"Attention! Remain calm. We will not tolerate civil disobedience."

[moodforaday]

I've been mulling over whether to post this for a few days... here it is. I'd love to hear it's all bull.

For all I know about Alex Jones, he's a raving nutcase. He thinks Bush and cabal want to give up sovereignty to the UN and believes UN is set to become some sort of world government... one can only laugh. Koffi Anan? m'kay...

But lunatic ravings are one thing, and documentary videos are another. A couple of days ago I watched Alex Jones's "9-11: The Road to Tyranny". He's somewhat persuasive about the Oklahoma bombing MIHOP angle (the truck bomb couldn't have done all that damage; conveniently sidelining John Doe 2 just in time for Monica Lewinsky; evidence of FBI cover-up), but you have to take most of it on trust.

What you don't have to take on trust is the footage of US Marines and/or special ops (Jones mentions both and doesn't specify per clip) training in US cities - training to round up, disarm, restrain and herd civilians into makeshift camps. It appears a large number of such exercies have been taking place since the 90s, posse comitatus be damned, and often against the will of town mayors and local governments.

The footage shows they're using volunteers, including teenagers, to pose as subjects. In one piece of footage, shot in Oakland, US military personnel is rounding people up and placing them in some sort of a make-believe encampment, with a loudspeaker guy going loud and clear:

"Attention, attention, attention! American forces are here to help. Remain calm. We will not tolerate civil disobedience."

"Attention, attention, attention! Remain calm and cooperative, so we can process you into the camp faster."

According to Jones, volunteers are asked/encouraged to protest, and they do appear to be saying this like "you can't do this", "We're Amerians", though it's hard to make out exactly what they're saying.

It seems to be a desensitizing exercise. They're training military personnel not to be queasy about rounding up American civilians, and at the same time they're letting civilians become accustomed to this kind of treatment.

Like I said - Alex Jones's analysis is far out in the tinfoil land. But you can turn down the volume, and the footage still looks genuine and scary as hell.

[Kagemusha]

It's all about who makes the decisions.

There are good, defensible reasons for rounding up American civilians in particular, extreme cases which are not likely to happen but the military trains for anyway. There are also bad, indefensible reasons. The training is a tool. The military is a tool. How they are used is the question.

[peacebird]

1. links?

while i believe these sorts of "training" sessions could happen - have you any links or such?

[walldude]

4. Go to one of Alex Jones's sites

www.prisonplanet.com is the one I remember off hand. It will link you to the others. He's kind of a nutcase but he does come up with some compelling stuff. He made some predictions about 9/11 that came true...

[moodforaday]

5. Nope, except the movie

which I found downloadable somwewhere in wmv format. It's googlable. But I haven't yet looked for other sources on this.

[wli]

2. whatever's going on there is pretty sinister

Thus far it looks like the brunt of the field work in this area has been done by riot police (c.f. Pier 57 and the other WTO protests). In any event, some kind of FOIA request on the subject sounds prudent.

[warrens]

3. Those camps have been planned since Nixon

They're there for what they call mass insurrection. I doubt it would happen in any case, but if so, a lot of the armed forces would drop their weapons and leave. What are they gonna do, arrest their mother and brother? If you get a million people in one place, there is nothing the fascists can do except walk away.

[cynatnite]

6. I was in the military and I disagree

If the military view it as protecting the US, they'll do it. If they believe it, and it's possible they could, they would follow their orders. They are there to safeguard the US and if they believe it's at risk, they wouldn't hesitate.

[moodforaday]

7. Not dissing soldiers here

But someone's coming up with these plans. Now, if it's for something like disease control, then yeah-maybe, but it's still not a job for the military, is it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

Maybe I should have attached a disclaimer :) I live in what once was called Eastern Europe and by some magic of geopolitics became known as "Central" Europe. I majored in US culture, and later read Emerson and Thoreau with my students. I've also seen tanks on the streets of Warsaw when the martial law was imposed in 1981. So when I see footage like that, I overreact :)

[cynatnite]

8. No, I don't believe anyone was dissing the soldiers

I just think that given the oath we swore to that it's reasonable to take the step that it is possible soldiers would assist in something like this.

I'm not convinced it could ever happen, but the military would follow through if they believed our country's democracy was at risk.

It's all good :)

[gizmo1979]

9. Sounds like a major

league nutbag to me!I think someone would notice people being rounded up!

[kiki]

10. "In the event of Sonic Attack on your district, remember these rules..."

"Use your wheels, it is what they are for."

"Do not panic..."

"Think only of yourselves..."

Name the song.

[moodforaday]

11. Give me Hawkwind any time!

...but I forget the title - all their tracks from that period kind of merge into one for me...

[KCS72000]

13. Intro to "Time We Left"

Hawkwind
Classic

[kiki]

14. Not sure about that...

I think it's just called "Sonic Attack", isn't it?

On "Masters of the Universe", before the classic 18-minute version of "Orgone Accumulator"...

[ProfessorGAC]

12. A Truck Bomb Could Have Done The Damage

This technical disinformation is enough to reject all of Jones' theories immediately.

He obviously knows nothing about explosives and the intrinsic energy contained within them. In a truck that big, a massive energy discharge can be initiated. There is no doubt the explosion could have been generated in a truck, and done that degree of damage.

The rest of his theory is irrelevant, because part of his basic premise is that a truck bomb CAN'T. A truck bomb CAN! With that severe an error in the root premise, other conclusions cannot be taken seriously.
The Professor

[Al-CIAda]

15. VideoDownload- Alex Jones - Martial Law 9-11: The Rise of the Police State

Alex Jones - Martial Law 9-11: The Rise of the Police State

windows media player
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/martiallaw911.wmv

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Large selection-
http://www.thedossier.ukonline.co.uk/video.htm