I think this article was intentionally sensational and somewhat misleading...as I understand it Love may indeed be a former Special Forces soldier and that he is now employed by the BLM. It has been reported Love was the BLM Special Agent in charge. Not sure if he was “in charge” of the whole operation at the Bundy ranch or if he was just in charge of “guarding” the gathered cattle at the holding pens.
I think the BLM operation was over the top- totally uncalled for but I don’t think active duty military were involved. No evidence of that at this point that I have seen though this article seems to want to lead people to believe that. I do not think the BLM should have “Special Rangers” or whatever it is that they call their SWAT/personal Army.
From several videos I saw it seemed Love started off “tough guy” “Billy bad a$$” and made several (uncalled for) threats, etc. As the event unfolded though I do believe the “cooler heads” of the documentary reporter Lynch, and finally (after the realization that the cowboys were serious about getting the cattle) Special Agent Love kept this from becoming a shoot-out by withdrawing his men and releasing the cattle.
I may be wearing too much tinfoil but what interests/upsets me is as I understand it the cowboys/militia/supporters were only observing and protesting the removal of the cattle. Then Sheriff Gillespie announced at the press conference that the BLM was going to call off the operation, release the cattle, withdraw and pursue other avenues- I heard it reported that Gillespie said “an agreement has been reached between Bundy and the BLM.” The cowboys, militia, and other supporters/protestors then went to the holding corral to get the cattle as promised and waited at least one hour and no cattle were released and the BLM were not withdrawing... as had been announced at the press conference.
The cowboys decided to go get the cattle and the BLM became hostile, threatening to shoot and acting as though there was no agreement. To me it seems like someone pulled a double cross/set up to set the scene for violence on the part of Bundy family/supporters that would have made Bundy, the militia, and anyone that supported him look very bad.
When the standoff over the cattle reached the point where it looked like the BLM was going to start shooting people then Love and Lynch had their conversation and at that point the BLM or Love on his own decided to let the cowboys have the cattle and withdrew. Later news reports stated that the BLM emphatically denied there was ever an agreement, and said they released the cattle and withdrew to avoid violence from the cowboys/militia/supporters.
That absolutely sounds like a double cross or set up by someone! Consider that with the fact that where the BLM Agents were placed to “guard” the cattle they were sitting ducks if someone had shot at them. Remember the BLM set up portable corrals for the gather of the cattle, and they chose the site. As some have said that was a really bad place for the Agents to be if shooting had occurred.
So who staged the set up? BLM? Reid? Obama? Unknown player?
I agree with your assessment that there weren’t active duty military involved. The problem I see with even using these SWAT teams, or “Special Rangers”, is that it’s not much different than using the military. Each federal agency has their own little army of enforcers. They should be using the local sheriff for any enforcement issues.
Thanks for the background on what was happening on the ground at the time. I had heard/read some of this, but your accounting filled in some of the blanks.
Many thanks for that info!
I agree, sounds like the feds tried to set-up the militia & the cowboys.