Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, provide authoritative analysis.

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• Monarch One 45min  - 45 min  - 2008-04-05 
   marshall thomas - www.monarchnewphoenix.com
• read the book www.MonarchNewPhoenix.com The true story of microwave weapons being used on whistleblowers and dissidents on a government hit list.Experiments that slowly kill with non-ionizing radiation or forces a suicide due to the extended torture.«

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• E-mail frenzy: 'Obama plans to disarm U.S.!'
• Candidate pledges on YouTube clip to gut military spending, research
• August 26, 2008
• By Drew Zahn
   <!--- copywrite only show on NON commentary pages as per joseph meeting 8/23/06 ------>   <!-- copyright --> © 2008 WorldNetDaily 
• DES MOINES, Iowa – A video the Barack Obama campaign produced last year to solicit the endorsement of an Iowa-based advocacy group has generated more than 3 million page views on YouTube, fueled by chain e-mails claiming the clip is evidence the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee intends to disarm the U.S..
• Florida's St. Petersburg Times received an e-mail that warned of Obama's plan to "unilaterally disarm our nation" and stated, "You do not have to check Snopes to determine if this is true or false. ... Watch and listen to Obama's own words."
• WND also received an e-mail suggesting the Democratic National Committee is supposedly pressuring YouTube to remove the video clip before it leaks out to too many viewers and damages Obama's chances of winning the presidency.
• The video, however, was originally posted on YouTube by the Obama campaign itself on Oct. 22, 2007, and has been seen – in its various repeat appearances on the site – well over 3 million times.
• Does it give evidence of a plan to disarm the U.S.?
• In the clip, Obama pledges to "cut tens of billions of dollars" in defense spending, "cut investments" in missile defense systems and "slow our development of future combat systems."
• You can view the candidate's promises in his own words and full context below:
• In addition to budget cuts and curtailing weapons research and development, Obama concludes the video by pledging to refrain from developing new nuclear weapons,
• to negotiate with Russia to take intercontinental missiles "off hair-trigger alert" and to "achieve deep cuts in our nuclear arsenals."
• Whether such promises constitute an endangering level of disarmament or not is a subject hotly debated on YouTube itself.
• One viewer commented, "How will you 'protect the American people' without a powerful defence (sic)?
• R & D is mandatory to keep ahead of the threats, and develop new and better ways to support and protect our troops when they go in harms (sic) way."
• Another viewer agreed with Obama's plan, saying, "Wow. So that's where all my money is going. … Man we are over-kill when it come (sic) to producing a lot of weapons for this country."
• Obama originally made the video clip to garner the endorsement of Caucus4Priorities, an Iowa-based group that would likely agree with the latter viewer that advocates shifting federal funds from defense spending to social programs.
• The Democratic candidate thanked the group in the video's opening remarks.
• The video was made last October as Obama was attempting to win Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucus. Obama pulled ahead of Hillary Clinton and John Edwards to win the caucus but lost the Caucus4Priorities endorsement, as the organization backed Edwards instead.

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• Sacked Air Force Secretary: We Shoulda Sent Jets, Troops to Fight Russia
• By David Axe
• September 09, 2008
• The former Secretary of the Air Force says he would've been willing to risk World War III, to take on Moscow.
• When Russia invaded U.S. ally Georgia last month, American think-tankers and policy makers were quick to offer a whole range of ways that the U.S. could react.
• Some suggested standing pat. Others counseled diplomatic actions against Russia. The most extreme advisors proposed giving the Georgians Stinger missiles, or going after
   Russia's oligarchs.
• But Michael Wynne, recently-fired Air Force Secretary, says we should have gone a big step further in siding with Georgia.
• As in, a World War III-size step.

• Military.com published Wynne's editorial yesterday:

  We could have flown Global Hawks or U-2s on the Russian-Georgian border to signal our watchfulness to the Russians. We could have escorted these assets with the F-22s, which fly at high enough altitude to operate as a defense of unmanned assets, or can operate to defend key assets in Georgia. If the Russians determined to invade, we could have strengthened air defenses of key Georgian positions, provided fighter re-enforcements, and placed Special Forces or Marines on the ground in the national capital.
• Holy pointless apocalypse, Batman! Wynne's idea would have instantly escalated a limited regional conflict into a full-blown global war, the first between major nuclear-armed states.
• Say what you will about the justice of Georgia's initial attack on Ossetian separatists or Russia's supposedly "disproportionate" response -- does anyone beside Wynne really think Georgia is worth risking Armageddon?

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• Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1
• 3rd Infantry’s 1st BCT trains for a new dwell-time mission. Helping ‘people at home’ may become a permanent part of the active Army
• By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
   Posted : Monday Sep 8, 2008 6:15:06 EDT
• The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.
• Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.
• Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

  • What do the "Federales" know that we do not?
  Add Sticky Note
• It is not the first time an active-duty unit has been tapped to help at home. In August 2005, for example, when Hurricane Katrina unleashed hell in Mississippi and Louisiana, several active-duty units were pulled from various posts and mobilized to those areas.
• But this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

  • For the government apparatus and against citizens...?
  Add Sticky Note
• After 1st BCT finishes its dwell-time mission, expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one.

  • Martial law under the door...?
  Add Sticky Note
• “Right now, the response force requirement will be an enduring mission.
• How the [Defense Department] chooses to source that and whether or not they continue to assign them to NorthCom, that could change in the future,” said Army Col. Louis Vogler, chief of NorthCom future operations.
• “Now, the plan is to assign a force every year.”
• The command is at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo.,

  • Peterson Air Force Base
  Add Sticky Note
• but the soldiers with 1st BCT, who returned in April after 15 months in Iraq, will operate out of their home post at Fort Stewart, Ga., where they’ll be able to go to school, spend time with their families and train for their new homeland mission as well as the counterinsurgency mission in the war zones.
• Stop-loss will not be in effect, so soldiers will be able to leave the Army or move to new assignments during the mission, and the operational tempo will be variable.
• Don’t look for any extra time off, though. The at-home mission does not take the place of scheduled combat-zone deployments and will take place during the so-called dwell time a unit gets to reset and regenerate after a deployment.
• The 1st of the 3rd is still scheduled to deploy to either Iraq or Afghanistan in early 2010, which means the soldiers will have been home a minimum of 20 months by the time they ship out.
• In the meantime, they’ll learn new skills, use some of the ones they acquired in the war zone and more than likely will not be shot at while doing any of it.

  • Interesting statement...
  Add Sticky Note
• They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control

  • With the economy worsening over the greed and ineptitude of the "Elite" criminals, they must be expecting trouble from a robbed, looted and raped American citizenry.
  Add Sticky Note
• or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.
• Training for homeland scenarios has already begun at Fort Stewart and includes specialty tasks such as knowing how to use the “jaws of life” to extract a person from a mangled vehicle; extra medical training for a CBRNE incident; and working with U.S. Forestry Service experts on how to go in with chainsaws and cut and clear trees to clear a road or area.

  • Also how to do door to door confiscations of Americans' guns.
  Add Sticky Note
• The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

  • Again: ominous sounding for the new serfs; the American citizen.
  Add Sticky Note
• “It’s a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they’re fielding.
• They’ve been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it.”

  • So they will be turning on the American people what they used on Iraqis?
  Add Sticky Note
• The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.

• “I was the first guy in the brigade to get Tasered,” said Cloutier, describing the experience as “your worst muscle cramp ever — times 10 throughout your whole body.

  “I’m not a small guy, I weigh 230 pounds ... it put me on my knees in seconds.”
• The brigade will not change its name, but the force will be known for the next year as a CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force, or CCMRF (pronounced “sea-smurf”).

  • The "CBRNE"
  Add Sticky Note
• “I can’t think of a more noble mission than this,” said Cloutier, who took command in July.

  • Oh, you can't? Then just exactly what are you, Cloutier? Who are you?
  Add Sticky Note
• “We’ve been all over the world during this time of conflict, but now our mission is to take care of citizens at home ... and depending on where an event occurred, you’re going home to take care of your home town, your loved ones.”

  • Take care of us alright...
  Add Sticky Note
• While soldiers’ combat training is applicable, he said, some nuances don’t apply.
• “If we go in, we’re going in to help American citizens on American soil, to save lives, provide critical life support, help clear debris, restore normalcy and support whatever local agencies need us to do, so it’s kind of a different role,” said Cloutier, who, as the division operations officer on the last rotation, learned of the homeland mission a few months ago while they were still in Iraq.

  • Sounds no different than what they were doing in Iraq...
  Add Sticky Note
• Some brigade elements will be on call around the clock, during which time they’ll do their regular marksmanship, gunnery and other deployment training.

  • On call 24/7
  Add Sticky Note
• That’s because the unit will continue to train and reset for the next deployment, even as it serves in its CCMRF mission.
• Should personnel be needed at an earthquake in California, for example, all or part of the brigade could be scrambled there, depending on the extent of the need and the specialties involved.

  • And in the case of Obama's winning the election, to also break up any prayer meetings, Bible studies or shut down Churches who pray in Jesus' name..; not Obama's?
  Add Sticky Note
• Other branches included
• The active Army’s new dwell-time mission is part of a NorthCom and DOD response package.

  • Answering to the Elite...protect the scoundrels and traitors. This government is actually afraid of it's own citizens.
  Add Sticky Note
• Active-duty soldiers will be part of a force that includes elements from other military branches and dedicated National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Teams.
• A final mission rehearsal exercise is scheduled for mid-September at Fort Stewart and will be run by Joint Task Force Civil Support, a unit based out of Fort Monroe, Va., that will coordinate and evaluate the interservice event.
• In addition to 1st BCT, other Army units will take part in the two-week training exercise, including elements of the 1st Medical Brigade out of Fort Hood, Texas, and the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade from Fort Bragg, N.C.
• There also will be Air Force engineer and medical units, the Marine Corps Chemical, Biological Initial Reaction Force, a Navy weather team and members of the Defense Logistics Agency and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
• One of the things Vogler said they’ll be looking at is communications capabilities between the services.

  • And shutting your's down
  Add Sticky Note
• “It is a concern, and we’re trying to check that and one of the ways we do that is by having these sorts of exercises. Leading up to this, we are going to rehearse and set up some of the communications systems to make sure we have interoperability,” he said.
• “I don’t know what America’s overall plan is — I just know that 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that are standing by to come and help if they’re called,” Cloutier said.

  • You may or may not know what "America's overall plan is, Cloutier, but I bet you can hazard a guess. I know I can.
  Add Sticky Note
• “It makes me feel good as an American to know that my country has dedicated a force to come in and help the people at home.”

  • Is this guy a fool? A liar? Or is he a card carrying NWO Fascist too?
  Add Sticky Note

42 more annotations...

• Uganda Citizens as United States Soldiers? Feel Safe Yet?
• Touted as what is destined to be history’s president of firsts, Senator Barack Obama could be the first Commander in Chief to oversee a military force with foreign recruits?
• Ugandans, who want a career in the United States military, can sign up at the annual convention of the Uganda North American Association (UNAA), scheduled to run between August 29 and August 31.

• When Democrats took control of Congress, they promised to make increasing the size of the military one of their top legislative priorities in 2007.

   

  While their incessant threats to withdraw troops from Iraq found media headlines, they’ve been working on increasing the size of the military with noncitizens.
• They ought not defile the title of Commander-in-Chief by placing it in such close proximity to Barak Obama’s name.
• Be that as it may, this idea of having Ugandans serve with American men and women most emphatically defiles the United States military, not to even consider how it undermines our security.

• This reeks to high heaven of some pureed-brain, pentagon putz’s wet dreams of turning the US Military into some UN circus adjunct.

   

  Analysts warning that a large number of noncitizens under arms could jeopardize national security, and the potential for rankling the courageous, all-volunteer American troops already serving their country, make foreign recruitment for the US military a hot topic.
• I have a better idea. Let’s just let the Gitmo terrorists sign up. Screw a trial, screw 9.11. Let’s let bygones be bygones.
• Anyway, Cuba is closer than Uganda- it’s a bargain all the way around. I mean if this country is going to continue this suicidal march, by all means, let’s accelerate the pace.
• Half of America is ready to elect a Marxist puppet as president. What the hell will security matter once that nightmarish possibility steps into the daylight as reality?
• While we are at it, let’s ship some Hamas in to guard our borders. I mean, why not?
• Will Ugandans in the US military feel loyalty to the United States of America or to a president they see as a radical agent of change?
• Most know about Obama’s ties to Kenya and that co-President Raila Odinga has claimed a tribal kinship with the Illinois senator.
• Few realize the fever pitch of Obama support in Uganda, home of UFOs–Ugandans for Obama.
• Part of the Eastern African region that could some day be included in the United States of Africa, some Ugandans and Kenyans see Obama as much the president of the United States of Africa as he would be the president of the United States of America.
• Uganda People’s Congress communication chief Benson Ogwant Echonga said: “In Obama, we see a new America”.
   Read it All…Will Obama be first Commander in Chief to oversee a military force with foreign recruits?
• The only people who will be singing Kumbaya over a campfire one day will be the armies of our enemies, warming their hands around the blazing flames of America burning. And those would be about the only troops Barack Hussein Obama is well qualified to lead.
• 15 Responses to “Uganda Citizens as United States Soldiers? Feel Safe Yet?”

• Aurora June 30th, 2008 at 5:35 am

    

  Loyal to Obama…tick. Patriotic towards America…Ugandans? Humane? Well, let’s just hope he doesn’t turn them loose on Americans themselves.

• Michael June 30th, 2008 at 7:39 am

    

  The Dearborn Islamic Festival..North America’s largest celebration of intolerance and barbarity, was held last week in Michigan. The FBI, DHS,  CIA, and every branch of the US military had recruitment booths at the event.

• Ostensibly the Feds were recruiting “translators”, however,  it soon became evident that the only real criteria for recruitment (and instant citizenship/passport) was adherence to the “one true faith”.

   

  Oh, …and University educated, Arabic speaking Jews and Israeli need not apply.

   

  Another fine example of “No borders” Bush’s “jobs Americans won’t do”.

• zee June 30th, 2008 at 10:00 am

    

  Well, let’s just hope he doesn’t turn them loose on Americans themselves

   

  Odd you should say that, but someone I mentioned this to immediately saw that particular aspect of it. When this government needs to control us, impose martial law, confiscate guns -whatever reasons that they will fabricate-there will be soldiers who refuse to shoot American citizens. But Ugandans and the like? They’ll have no such problem.
• I think it may simply be the usual sabotage from a  compromised and thoroughly infiltrated State Dept or pentagon…if Bush only had actually been a true American conservative, he would have cleansed this government of all the traitors that have long made it their home.

• zee June 30th, 2008 at 10:33 am

    

  Hey Michael,
   The Dearborn Islamic Festival..North America’s largest celebration of intolerance and barbarity, was held last week in Michigan. The FBI, DHS,  CIA, and every branch of the US military had recruitment booths at the event.

   

  I know I ought not be shocked, but yet I am. Sickened actually…because who can fight it? It’s a cancer that has been found too late. I wonder when they will finally drop the pretense of fighting “terror”… what a freaking farce.
• And soon, no Americans need apply either. But then the Jews have always been the “canary” for what the future portends for all free people.
   Another fine example of “No borders” Bush’s “jobs Americans won’t do”
   And may he rot in hell….

• Michael June 30th, 2008 at 11:11 am

    

  “When this government needs to control us, impose martial law, confiscate guns -whatever reasons that they will fabricate-there will be soldiers who refuse to shoot American citizens. But Ugandans and the like? They’ll have no such problem.”

   

  There you go.  We’ve learned a lot recently. Most US soldiers will refuse such orders…………..which is why we need foreign and foreign born forces. (Friends from the Midwest were invited to New Orleans for what they thought was Katrina relief…only to be ordered to confiscate legal firearms……these particular folks, Missouri cops, refused and returned to KC. …..Others, the big city types, gleefully complied.      http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/08/national/nationalspecial/08cnd-storm.html

• zee June 30th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

    

  Michael-
   You may be familiar with Fjordman’s essays on Eurabia.

   

  He posits that a combination of multiculturalism (with it’s attendant speech restrictions and decimation of local culture) and massive  immigration, (primarily muslim and African) are being used to subdue and ultimately suppress the existing native populace who may cling ,to borrow from the Obamanite, to their traditions and fight for their sovereign borders.
• The same process is going on here, perhaps not on quite so invasive a scale (yet), via mexicans and muslim, and “minority” accommodations. The laws on or coming on the books do not protect all Americans, just specific minorities from “other” Americans.
• And then there are those detention centers that have been built…well, it seems to me we are all rather late to awaken (or at least I am) do the dissolution of this country.
• Your description of confiscation of firearms foreshadows what will occur when the government seeks to disarm us all in the name of “security”.
• If they were actually prosecuting a real war against Islamists, including shutting down their operatives here, such as CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood, I might accept a loss of some rights. But all the evidence leads one to far different conclusions as to who those in power view as their ultimate adversaries.

• Angie June 30th, 2008 at 9:25 pm

    

  I just read this over at Aurora’s..freaking unbelievable!

   

  0f course, they would have no sympathy for Americans.
   Michael..thanks for the link…I had heard this but never actually read it..Thanks again.

   

  Zee, I have read and did a post once on the detention camps..Guess that would be a good place to put all of us ‘unruly citizens’.

• zee June 30th, 2008 at 11:48 pm

    

  but I am miserable now…sigh!

   

  I know exactly what you mean Angie. I have been trying to work on a post about Africans and what Obama means to them,this sense that America will now “pay” if he is elected seems to be an all too common sentiment .
• If you’re going to believe your own bullshit you’d acknowledge this started under the biggest fuck up of all time, G.W. Bush.

32 more annotations...

• Wednesday Sept. 24, 2008 12:26 EDT
• Why is a U.S. Army brigade being assigned to the "Homeland"?
• (updated below - Update II)
• Several bloggers today have pointed to this obviously disturbing article from Army Times, which announces that "beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the [1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division] will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North"
• -- "the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities."

• The article details:

  They'll learn new skills, use some of the ones they acquired in the war zone and more than likely will not be shot at while doing any of it.  

   They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack. . . .

   

   The 1st BCT's soldiers also will learn how to use "the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded," 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

• "It's a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they're fielding. They've been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it."

   

    The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.

   

    "I was the first guy in the brigade to get Tasered," said Cloutier, describing the experience as "your worst muscle cramp ever -- times 10 throughout your whole body". . . .

   

   The brigade will not change its name, but the force will be known for the next year as a CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force, or CCMRF (pronounced "sea-smurf").
• For more than 100 years -- since the end of the Civil War -- deployment of the U.S. military inside the U.S. has been prohibited under The Posse Comitatus Act (the only exceptions being that the National Guard and Coast Guard are exempted, and use of the military on an emergency ad hoc basis is permitted, such as what happened after Hurricane Katrina).
• Though there have been some erosions of this prohibition over the last several decades (most perniciously to allow the use of the military to work with law enforcement agencies in the "War on Drugs"), the bright line ban on using the U.S. military as a standing law enforcement force inside the U.S. has been more or less honored -- until now.
• And as the Army Times notes, once this particular brigade completes its one-year assignment, "expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one."
• After Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration began openly agitating for what would be, in essence, a complete elimination of the key prohibitions of the Posse Comitatus Act in order to allow the President to deploy U.S. military forces inside the U.S. basically at will --

  • George W. Bush hissy fit for total military control over and in America
  Add Sticky Note
• and, as usual, they were successful as a result of rapid bipartisan compliance with the Leader's demand (the same kind of compliance that is about to foist a bailout package on the nation).
• This April, 2007 article by James Bovard in The American Conservative detailed the now-familiar mechanics that led to the destruction of this particular long-standing democratic safeguard:
• The Defense Authorization Act of 2006, passed on Sept. 30, empowers President George W. Bush to impose martial law in the event of a terrorist "incident," if he or other federal officials perceive a shortfall of "public order," or even in response to antiwar protests that get unruly as a result of government provocations. . . .

  • The "Defense Authorization Act of 2006" and martial law from the Despots
  Add Sticky Note
• It only took a few paragraphs in a $500 billion, 591-page bill to raze one of the most important limits on federal power.

  • The "Insurrection Act of 1807" is the loop hole for the later Posse Comitatus Act
  Add Sticky Note
• Congress passed the Insurrection Act in 1807 to severely restrict the president's ability to deploy the military within the United States.
• The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 tightened these restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the military within the U.S. without the express permission of Congress.

  • Posse Comitatus
  Add Sticky Note
• But there is a loophole: Posse Comitatus is waived if the president invokes the Insurrection Act.
• Section 1076 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 changed the name of the key provision in the statute book from "Insurrection Act" to "Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act."

  • Section 1076 of John Warner's "National Defense Authorization Act" for Fiscal year 2007, changed the name of the "key provision" in the statute book from "Insurrection Act" to "Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act."
  Add Sticky Note
• The Insurrection Act of 1807 stated that the president could deploy troops within the United States only "to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy."
• The new law expands the list to include “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition" -- and such "condition" is not defined or limited. . . .

  • So really: any reason at any time
  Add Sticky Note
• The story of how Section 1076 became law vivifies how expanding government power is almost always the correct answer in Washington.
• Some people have claimed the provision was slipped into the bill in the middle of the night. In reality, the administration clearly signaled its intent and almost no one in the media or Congress tried to stop it . . . .

  • That's because they know who ultimately contributes to their upkeep and luxuries.
  Add Sticky Note
• Section 1076 was supported by both conservatives and liberals.
• Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking Democratic member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, co-wrote the provision along with committee chairman Sen. John Warner (R-Va.).
• Sen. Ted Kennedy openly endorsed it, and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), then-chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, was an avid proponent. . . .
• Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, warned on Sept. 19 that "we certainly do not need to make it easier for Presidents to declare martial law," but his alarm got no response.
• Ten days later, he commented in the Congressional Record: "Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of the founding tenets of our democracy."
• Leahy further condemned the process, declaring that it "was just slipped in the defense bill as a rider with little study. Other congressional committees with jurisdiction over these matters had no chance to comment, let alone hold hearings on, these proposals."
• As is typical, very few members of the media even mentioned any of this, let alone discussed it (and I failed to give this the attention it deserved at the time), but Congressional Quarterly's Jeff Stein wrote an excellent article at the time detailing the process and noted that "despite such a radical turn, the new law garnered little dissent, or even attention, on the Hill."
• Stein also noted that while "the blogosphere, of course, was all over it . . . a search of The Washington Post and New York Times archives, using the terms 'Insurrection Act,' 'martial law' and 'Congress,' came up empty."
• Bovard and Stein both noted that every Governor -- including Republicans -- joined in Leahy's objections, as they perceived it as a threat from the Federal Government to what has long been the role of the National Guard.
• But those concerns were easily brushed aside by the bipartisan majorities in Congress, eager -- as always -- to grant the President this radical new power.

  • Congressional fellow travelers of the "Fourth Reich"
  Add Sticky Note
• The decision this month to permanently deploy a U.S. Army brigade inside the U.S. for purely domestic law enforcement purposes is the fruit of the Congressional elimination of the long-standing prohibitions in Posse Comitatus (although there are credible signs that even before Congress acted, the Bush administration secretly decided it possessed the inherent power to violate the Act).
• It shouldn't take any efforts to explain why the permanent deployment of the U.S. military inside American cities, acting as the President's police force, is so disturbing.

  • The U.S. Military as the President's permanent domestic police force.
  Add Sticky Note

• Bovard:

  "Martial law" is a euphemism for military dictatorship.
• When foreign democracies are overthrown and a junta establishes martial law, Americans usually recognize that a fundamental change has occurred. . . . Section 1076 is Enabling Act-type legislation—
• something that purports to preserve law-and-order while formally empowering the president to rule by decree.
• The historic importance of the Posse Comitatus prohibition was also well-analyzed here.
• As the recent militarization of St. Paul during the GOP Convention made abundantly clear, our actual police forces are already quite militarized.
• Still, what possible rationale is there for permanently deploying the U.S. Army inside the United States -- under the command of the President -- for any purpose, let alone things such as "crowd control," other traditional law enforcement functions, and a seemingly unlimited array of other uses at the President's sole discretion?

  • What is that reason?
  Add Sticky Note
• And where are all of the stalwart right-wing "small government conservatives" who spent the 1990s so vocally opposing every aspect of the growing federal police force?

  • Indeed..where are they? The answer might be in any 1 of 5 articles written by Phillip Collins and found on the website "Raiders News Network" where Collins does a good job of documenting the collusion of Right Wing and Leftist groups and personages under the guiding hand of...you guessed it...the U.S. Government and it's several agencies.
  Add Sticky Note
• And would it be possible to get some explanation from the Government about what the rationale is for this unprecedented domestic military deployment (at least unprecedented since the Civil War), and why it is being undertaken now?
• UPDATE: As this commenter notes, the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act somewhat limited the scope of the powers granted by the 2007 Act detailed above (mostly to address constitutional concerns by limiting the President's powers to deploy the military to suppress disorder that threatens constitutional rights),
• but President Bush, when signing that 2008 Act into law, issued a signing statement which, though vague, seems to declare that he does not recognize those new limitations.

  • Chimpy is above the law..as usual
  Add Sticky Note
• UPDATE II: There's no need to start manufacturing all sorts of scare scenarios about Bush canceling elections or the imminent declaration of martial law or anything of that sort.
• None of that is going to happen with a single brigade and it's unlikely in the extreme that they'd be announcing these deployments if they had activated any such plans.

  • I disagree with this statement. It would make for a good warning and message to anyone thinking of starting trouble over the elections or the economy.
  Add Sticky Note
• The point is that the deployment is a very dangerous precedent, quite possibly illegal, and a radical abandonment of an important democratic safeguard. As always with first steps of this sort, the danger lies in how the power can be abused in the future.
• -- Glenn Greenwald

47 more annotations...

• U.S. ARMY TROOPS TO   SERVE AS U.S. POLICEMEN?
• By   Chuck Baldwin
    October 1, 2008
    NewsWithViews.com
• According   to the Army Times (dated Tuesday, September 30, 2008), "Beginning   Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT [Brigade Combat Team] will be under   the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component   of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural   or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks."
• The   article continued by saying, "But this new mission marks the first   time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom,   a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for   federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil   authorities.
• "After   1st BCT finishes its dwell-time mission, expectations are that another,   as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission   will be a permanent one."

  • Boot heels on necks of American citizens now
  Add Sticky Note
• The   Times column also reported that the Army brigade "may be called   upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control . . ."

  • Defy the Fascists in Washington and this is what you will get
  Add Sticky Note
• It seems   that the Army's new domestic duties also include "traffic control"   as well as subduing "unruly or dangerous individuals."

  • Like Christians, patriots, dissenters and liberty loving Americans
  Add Sticky Note
• The   brigade will be known for the next year as a Consequence Management   Response Force, or CCMRF (pronounced "sea-smurf").
• I   am assuming that the planners and promoters of this newfound function   for the Army brigade envision the Army assisting local first responders   in dealing with natural emergencies such as hurricanes, earthquakes,   and the like.
• Good intentions notwithstanding, to assign domestic police   duties to the U.S. military is extremely disturbing.

  • Many have seen this coming and tried to warn of it
  Add Sticky Note
• To   understand my concern for this new "homeland Army brigade,"   it is important that we rehearse the principles of liberty as they relate   to standing armies.
• One   of America's most sacred principles has always been that the U.S. military   was never to be used for domestic law enforcement.
• The fear of standing   armies ran very deep in the hearts and minds of America's founders.   The tyranny and misery inflicted upon the colonies by British troops   weighed heavily upon those who drafted our Constitution and Bill of   Rights.
• In their minds, the American people would never again be subjected   to the heavy weight of army boots.
• Furthermore, they insisted that America   would have a civilian--not military--government.
• And   after the fiasco of the abuse of federal troops in the South following   the War Between the States, the doctrine of Posse Comitatus was enacted   into law.

• The Wikipedia online encyclopedia says this about Posse Comitatus:

   

  "The   Act prohibits most members of the federal uniformed services ... from   exercising nominally state law enforcement police or peace officer powers   that maintain 'law and order' on non-federal property. . . .

   

  "The   statute generally prohibits federal military personnel and units of   the United States National Guard under federal authority from acting   in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where   expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress. . . .

   

  "The   Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act substantially limit the   powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement."

  • Posse Comitatus
  Add Sticky Note
• The   Posse Comitatus Act was passed in 1878 and was universally accepted   as being a very just--and extremely important--law of the land.
• But   in 2006, President George W. Bush pushed a Republican-controlled Congress   to pass the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal   Year 2007, which included a section titled "Use of the Armed Forces   in major public emergencies."

  • John "Jack Boot" Warner
  Add Sticky Note
• This section provided that "The   President may employ the armed forces to restore public order in any   State of the United States the President determines...." In effect,   this bill obliterated Posse Comitatus.
• When   the Democrat-controlled Congress passed the 2008 National Defense Authorization   Act, however, the restrictions of Posse Comitatus were restored.
• But   when President Bush signed the Act into law, he attached a signing statement   (Executive Order) indicating that the Executive Branch did not feel   bound by the changes enacted by the repeal. Translated: President Bush   wiped out Posse Comitatus by Executive Order.

  • Little Fascist Despot
  Add Sticky Note
• Now,   just a few months after expunging Posse Comitatus, President Bush has   authorized an Army brigade to be assigned the new role of dealing exclusively   with domestic law enforcement and related duties. This evokes serious   questions.
• Who   will give the order to send U.S. troops against American civilians,   and under what circumstances?
• How will "unruly" and "dangerous" be defined?
• What will the rules of engagement be?
• How   will soldiers be asked to deal with "crowd" or "traffic"   control?
• And perhaps the biggest question is, Once we begin to go down   this road, where will it lead?

  • I think we know the answer to this last question
  Add Sticky Note
• For   several years, the federal government has been accumulating to itself   more and more authority that was historically understood to reside within   the states and local communities.
• More and more, our police departments   have taken on the image and tactics of the armed forces.
• And to a greater   and greater degree, the rights and liberties of the American people   are being sacrificed on the altar of "national security."

  • No they're not. They are being sacrificed on a pagan altar of Fascist-Neo Nazi control of the American people for the sake of a Europhile-NWO pack of traitors in Washington DC.
  Add Sticky Note
• It seems to me that to now ascribe law enforcement duties to the U.S.   Army only serves to augment the argument that America is fast approaching   police state status.
• If   Hurricane Katrina is the template that our federal government is using   as a model for future events, Heaven help us!
• Do readers remember how   National Guard troops were used to confiscate the personal firearms   of isolated and vulnerable civilians shortly after that hurricane devastated   the New Orleans area?
• Do you remember how representatives of the federal   government were calling upon pastors and ministers to act as spokesmen   for gun confiscation?
• And do President Bush and his military planners envision an even   broader role for military troops on American soil?

  • I suppose the little Huckster and his "Wermacht" do indeed.
  Add Sticky Note
• Is this what the new Army brigade is preparing   for?
• Add   to the above rumors of thousands of plastic caskets--along with thousands   of portable prison cells--being shipped and stored across the country,   and one is left to ask, Exactly what is it that our federal government   is planning?
• I   think there is an even bigger question, What exactly will members of   our armed forces do if and when they are commanded to seize Americans'   firearms, arrest them at gun point, or even fire upon them?
• How many   soldiers and Marines love liberty and constitutional government enough   to resist such orders, should they be given? And how many officers would   resist issuing such orders?
• Remember,   it is the job of the armed forces to kill people and blow up things,   not to do police work.
• Then again, Presidential administrations from   both major parties have been using the U.S. military as U.N. "peacekeepers"   for decades now. So, was all of this preparation for what is yet to   take place in the United States?
• God   forbid that any of the above should actually take place in our beloved   land, but I believe it would be naïve to not see that the actions   and attitudes of the federal government over the past several years   do nothing to assuage such fears.
• *Disclaimer:   I am currently a candidate for President of the United States on the   Constitution Party ticket. Click here   for my official campaign web site.

42 more annotations...

• Africa: U.S.' Africom Takes Off, in Germany
• 2 October 2008
  Posted to the web 2 October 2008
• Abbas Jimoh With Agency Report
• The United States military's controversial new Africa Command [Africom] was officially launched yesterday, to take over all US military operations for Africa.
• The new command is headed by General William Ward.
• Before its take off, American military operations in Africa were under the supervision of three different commands. Before Africom's take off, the US military's Central Command (Centcom) had responsibility for Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Kenya;
• the European Command (Eucom) was responsible for the rest of the countries in the African mainland while the Pacific Command (Pacom) had responsibility for Madagascar, the Seychelles and the Indian Ocean area.
• The Pentagon said Africom will coordinate American military training for African armies, and support peacekeeping and humanitarian operations.
• However, there is considerable scepticism from within Africa towards Africom, highlighted by the fact that only one African nation, Liberia, offered to host the headquarters.
• For now the command will operate from Germany.
• Africom's commander said yesterday that it has "no hidden agenda".
• General William E. Ward said the command would not be used to gain control of African natural resources such as oil. He said it was a "myth" to think the US wanted big bases in Africa.
• He also dismissed fears that the US intended to build large military bases on the continent.
• Only one country, Liberia, has offered to host Africom, which is coming into full operation at its headquarters in the German city of Stuttgart.
• General Ward said the location of the headquarters, for its 1,300 military and civilian personnel, was less of a concern, given the size of the African continent.
• The BBC's Adam Mynott says the creation of Africom is a recognition by the US that Africa and security issues on the continent are now a priority.
• It reflects concerns about tackling Islamist extremism, securing oil supplies, and countering Chinese influence in Africa, he says.
• But its creation has been met with considerable scepticism, our correspondent says.
• However General Ward said "There is no hidden agenda. It is about working with the African nations to help them build their capacity."
• He said it was a "myth" and "absolutely not the case" that the command was going to build big bases in Africa.
• "We will do those things in partnership with our African friends," he said.
• "Where we bring in, for instance, trainers or other forms of military support and assistance there, they are only so long as is required to conduct the specific training that we've been asked to do or to conduct the specific activities."
• The only established American military base in Africa at the moment is Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, where about 1,800 US troops are stationed.
• The decision to upgrade Africom has been 10 years in the making, but was formally announced by US President George W Bush in February 2007.

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• Israelis Wary of a US Radar Base in the Negev
• By Tim McGirk and Aaron J. Klein / Jerusalem Thursday, Oct. 02, 2008
• When a contingent of U.S. soldiers opens a radar facility on a mountaintop in the Negev desert next month, Israel will for the first time in its 60-year history have a permanent foreign military base on its soil.
• And despite the early warning that the American radar would provide if Iran launches a missile attack on Israel, some senior Israeli officials are nonetheless wary about its presence.
• Complained one top official, "It's a like a pair of golden handcuffs on Israel."

  • However, they do like our "golden cash"
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• From its mountain perch in Har Keren, the U.S. radar will be able to monitor the take-off of any aircraft or missile up to 1,500 miles away — giving Israel a vital extra 60-70 seconds to react if Iran fired a missile, Israeli military sources told TIME.
• Israel has its own radar system trained on Iran, but it's range is much shorter.
• Still, some see several drawbacks for Israel in the radar, and blame Defense Minister Ehud Barak for requesting its deployment in Israel without consulting anyone other than his chief of staff.
• Some in the upper echelons of the Israeli Defense Force fear that although the radar will enhance Israel's protection against Iran, it may also open up Israel's own military secrets to the Americans.

  • Two points here:
    
    1) Isn't Israel supposed to be America's allie?
    2) Israel doesn't mind coming every nook and cranny to get America's military secrets.
    3) What are they really afraid of?
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• The radar will allow the U.S. to keep a close watch on anything moving in Israeli skies, "even a bee", says one top Israeli official who asked not to be identified.
• The U.S. may be a close ally, but Israel nonetheless has aviation secrets it would rather not share.
• "Even a husband and wife have a few things they'd like to keep from each other," explains this source.
• "Now we're standing without our clothes on in front of America."

  • Once again: what exactly is Israel afraid of?
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• Israel will have no direct access to the data collected by the radar, which looks like a giant taco. It will only be fed intelligence second hand, on a need-to-know basis, from the Americans — unless the radar picks up an immediate, direct attack on Israel, Israeli sources claim.
• And Israeli officials expressed concern that the radar's installation may anger Moscow, since its range will enable the U.S. to monitor aircraft in the skies over southern Russia.

  • The real purpose for the U.S. establishing an advanced radar installation in Israel?
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• When the U.S. stationed anti-missile radar and interceptor systems in Poland and the Czech Republic — ostensibly directed at a future Iranian threat, although the Russians believe their own missile capability is its real target — Moscow warned those countries that the move could result in their being added to the target list of Russia's missiles.
• Israeli military sources say that Barak requested the radar from U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in July, after U.S. requests to station such a system in Turkey and Jordan were rejected.
• Barak was eager to acquire the advantage of the early warning that the system would provide in the event of a possible Iranian attack.
• But with the Russians already peeved at Israel for having had military advisers inside Georgia when war broke out over South Ossetia, the radar's deployment in Israel, say officials, might make Moscow even more likely to supply Iran and Syria with its highly-accurate SA300 anti-aircraft missile batteries.
• The top-secret X-band radar will be staffed by around 120 American technicians and security guards in the Negev, say Israeli military sources.
• But Israeli planning and air force officials are perturbed that Defense Minister Barak did not carry out any evaluation og the radar's possible impact on Israeli military operations before approving it.
• For one thing, Israeli defense experts are worried that waves from the X-band radar might throw off the accuracy of a new Gil anti-tank missile also being tested in the Negev.
• "The Bush Administration is in the mood to give us anything, as long as we don't attack Iran," gripes one senior official. "So why did we take this radar?"

  • Israel wants to start a war with Iran so bad...they can taste it!
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• U.S. Radar in Israel: What's it For, Really? (Updated)
• By Noah Shachtman October 03, 2008 | 9:28:00 AM
• A few weeks back, the U.S. Army's European Command set up an early-warning radar system in Israel. It's ostensible purpose is to boost defenses against Iranian missiles.
• But Entropic Memes wonders whether there isn't something more to this radar than meets the eye.
• The AN/TPY-2 radar is one of the "key component[s]" in the "American Forward-Based Radar global missile-defense system," Entropic Memes notes.
• And it has a huge range -- about 2000 kilometers, by some estimates.
• Placed in Israel, the radar could watch over most of Iran. But it also covers a broad swath of the Middle East and the Caucasus, too.
• Plus, EM observes, "you can’t help but wonder why the system wasn’t installed in Iraq, or better yet Afghanistan." That "would ensure full coverage of Iran - and, in the case of Afghanistan, provide coverage of Pakistan as well."
• What's more, the system in Israel is quite similar to the radar that the U.S. wanted so badly to install in the Czech Republic earlier this year, as part of its larger missile defense shield.
• Could this be another attempt, to piece together that regional defense? Victoria Samson, with the Center for Defense Information, believes it might.
• "It was sold to the Israelis as something that could feed information into their system about incoming Iranian missiles," she writes. "But I would argue its primary purpose is to be part of the U.S. missile defense system in Europe."
• CIA veteran Allen Thomson is "not convinced," however. Israel Negev desert "is marginal as a site to provide coverage of Iranian launches to the north, particularly if you factor in earth curvature and the altitude missiles launched from Iran would have to get to to break the radar's horizon.
• The Caucasus or even eastern Turkey would be much better," he tells DANGER ROOM.
• Thomson adds, "That said, I agree that very careful (meaning quantitative) scrutiny should be given to this deployment to see if it makes sense in terms of its claimed purpose. Or in terms of other, unclaimed purposes."
• UPDATE: Be careful about those radar range estimates, former Air Force officer Brian Weeden counsels. They vary quite a bit.
• First, range is function of the power of the radar.  Modern phased arrays are made of a number of smaller transmit/receive elements, often times hundreds or thousands depending on the size of the radar face and the width of the radar beam (a function of the frequency).  The total power (and thus range) of the radar depends on how many of these elements you pack into the face.  There's a huge difference in capability between a fully populated array and one that's only 10% populated, and it looks like MDA isn't going to have nearly the money or manufacturing capacity to fully populate the elements either the Israel or Czech radar (10 to 25% populated is more likely).
• Second, effective tracking range of a radar is dependent on the Radar Cross Section (RCS) of the object it is trying to track (which is partly dependent on the frequency of the radar).  This makes sense - the more radar reflective an object is, the more energy it will reflect back to the receiver and thus less power is needed to track it.  So whenever someone gives you the "effective range" of a radar, you always need to ask "against what size target?"  And here once again MDA isn't really being completely honest.  The stated ranges for the Israel and Czech (and Sea Based X-band for that matter) are against 1 meter RCS targets.  Unfortunately, their primary target - nuclear warheads in flight - are much smaller than that in the frequency the are using, typically about 0.1 meter RCS.
• Bottom line? Read the fine print before believing any of these range estimates.

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• FEMA sources confirm  coming martial law
• Wayne Madsen
   WMR
   October 8, 2008
• WMR has learned from knowledgeable   Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sources that the Bush   administration is putting the final touches on a plan that would   see martial law declared in the United States with various   scenarios anticipated as triggers.
• The triggers include a   continuing economic collapse with massive social unrest, bank   closures resulting in violence against financial institutions,
• and another fraudulent presidential election that would result   in rioting in major cities and campuses around the country.
• In addition, Army Corps of Engineer sources report that the   assignment of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat   Team (BCT) to the Northern Command’s U.S. Army North is to   augment FEMA and federal law enforcement in the imposition of   traffic controls, crowd control, curfews, enhanced border and   port security, and neighborhood patrols in the event a national   emergency being declared.

  • The 1st BCT
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• The BCT was assigned to duties in Iraq   before being assigned to the Northern Command.
• On April 3, 2008, WMR reported on a highly-classified   document regarding the martial law scenario: WMR has learned   from knowledgeable sources within the US financial community   that an alarming confidential and limited distribution document   is circulating among senior members of Congress and their senior   staff members that is warning of a bleak future for the United   States if it does not quickly get its financial house in order.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is among those who have reportedly   read the document. The document is being called the "C & R"   document because it reportedly states that if the United States   defaults on loans and debt underwriting from China, Japan, and   Russia,
• all of which are propping up the United States   government financially,
• and the United States unilaterally   cancels the debts, America can expect a war that will have   disastrous results for the United States and the world.
• "Conflict" is the "C word" in the document. The other scenario   is that the federal government will be forced to drastically   raise taxes in order to pay off debts to foreign countries to   the point that the American people will react with a popular   revolution against the government.

  • The U.S. Government taing steps to protect itself from a justifiably irate American public.
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• "Revolution" is the   document’s "R word.

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• Obama era expected to end taboo on gays in US military
• by Daphne Benoit Daphne Benoit    –  Wed Jan 7
• Sixteen years after Bill Clinton tried to end restrictions on gays in the military, the US armed forces under Barack Obama may be forced to give homosexuals the same welcome as non-gays.
• Under president Clinton, the policy that once saw homosexuals discharged from US military service evolved to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," allowing gays to remain in the military so long as they did not reveal their sexual orientation.
• Obama has pledged to overhaul current law.
• "The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited," reads an entry on the president-elect's transition website.
• Shortly after taking the oath of office in 1993, Clinton originally moved for an outright ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation in the military.
• That step, for better or worse, prompted an outcry among top military brass, along with many Republicans and a significant segment of the public.
• Clinton quickly came up with his "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" compromise, allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military as long as they did not speak about their sexual orientation.
• The law however still has seen a large number of dismissals of gay service members. Since its enactment, some 12,500 soldiers have been sent packing for acknowledging their homosexuality or after being outed as gay.
• Those booted included some 800 key jobs such as Arabic translators, medical staff, pilots and intelligence personnel, according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SDLN), a group which is fighting to end all restrictions on military service based on sexual orientation.

• Backers of reform said the move toward loosening restriction reflects a change in societal attitudes.

   

   "There has been a sea change in the way this issue is viewed, especially in light of our national security needs," said Democratic lawmaker Ellen Tauscher.
• "We shouldn't be forcing good men and women out of military service," Tauscher told AFP.
• The lawmaker is the lead sponsor in the House of Representatives of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (MREA) which would replace "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
• "The momentum for repeal has already begun.
• This summer we held first hearing on this issue in 15 years and recent public surveys show 75 percent of Americans believe (homosexual) men and women should be able to serve openly," the California lawmaker continued.
• "My bill to repeal the policy last year had 148 co-sponsors in the House. I will reintroduce this legislation in the coming Congress," Tauscher added.
• Even a group of some 100 retired generals and admirals recently appealed for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to be scrapped.
• "As is the case with Great Britain, Israel, and other nations that allow gays and lesbians to serve openly, our service members are professionals who are able to work together effectively despite differences in race, gender, religion, and sexuality," the former military brass wrote in their November 2008 letter.
• Still, many in the traditionally conservative military community continue to have misgivings.
• A poll of some 2,000 active duty military taken in December by the US media group Military Times found that 58 percent opposed the policy of non-discrimination against homosexuals. Twenty-nine percent said they approved the change.
• But that lack of support should not impede getting rid of the law, opponents said.
• "There will always be some people who will prefer the status quo, but people who preferred segregated units (banned in the US military in 1948) didn't leave the military by and large," notes Aubrey Sarvis, director of the SDLN.
• Obama will have to be firm in his commitment to ending discrimination against gays in the military, he warned, despite a full agenda of burgeoning crises.

• "Of course, the economy has to be the first priority, but it's a matter of developing a plan on how to move forward successfully," said Sarvis, who predicted a new law within the year. 

    "I take the president-elect on his word," he said. "I think he'll do it."

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