Naomi Wolf: Dear Conservatives, Will You Help Save the Republic from Military Takeover?

[laststeamtrain]

Dear Conservatives, Will You Help Save the Republic from Military Takeover?
By Naomi Wolf, AlterNet
Posted on October 18, 2008, Printed on October 18, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/103554/

Dear Conservative America:

I am reaching out with a warning to you that is as heartfelt as the one I have been bringing my fellow citizens for months. But you are the most important audience of all for this, because you hold the key to whether or not we can save our republic in time.

I have been arguing that we are seeing the classic building blocks being laid for a police state: My thesis in The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot is that we are seeing the classic 10 steps being set in place that always underlie a violent police state. My argument in its sequel, Give Me Liberty, is that we must rise up as tactically and effectively as patriots to stop this suppression of freedom.

I hope to persuade you of the profound moral repugnance a true conservative should feel for the plans that are afoot in this nation.

What is the newest news? The Army Times declared 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."

They are tasked 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 …"

What this means is that U.S. citizens can now be "controlled" by the military on our streets through technologies -- such as Tasers and rubber bullets -- that terrify and torment and stun but do not usually kill citizens the way that citizens in Iraq are terrified, tormented and stunned by U.S. military forces.

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http://www.alternet.org/rights/103554/dear_conservatives%2C_will_you_help_save_the_republic_from_military_takeover/

[billyoc]

1. The 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division

couldn't occupy Hell's Kitchen. :eyes:

Naomi Wolf, another professional victim, selling fear.

[Demit]

2. Could you expand on that, please? I'm really curious about what you mean about the 1st Brigade.

[billyoc]

3. It's one colonel and his men, nothing special about that unit.

Althought I'm appalled at the violation of Posse Comitatus, it's just a scare tactic.

[Dr.Phool]

4. I tend to think you're right.

They might have enough manpower to occupy Cleveland or Pittsburgh, but that's about it. And that's if things don't get too nasty.

What's the real purpose of this move? I can't figure it out.

[Demit]

5. Some expansion. You haven't really explained why you are so dismissive of

the implications of permanently deployed (and battle-trained!) army forces inside U.S. cities for law enforcement. What possible rationale could there be for that? And why now?

Here's what the Army Times reported:

"...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...

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. ..."


You might not be scared, but I sure am.

[liam_laddie]

6. "Non-lethal" microwaving...

Pretty sure this refers to a system which transmits in a part of the electromagnetic spectrum which creates "boiling my skin (or maybe guts)" damage to the target. Sorta like being in a microwave oven but up to several hundred yards away. Not-quite-death rays. But probably amplitude-scalable to actually kill.
Some patriotic Americans will post a way to thwart these, maybe as simple as metal reflectors? Once the wavelengths are discovered, there may be ways to render them less effective. Any tech-heads out there? Just like the Russians discovered that "old-fashioned" long wavelength radar can "see" stealth aircraft, rendering the billion$ we spent on B-2's somewhat less effective. But then maybe jamming can render THAT radar less effective. The weaponry on all sides in the electromagnetic arena is fascinating and mostly very very secret.
:hide:

[cliffordu]

8. Do you think it might open a door to more troops "if needed"

I'm thinking they are just stretching the boundries- If they put the entire 101st Airborne Division in the same assignment, people would be alarmed.....With this relatively small unit, not so much....


But as they say, once a camel has his nose in your tent, the rest is coming in very soon...

[billyoc]

10. Yes, I think it would. I'm expecting cooler heads to prevail from now on, though.

I'm a little jaded lately, too, from seeing M-4's all day every day for years here in NYC. I might not be the most objective observer anymore. :shrug:

[LynnTheDem]

11. Bingo.

[Joe Chi Minh]

7. K&R

[lelgt60]

9. You're afraid of the 1st Brigade...what about the rest of the Armed Forces stationed on US soil?

Anyone wanting to takeover the US by force isn't going to do it with one brigade, and they aren't going use tack strips and rubber bullets.

Is it possible? Sure - Bushie or someone like him could try it.

But this seems like a red herring. What we need is intelligent control of the whole armed forces by people who follow the constitution.

In addition, it would help if a significant number of soldiers were not volunteer "professionals", but non-professional draftees.