"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
George Santayana
Posted on 04/30/2010 6:00:59 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Publisher's Note: This is neither a retraction nor correction, but supplemental information regarding my essay, Army Preps for Tea Party 'Terrorists.' I was contacted by senior Command staff at Ft. Knox on the afternoon of the date of publication. They confirmed that there was a security exercise at Ft. Knox this week, and that an officer in the security loop altered the scenario "in order to make it more realistic." The fact that any officer would associate Tea Party folks with "white supremacists" armed with "military grade weapons" and "bomb making components," and believe that association would make this scenario "more realistic," is troubling, at best. The Command staff informed me that the alterations were not approved at the Command level and that the officer who circulated the scenario through official channels has been identified and will "receive appropriate counsel." In other words, the officer who authored it is now subject to discipline. Further, Command staff at Ft. Knox have provided assurances this type of scenario would not find its way into official circulation again.
The facts remain: The security exercise scenario was described in my essay, exactly as it was written and circulated at Ft. Knox to both military and civilian personnel with security responsibilities. A handful of Patriots, at risk to their careers, came forth with this information and expected us to handle it honorably and accurately, and we did just that.
In regard to the verbatim scenario documentation we posted, even though those documents were not classified, Command staff asked that we remove them for specified security reasons. As our mission is not only to uphold our Constitution by holding those in positions of authority accountable to their oaths, but also to support our uniformed Patriots, I agreed to remove the documents from our Web site as requested.
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"The duty imposed upon [the president] to take care, that the laws be faithfully executed, follows out the strong injunctions of his oath of office, that he will 'preserve, protect, and defend the constitution.' The great object of the executive department is to accomplish this purpose; and without it, be the form of government whatever it may, it will be utterly worthless for offence, or defence; for the redress of grievances, or the protection of rights; for the happiness, or good order, or safety of the people." --Justice Joseph Story A few months back, the commander in chief of our Armed Forces, that erstwhile community organizer Barack Hussein Obama, denigrated a large cross section of Americans who identify with the Tea Party movement -- those who advocate for Essential Liberty and Rule of Law.
Obama identified them as malcontents, "waving their little tea bags."
Since then, the Obama administration and their Leftmedia sycophants have endeavored to characterize Tea Party attendees as rude, radical, racist, redneck, enemies of the state. They have attempted to tie high-profile acts of violence against the government to the Tea Party, including the pilot who crashed his plane into a Texas IRS headquarters. (Turns out, he was a Leftwing nut.)
In fact, Americans who attend Tea Party rallies are from all walks of life, as noted in the Patriot Declaration, Patriots who are peacefully and constitutionally petitioning their government for redress.
As I noted in my tax-day essay, Tea Parties are "not a call for revolution but for restoration -- a call to undertake whatever measures are dictated by prudence and necessity to restore constitutional Rule of Law."
However, Obama's words do have consequences.
This week, I was contacted by a number of civilian and military personnel (enlisted and officer ranks) who expressed concern about a military exercise scenario proposed for Ft. Knox, the U.S. Bullion Depository. (For the record, I called Ft. Knox security for an official comment and received the standard reply: "We are not authorized to discuss this exercise.")
As with most such exercises, the Ft. Knox scenario outline occurred in stages, as if real time intelligence was being provided at various intervals. The first intel advisory I received was issued on Friday, 23 April 2010, and identifies the terrorist threat adversaries as "Local Militia Groups / Anti-Government Protesters / TEA Party."
You read that right: "TEA Party"!
The advisory states that plans for a demonstration may have been interrupted by "Federal and local law enforcement" raids on a "White Supremacists Organization," but "TEA Party organizers have stated that they will protest at the Gold Vault at a future date."
Further, the intel advisory states, "Anti-Government - Health Care Protesters have stated that they would join the TEA Party as a sign of solidarity."
In accordance with the exercise proposal, Ft. Knox post security is placed on high alert because, "these groups are armed, have combative training and some are former Military Snipers. Some may have explosives training / experience," and "a rally at their compound / training area is scheduled."
Another intel update was issued on Monday, 26 April 2010, noting that the "rally at the Militia compound occurred," and "Viable threats ... have been made." The intel on the rally notes, "Many members were extremely agitated at what they referred to as Government intervention and over taxation in their lives. Alcohol use 'fanned the flames.' Many military grade firearms were openly carried. An ad hoc 'shoot the government agent' event was held with prizes (alcohol) given for the best shot placement."
The report states further, "Components of bomb making are reported to have been on the site. Some members have criminal records relating to explosive and weapons violations."
In response to the "immediate threat," the exercise stipulates, "local detention centers are being made ready for mass arrests." Both the "QRF I and QRF II" are placed on two hour recall, and the "5-15 CAV" was ordered to "draw weapons from holder and store in most available arms room," and "coordinate with MASA for immediate ammunition draw; have equipment readied for immediate use, i.e. vehicles staged and loaded IAW 5-15 CAV SOP; LMR's charged."
QRF refers to Quick Reaction Force. QRF I is the 16th Cavalry Regiment. QRF II is the 194th Armored Brigade.
The 26 April order gives specific instructions for the 5-15 CAV (a 16th Cavalry battalion) to have weapons, ammo, vehicles and communications at ready, and it places the other 2,200 members of the units on two-hour recall. In other words, these orders are to gear up for defending Ft. Knox against Tea Party folks and their co-conspirators who oppose nationalization of our health care sector.
Now, for almost 30 years I have, on occasion, participated in the development and implementation of small and large scale military exercises within the U.S. and around the world.
Such exercises are critical to the readiness of our forces, and the standard for the real time intel reports in these drills requires thinly veiled references to assets of existing or collateral threat vectors, communist regimes such as China and terrorist networks such as al-Qa'ida, etc.
Perhaps the author of the Ft. Knox scenario should focus on a response plan for, say, an Islamic terrorist who attacks unarmed troops on his own post. (See Ft. Hood / Major Nidal Malik Hasan.)
While the Ft. Knox exercise scenario is amateurish in its construct (meaning it appears to be composed by someone with not much experience in such matters), the fact that it made it out into official channels sets an ominous political precedent.
The military officers and enlisted personnel with whom I spoke are all dedicated uniformed Patriots who are loyal, first and foremost, to their oath to "support and defend" our Constitution "against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
Their concerns about this exercise mirrored my own. As one put it, the scenario "misrepresents freedom loving Americans as drunken, violent racists -- the opponents of Obama's policies have been made the enemy of the U.S. Army."
They were equally concerned that it appears the command staff at Ft. Knox had signed off on this exercise, noting, "it has been issued and owned by field grade officers who lead our battalions and brigades," which is to say many Lieutenant Colonels saw this order before it was implemented.
It's not likely that Ft. Knox Commanding General James Milano or Deputy Commander Col. David Teeples, or even the regimental and brigade commanders for the 16th Cav and 194th AB, actually read the exercise scenario, but that doesn't absolve responsibility for such an egregious example of political agendas infiltrating military exercise scenarios.
One officer insisted, "The American people should require greater accountability of their commissioned officers, that they abide by their oath and never allow politically motivated propaganda like this exercise on any post or base again."
Another observed, "Whether this is complacency by officers who do not see such orders as a problem, or worse, officers who recognize the problem but do not insist the orders are changed, this is a serious problem. We are discussing the training of American citizen soldiers in the use of potentially deadly force against a specific group of political dissenters. There is never a time in an officer's career in which he does not have a duty to apply critical thought to the orders he is given and asked to give. It is my opinion that any officer that has allowed these orders to persist, to reach the level of junior officers and soldiers, has demonstrated a lack of judgment or apathy towards what his duty requires of him. Either way, we should demand more of the commissioned officers, who we as a nation empower to lead our sons and daughters into battle."
Indeed, and at best, the blatant malfeasance on the part of the individuals who composed this exercise reflects poorly on the uniformed services.
The antidote to this patent misrepresentation of peaceable Patriots is to expose it with the Light of Truth. As our motto Veritas vos Liberabit affirms, the Truth shall set you Free!
(Note: To report examples of politically motivated "exercises" in either the civilian or military sectors of our federal government, please contact us -- NewsTip@PatriotPost.US)
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
George Santayana
Obviously the Tea Party has to begin holding exercises where we rehearse our response to Police/SWAT provocation with cookies and milk.
We can also arrange for the crack ninja Grannies to confront the Thuggetts. Our military grade weapons will be the thousands of surveillance cameras which we will deploy in frightingly aggressive manner.
And we can say provocative things like “We are against lies, against theft, and for the US Consitution”.
You know how revolutionary that would be.
The handicapper general?
I’m a Sumo Ninja, myself. LOL
Oh, I’m becoming most certian that we are going to see things in this country that we have never seen before, and we are going to see these things before Novemeber.
They aren’t going to let us vote them out, and that is all there is to it.
What Good Can A Handgun Do Against an Army...?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/backroom/2312894/posts?page=242
The Army’s real enemy will be marching in the streets tomorrow. Unfortunately, Barry’s Pentagon is too stupid to know it.
Bfl
I am wondering when the first Waco-like slaughter of anti-Obama-agenda protesters will occur. Some time in the next six months? Everthing feels like it’s gearing/ramping up that way. Zero will find a way to shock-&-awe those of us that have him figured out and that seek to at the very least control his spending after the 2010 election via congressional majority control. He’ll have to derail that plan of ours very soon. (or try) Problem is.....most of us are already expecting a radical action coming from him and his thugs, and won’t exactly be paralized with fear.
The Pentagon is full of Muslims.
Justice Thomas has already indicated that the NBC issue is being avoided, and as much is obvious.
As far as November goes, I am really trying to remain positive and optimistic, but I am starting to think that Novemeber is never going to arrive.
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