Americans are being conditioned to accept military war training exercises, torture, brutality, racism, and the growing Police State in our city streets. Here is what we can do to help take back our communities and our cities.

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Oh my word. The US Military has been working like busy worker bees this summer, conducting war training exercises in Indianapolis.  Recently, military helicopters practiced playing war with “military Special Operations commandos training with Denver police and fire teams for a potential terrorism threat in a ‘realistic urban environment’" over the skies of Denver, Colorado in “counterterrorism helicopter exercises, which have rattled windows and residents' nerves.”

 

It appears Uncle Sam has reason to believe the DNC convention is going to need some military “intervention” in Denver come August.  In addition, in “War On America’s Playgrounds,” this writer reported on the Marine war drills waged in the city of Indianapolis that took place in a city park. Yes, you heard that right. Marines played war games in an Indiana city park. I swear to you, I’m not making this up!

In a recent edition of The Rocky Mountain News, it was reported that Special Operations teams have conducted military training successfully in other cities as well. The article mentioned that the Special Operations Command had conducted at least 21 such exercises in U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Seattle over three years. A Washington Post article was quoted as reporting, “In city after city, the exercises have drawn fire from frightened residents who are not told beforehand that the roaring helicopters flying in circles several hundred feet overhead late at night ... are trying to get as close as possible to the buildings they appear about to crash into."

Starting with Katrina, federal enforcers and soldiers-for-hire have been getting Americans accustomed (conditioned) to a military and para-military presence within US cities. The use of private soldier companies like Blackwater eases the burden on the feds, as it lessens the necessity of having to pay benefits to federal employees. Plus, hiring contractors puts monies in the hand of private profiteers and stock holders often well-connected to those who make such decisions.  Hiring private soldiers also lightens the federal legal burden should these contracted gunmen ever become, shall we say, a little too trigger-happy in the course of their work.

 

These realistic, urban warfare exercises are no mere customary military training drills, as there are roughly 440 military bases in the US upon which GI soldier games can be played.  The expansion of war training to include America’s city parks and playgrounds undoubtedly serves another purpose - one that won’t be revealed tonight on the local TV newscast - as Americans become not-so-subtly acclimated to military presence and stringent law enforcement control within… and takeover of… their communities.

 

Still don’t get why the Department of Defense would choose to play war in US cities? f you think the answer is to practice soldier maneuver drills, think again.  The normalization of military and para-military presence is a domestic operation being waged for the same reasons lethal Tasers are used by local law enforcers, police brutality is commonplace in our lower income neighborhoods, and gang violence, pitting our urban, non-white youth, one against the other, is often “helped” along – rather than prevented.

 

Soldiers now appear on Main Street, USA for the same purpose mindless TV viewing masses have been force-fed justification for liberal doses of torture on shows like the FOX channel’s “24.” Simultaneously, the rights and civil liberties of our citizens are being eroded while the Big Brother Surveillance State reaches mind-boggling new heights… with cameras now perched above nearly every traffic light and city street corner.

 

It’s a dog-eat-dog world where a growing Police State is continually justified as a means of keeping the peace – or, so we are led to believe. The United States is rapidly becoming a nation where brutality - and a culture of fear, militarization, and surveillance - is being augmented, with the goal of keeping American citizens compliant, passive, and obedient under authoritarian, militant control.

 

"You're either with us or against us" has been the sentiment of the black and white concrete-thinking authoritarians in power.  Why, even the mere questioning of authority has even been equated with aiding and abetting the enemy in times of war. In fact, while passionately speaking out recently on a group list regarding the use of radioactive Uranium weaponry (so- called Depleted Uranium) used in Afghanistan and Iraq, this writer was targeted by one defender of the Empire who wrote, "emotional attacks can be a form of terrorism in themselves."

 

The message Americans are being given is crystal clear for anyone with even one eye half open. Politicos still playing the “terror” card in this two-party election farce game, forever reminding us ad nauseum that this is a dangerous world with so-called "terrorists” – often using the CIA-created group, “Al Qaeda”  posed forever lying in wait to do Americans harm.

 

The silent message we are fed is simple. If we stay quiet and accept wars everlasting due to some manufactured, eternal threat of “terrorism,” if we accept whatever new lame stories are concocted to us to keep us in a state of perma-fear, if we obey without question and do everything we are told and keep silent within gated, pre-established, sanctioned, chain link fenced “protest zones?” We will then – and only then - have nothing to worry about.  Our obedience will be rewarded in that we will not get hurt, Tasered, nor shot repeatedly by the right (far, far right) arm of the law - in cold blood.  By our obedience and relinquishing our rights of free speech and assembly, neither will we be thrown into prison cell nor internment camp.

 

Meanwhile, the fine line between ordinary citizens merely exercising Constitutional rights and so called “domestic terrorists” is becoming increasingly indistinguishable – thus, the ability of being able to discern, in both appearance and tactics, between America’s military, contracted para-military, SWAT teams, and our community law enforcers grows ever more hazy, fuzzy, and dull in this growing American Police State.

  

There is a secret war, a silent war, being waged on Americans - through the use of fear and compliance tactics, the normalization of brutality and torture, control of the populace via military, para-military, and police officers in our communities, and psychological operations warfare. These tactics are used against resisters and held out as threats – such as being thrown into special Halliburton-built prison camps dedicated to housing those who resist the domestic occupation of our nation.

  

We must not allow ourselves to believe that war is merely being waged by our federal government somewhere across some sea, over there - somewhere.  To get the bigger picture, we need only to step outside our front doors and look up into the air. Depending on the city and war drill training schedule, we can now be prepared to see black helicopters above us and hardened military types wearing dark uniforms and carrying lethal weapons in our city streets.

 

The practice of bringing war home to American city streets has nothing whatsoever to do with bringing safety, freedom, nor democracy to anyone - not overseas or at home, either.

 

The growing militarization of the US is part of the newly manufactured “War on terror” being fought within our nation’s borders. And, just like what is going on in Afghanistan and Iraq, American civilians have done absolutely nothing to deserve this growing militant presence. And rough and brutal treatment takes place routinely these days, primarily in cities where the poor and non-white urban residents are primary targets.

 

Now more than ever, despite these measures to keep Americans down, our disgruntled concerns must be taken to the streets. We must each do anything and everything we can within our communities and personal circles of influence to expose this growing militarization and brutality waged upon us by the US government through the military and local law enforcement agencies.

 

In terms of military training exercises being waged in our cities, Americans must not hesitate to object to federal, state, and local authorities with regard to the use of our communities for these simulated war training exercises and drills. When it comes down to playing war in our city streets and parks, we must together oppose and resist this use of our public property surrounding our homes where our families live and play.

 According to activist John P. Stoltenberg, P.E., Wisconsin, “…in my opinion, the Denver exercise is a rehearsal for the imposition of the fascist military/police state and an opportunity to condition the American civilian population for the imposition of the fascist military/police state.  The conditioning includes the military and civilian police.” Stoltenberg continues, “It appears to me that in the imposition of the fascist military/police state it very well may be the function of the military and civilian police to hold the civilian population at bay so that the private fascist armies, such as Blackwater, can do the actual dirty work of terrorizing the civilian population.  In other words, the military and civilian police will be present not to maintain law and order, but to provide an aura of respectability to acts of domestic terrorism carried out by private fascist armies, such as Blackwater, that are working directly for the fascist Bush regime, or whatever fascist regime is in power at the time."

With regard to the increasing brutality of local law enforcement as the norm, we must work to expose what celebrated San Francisco community organizer, mesha Monge-Irizarry  has termed the “war at home and abroad.” In describing some of the aspects of what the lifelong activist wrote are the “7 Degrees of Managed Mayhem,” in Poor Neighborhoods of Color, law enforcement creates “Managed Mayhem” to successfully antagonize the Youth into killing each other… In ‘response,” law enforcement Harrasses, Brutalizes and Kills Poor People of Color." 

Monge-Irizzary is a dedicated San Francisco organizer and activist whose only son, Idriss Stelley, a 23-year old African American, was wrongfully, brutally gunned down on June 13, 2001.  Nine police officers fired 48 shots at the honor roll student experiencing an emotional breakdown inside an empty movie theater while possessing no firearms - not posing a serious threat to anyone.

 With monies awarded in a 2003 settlement against the city and county of San Francisco Police Department, Stelley’s extraordinary mother, Ms. Monge-Irizzary, channeled her grief into providing benefit for humanity and needed change in law enforcement by founding the Idriss Stelley Action and Resource Center.  The mission of the non-profit organization that bears the name of the murdered young Stelley is to end law enforcement brutality and racially based police actions, empower victims and survivors of law enforcement misconduct,  provide support and development for organizations and individuals working to address police accountability, end the death penalty, and to organize grassroots campaigns and events to raise awareness and create policy changes. 

A peek at the Idriss Stelley Action and Resource Center (ISARC) website demonstrates how the determination of one citizen who wishes to make a difference in this nation can establish changes in the way local law enforcement operates in our communities. This organization depends on private sources of funding to end brutality and racism in law enforcement agencies throughout the nation. To assist with this effort, to connect with organizations through which ISARC works, and to lend your charitable support to this group’s superb ongoing actions, visit their website.

  

Be a part of making greatly needed change happen to oppose what’s going on in our cities. Resist the growing Police State taking place through both military training exercises and police brutality and racism. Join me in providing support to the Idriss Stelley Action and Resource Center (ISARC) in its actions geared in stopping militant law enforcement practices including brutality and racism.

Through the support of organizations like ISARC that work to stop injustice in our cities, together we can make great strides in making our local, state, and federal law authorities work to provide assistance and public service to our communities – not the spread of militarization, brutality, racism, and other actions that harm – not support our fellow citizens.      

Authors Website: www.mytown.ca/garger

Authors Bio:
Cathy Garger is a freelance writer, public speaker,  activist, and a certified personal coach who specializes in Uranium weapons. Living in the shadow of the national District of Crime, Cathy is constantly nauseated by the stench emanating from the nation's capital during the Washington, DC, federal work week.