-Caveat Lector-
>
> From:
>
> Vol. 15, No. 41
> November 8, 1999
> Published Date: October 15, 1999
> Washington, D.C.
> www.insightmag.com
>
> Deadly Force and Individual Rights
> By Kelly Patricia O'Meara
>
>
> U.S. special-operations military units are participating in
> civilian law-enforcement activities within the United States,
> raising questions of legality and ultimate purpose.
>
> Six years after the siege on Mount Carmel, citizens and lawmakers
> alike are angry and shocked about details now unfolding
> concerning the raid that left 75 Branch Davidians dead.
> Allegations that military personnel were present and participated
> in the raid on the Davidian compound raise serious questions
> about mingling of military and civilian forces in direct
> violation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which forbids such
> deployment.
>
> Just one day after the siege at Waco, Texas, ended in a fiery
> horror, President Clinton gave the American people a glimpse of
> what to expect. The government could not be responsible for "the
> fact that a bunch of fanatics decided to kill themselves," he
> said. The commander in chief then warned that "there is,
> unfortunately, a rise in this sort of fanaticism across the
> world. And we may have to confront it again."
>
> The tragedy at Waco by no means is the first or only example of
> violations of Posse Comitatus, but it does underscore the
> volatile cocktail that can result from mixing special-operations
> troops and civilian law enforcement. Separation of civilian and
> military forces long has been an American tradition, but under
> the guise of the "war on drugs" and the "war on terrorism,"
> Congress in the last two decades has enacted piecemeal
> legislation allowing military intervention in civilian law
> enforcement, which many believe violates the intent, if not the
> letter, of the law.
>
> For instance, in 1981 Congress passed the Military Cooperation
> with Law Enforcement Officials Act, which authorizes the military
> to "assist" civilian police in enforcing of drug laws. In 1989
> President Bush created six regional joint task forces, or JTFs,
> within the Department of Defense, or DOD, to coordinate military
> and police agencies in the drug war. And, again in 1993, DOD and
> the Department of Justice signed a memorandum of understanding
> enabling the military to transfer technology to state and local
> police departments. The difference between the mission of
> civilian and military forces in this context is remarkable.
> Civilian law-enforcement personnel are trained to deal with
> situations occurring locally on the city, county or state level.
> They are trained to consider the individual rights of the
> citizen, regardless of the severity of the crime, and use of
> force is a measure of last resort. On the other hand, the mission
> of the military is national security. Troops are trained to
> concentrate deadly force on an enemy.
>
> Furthermore, says a law-enforcement official who asked not to be
> identified, the distinction between the two forces rarely is
> understood by the general population. "Police don't have rules of
> engagement," he says. "They have a use-of-force policy. Every
> law-enforcement officer, office, agency or department in the
> United States lives by the same use-of-force policy. That is,
> police may use force only to the level necessary to neutralize a
> situation and may use deadly force only to protect themselves or
> the lives of others," he says.
>
> Whatever term is applied, the fact remains that U.S. troops are
> participating in civilian law-enforcement activities inside the
> United States. Often the outcome is frightening and, as in the
> case of the raid on the Branch Davidians, can be disastrous.
> Nonetheless, special-operations military units, such as the 160th
> Special Ops group (also known as Delta Force) out of Fort
> Campbell, Ky., which has been implicated in the attack at Waco,
> for years have been training in U.S. cities for the possibility
> of "terrorist activities."
>
> Training exercises known as Military Operations in Urban Terrain,
> or MOUT, have been carried out in dozens of cities throughout the
> United States. Residents of Charlotte, N.C., Pittsburgh, Houston
> and Chicago are among those who have been awakened in the dead of
> night by hundreds of military troops rappelling from helicopters
> hovering at treetop level, firing automatic weapons and exploding
> flash-bang and smoke grenades.
>
> Col. Bill Darley, a spokesman for DOD, tells Insight that "these
> exercises are not law-enforcement missions. They're secret combat
> activities for very explicit purposes such as scenarios involving
> recovery of a weapon of mass destruction, incidents of terrorism
> and hostage rescue. The activities would be approximating the
> same situation as in a foreign country. We conduct these
> large-scale exercises in the Southern states as make-believe
> foreign countries. Charlotte, N.C., for example, could be Paris,
> Munich or any other built-up urban area outside the United
> States."
>
> Darley continues, "What we're talking about is close-quarter
> combat. People engaged in shooting at each other. It's war gaming
> in the same way that troops prep for war gaming overseas. It's
> just easier to arrange the activities here than overseas. We
> arrange these exercises well in advance with the local officials,
> police and fire departments, and we do our best to go
> door-to-door notifying residents that there will be loud noises
> and so on."
>
> Pat McCrory, the mayor of Charlotte, says that he is unaware of
> anyone going "door-to-door" to notify his residents about the
> exercises and that he came away from the experience with an
> entirely different take on the urban-warfare training that
> occurred in his city two years ago. According to McCrory, "They
> basically misled us. They weren't up-front about the extent of
> the exercise. I had people calling me at home and I could barely
> hear them for the noise in the background. We literally had
> residents that were so frightened they were ready to pull out
> their guns."
>
> "If an accident had happened," the mayor continued, "I would have
> had a tough time living with myself because I didn't ask enough
> questions of them when they first came to us about the exercise.
> Even my own police department and city manager were caught off
> guard and unaware of the extent of the operations. It took a few
> minutes before we realized this was the 'small exercise' the Army
> had planned. There were between 15 and 20 helicopters hovering
> above condominium buildings shooting automatic weapons. The noise
> and disruption were incredible."
>
> Steven Barry, a 24-year veteran of Army Special Forces, is
> well-acquainted with urban-warfare training and not surprised by
> the secrecy surrounding it. "The official story put out by the
> Army is that they're running out of training areas. For the last
> couple of years they've been looking for old run-down buildings
> in cities for training. They never inform the public about what
> they're doing and, contrary to what is said, the gunfire
> residents are hearing is real. Delta Force doesn't train with
> blanks. They rely on bullet traps set up weeks ahead of time to
> avoid outside penetration of the gunfire. The reason the
> exercises are secret is because it's Delta Force. They operate
> outside the hierarchy of command and get their orders from the
> top. They've been called the president's army for a long time,
> and they don't move without his blessing."
>
> "It's a slippery slope," warns GOP Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia,
> "toward the militarization of civilian law enforcement. There
> isn't a more fundamental issue in our society than keeping
> civilian law enforcement separate from the military. The line was
> completely blurred at Waco, and because Posse Comitatus has never
> been prosecuted, this will be one of the most important areas of
> the upcoming hearings on Waco."
>
> The lawmaker is equally troubled by the effort to turn military
> troops into the world's police. "There's more than enough money
> and equipment provided to the military for urban-warfare
> training," says Barr. "Our military has its hands full around the
> world and is being forced to operate on very tight budgets. Now
> we're adding the extra burden and saying, 'Let's spend more money
> so they can train domestically in police operations.' This only
> diminishes their true mission."
>
> Adding to concern about military troops becoming active in
> civilian law enforcement is a 1994 survey that is very big among
> Internet conspiracy theorists. The poll asked 300 troops at the
> Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Training Center, Twenty-Nine
> Palms, Calif., "if they would fire upon U.S. citizens who refuse
> or resist confiscation of firearms banned by the U.S.
> government." While the majority responded they "strongly
> disagreed," the author of the thesis and designer of the survey
> questions, Lt. Cmdr. Guy Cunningham, was surprised that 26
> percent of those surveyed indicated they indeed would fire upon
> their fellow citizens. This is being taken as another sign that
> attitudes are changing and that the mission of the U.S. military
> forces has become blurred.
>
> Darley says, "We're doing about 20 of these exercises a year,"
> and adds the bizarre notice that "the helicopters used in these
> exercises are black. There is no external identification -- no
> flag or numbers. The markings on them are internal to the
> command. Anyone looking at them would not be able to tell if they
> are American helicopters or foreign."
>
> It gets stranger, say critics. Should an accident occur or
> questions be raised about the military's participation in
> incidents such as the one at Waco, legislation recently passed as
> part of the DOD authorization bill makes it possible for the
> secretary of defense to withhold the names or personal
> information identifying "any member of the armed forces assigned
> to an overseas unit, a sensitive unit, or a routinely deployable
> unit." Delta Force falls within the "sensitive unit" category.
>
> According to Darley, "The legislation is intended to protect the
> service member and his or her family from security risks
> associated with identifying information that may be available
> over the Internet." According to Barry, "This law looks to
> specifically protect Delta Force. They're just trying to
> shortstop things like Waco and situations in the future where
> special forces are used."
>
>
> Copyright © 1999 News World Communications, Inc.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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