9 Events Which Created the Environment for America's Emerging Police State [View all]

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http://www.alternet.org/9-events-which-created-environment-americas-emerging-police-state



1. Ronald Reagan Escalates the War on Drugs

Although the war on drugs started under President Richard Nixon and continued under the administrations of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, it was expanded considerably during Ronald Reagan’s two terms as president. Reagan proved to be much more draconian than Nixon, aggressively promoting militarized no-knock drug raids, asset forfeiture laws and mandatory minimum sentences, especially for crack cocaine. The drug war has greatly increased the prison population and placed a heavy burden on taxpayers, as well as imperiled many innocent Americans. Since the 1980s, there have been countless examples of narcotics officers targeting the wrong house or apartment for a no-knock SWAT raid, brandishing assault weapons and killing or injuring innocent people who had nothing to do with drugs. And when that happens, the officers hardly ever face incarceration or even civil charges.

2. Rodney King Beating of 1991

History repeats itself, and in 1992, 27 years after the Watts Riots, the acquittal of four white police officers who had viciously beaten Rodney King (an African-American motorist who led them on a high-speed chase) was followed by rioting that brought more deaths than the 1965 riots. King, by his own admission, was no saint, but a video of the March 3, 1991 beating clearly demonstrated that the officers crossed the line from legitimately subduing him (which they had every right to do) to being downright sadistic and acting in a spirit of revenge. Said then LA mayor Tom Bradley (a former LAPD lieutenant), “The men who beat Rodney King do not deserve to wear the uniform of the LAPD.” Bradley’s comments were hardly anti-law enforcement; he was proud of the years he had spent on the force. Rather, Bradley’s point was that instead of letting King have his day in court, the officers acted as judge and jury. And their acquittal encouraged a climate of authoritarianism in the United States.

3. 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

With the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda was hoping to destabilize the U.S. and weaken its standing in the world. And the George W. Bush administration played right into al-Qaeda’s hands, promoting a climate of fear and intimidation with the blessing of a Republican-dominated Congress. The Bush years brought a variety of authoritarian, anti-Fourth Amendment measures, from the Patriot Act of 2001 to no-fly lists to the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security. Instead of defying al-Qaeda by celebrating the U.S.’ long tradition of constitutional law, the Bush administration made the war on terror a war on American democracy.

4. Waterboarding and Torture at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base

After 9/11, the U.S. crossed a dangerous line when the CIA, with the blessing of the George W. Bush administration, openly supported the use of waterboarding on detainees at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. During the Cold War, the U.S. allied itself with a long list of fascist regimes that practiced torture. But it wasn’t until the post-9/11 era that an American vice president, Dick Cheney, came right out and flaunted the use of torture by the U.S. government itself.