Posts Tagged ‘NDAA’

http://youtu.be/zV0pl9yiURY

As the second non-Arab American ever indicted on the Patriot Act, I tell you straight up, it can happen to you.

They hit me with secret charges, secret evidence and secret grand jury testimony. They locked me up on Carswell Air Force Base without a Trial or guilty plea.  I was terrified when my demands for a hearing got denied. The military police refused to allow my Uncle, acting as my attorney, to enter Carswell Air Force Base, so I could plan my defense strategy. On the third try, U.S. Marshals were required to flank my Uncle/Attorney at the gates to the base with the Judge on stand by in his courtroom, in order to gain admission to see me.

It was unConstitutional as hell.

They did it to me, regardless of the fact that I love the values of our Country deeply. They did it to me, regardless of the fact that I was dedicated to protecting our society from violence and terrorism. They did it to me, regardless of the fact that I am a passionate activist and fully capable of fighting to defend myself.

I was the first. I will not be the last.  We’ve got to put our country back on track right now.

Or it’s over for all of us.

Friday, 18 May 2012 14:00 By Yana Kunichoff, Truthout | Report

Occupy Chicago(Photo: Zach D. Roberts / GregPalast.com)

A pre-emptive raid by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) on the home of two Occupy Chicago activists may have happened without a search warrant, said the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), and led to the disappearance of nine activists into police custody without charge for almost 24 hours.

“I’d like to stress that we have done nothing wrong,” said Zoe Sigman, an Occupy Chicago activist whose home was raided. “We have been planning to protest NATO and there is nothing illegal about expressing our feelings about a war machine. Now we’re being treated as mere criminals. As if we’re part of an organized crime that they’re trying to take down. Who knows what they’re going to pin on us. We’re terrified.”

Occupy ChicagoA protester, reportedly a street medic by the name of Henry, is arrested by Chicago Police during the National Nurses United rally with Tom Morello in Daley Plaza, Chicago. (Photo: Joe Macaré)The raid of an apartment on Chicago’s Southside Bridgeport neighborhood occurred on Wednesday evening around 11:30 PM. So far, none of the activists have been charged and four were released Friday morning. According to witnesses, the raid was conducted by the Organized Crime Division of the CPD and a warrant produced at the site didn’t have the signature of a judge.

The use of pre-emptive arrests is troublesome, said lawyers following the proceedings.

“It’s actually fairly common at national security events for the police to conduct preempetive actions, so this is distressing but not surprising,” said NLG legal worker Kris Hermes. “We will remain vigilant in trying to keep the city accountable, especially when they have not provided any idea of what they are holding people on.” Hermes continued, “We think the city should immediately dismiss all of the charges and we are urging them to do that,”

The CPD has released claims that the raid recovered Molotov cocktails, though activists said that the equipment is actually for home brewing of beer.

“Occupy Chicago demands the immediate release of the peaceful protesters terrorized by the Chicago Police Department in Wednesday nights raid,” said Rachael Perrotta of the Occupy Chicago Press Committee in a statement. “We are getting a taste here in Chicago of what it’s like to live in a militarized police state, with non-violent demonstrators targeted for expressing their First Amendment Rights and for standing up against the NATO war machine.”

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit to be held in Chicago was designated a National Special Security Event, which puts the Secret Service in charge of “event security”; the FBI in control of “intelligence, counter terrorism, hostage rescue and investigation of incidents of terrorism or other major criminal activities”; and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in charge of “recovery management in the aftermath of terrorist or other major criminal incidents, natural disasters or other catastrophic events,” reported the Indypendent.

A week of action leading up to the summit and connecting local and national injustices to NATO militarization has seen an increased police presence, but this may only be the tip of the iceberg.

At an action against the Keystone XL pipeline Thursday, reported ABC News, “Dozens of uniformed Chicago police stood guard nearby, though they made no arrests. But around the corner a couple blocks away back-ups were apparently standing by. Inside 15 unmarked passenger vans they were dressed in black uniforms with riot gear.”

Police have said that rather than tear gassing entire crowds, they will used more targeted “snatch and grab” tactics.

But these kind of pre-emptive actions are ripe for illegality, said lawyers.

“Snatch and grab” can be used if a person is committing a crime, said John Stainthorp, an attorney with the People’s Law Office. “But, if they’re not actively involved in breaking the law at that time, you cannot extract people. Extracting is an arrest and it doesn’t matter whether you hold them for an hour or ten hours or ten days. If you start to take action against them, [and they’re doing nothing wrong,] that’s illegal.”

Brian Bean, with Occupy Chicago, says that he is not fooled by the CPD “putting on a nice face.” “They will use the force that the state often uses to repress dissent and intimidate protesters,” said Bean, “as we saw in Wednesday’s raid.”

Chicago has one of the most advanced surveillance systems in the country, with cameras that have facial recognition and automatic tracking software.

A leaked document of what the CPD’s policy toward journalists reporting on the protest said:

“Those who follow protesters onto private property to document their actions also will be subject to arrest if laws are broken. Any member of the media who is arrested will have to go through the same booking process as anyone else. Release of equipment depends on what part the equipment played in the events that led to the arrest. There will not be any quick personal recognizance bond just for media members.”

Illinois also has an eavesdropping law which, in some situations, makes the filming of a police officer a crime, but the edict will be suspended for the NATO protests, the leaked document said.

Since the week of action against the NATO summits began, the NLG said that 20 people have been arrested and others have reported being stopped and searched.

But activists say this gives them even more reason to head into the streets.

It’s important to continue protesting, because this tactic was obviously an attempt to intimidate,” said Bean. “We will fight against whatever tactics come out against us and continue to protest.”

Hermes agreed: “We don’t want people to be discouraged from coming out and protesting. We are hoping activists stand up to police intimidation and speak their mind, which they should be allowed to do under the constitution.”

Dominique de Kevelioc de BailleulBefore It’s News
May 4, 2012

In a riveting interview on TruNews Radio, Wednesday, private investigator Doug Hagmann said high-level, reliable sources told him the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is preparing for “massive civil war” in America.

“We have problems . . . The federal government is preparing for civil uprising,” he added, “so every time you hear about troop movements, every time you hear about movements of military equipment, the militarization of the police, the buying of the ammunition, all of this is . . . they (DHS) are preparing for a massive uprising.”

Hagmann goes on to say that his sources tell him the concerns of the DHS stem from a collapse of the U.S. dollar and the hyperinflation a collapse in the value of the world’s primary reserve currency implies to a nation of 311 million Americans, who, for the significant portion of the population, is armed.

Uprisings in Greece is, indeed, a problem, but an uprising of armed Americans becomes a matter of serious national security, a point addressed in a recent report by the Pentagon and highlighted as a vulnerability and threat to the U.S. during war-game exercises at the Department of Defense last year, according to one of the DoD’s war-game participants, Jim Rickards, author of Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis.

Through his sources, Hagmann confirmed Rickards’ ongoing thesis of a fear of a U.S. dollar collapse at the hands of the Chinese (U.S. treasury bond holders of approximately $1 trillion) and, possibly, the Russians (threatening to launch a gold-backed ruble as an attractive alternative to the U.S. dollar) in retaliation for aggressive U.S. foreign policy initiatives against China’s and Russia’s strategic allies Iran and Syria.

“The one source that we have I’ve known since 1979,” Hagmann continued. “He started out as a patrol officer and currently he is now working for a federal agency under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security; he’s in a position to know what policies are being initiated, what policies are being planned at this point, and he’s telling us right now—look, what you’re seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. We are preparing, we, meaning the government, we are preparing for a massive civil war in this country.”

“There’s no hyperbole here,” he added, echoing Trends Research Institute’s Founder Gerald Celente’s forecast of last year. Celente expects a collapse of the U.S. dollar and riots in America some time this year.

Since Celente’s ‘Civil War’ prediction of last year, executive orders NDAA and National Defense Resources Preparedness were signed into law by President Obama, which are both politically damaging actions taken by a sitting president.

And most recently, requests made by the DHS for the procurement of 450 million rounds of hollow-point ammunition only fuels speculation of an upcoming tragic event expected on American soil.

These major events, as shocking to the American people as they are, have taken place during an election year.

Escalating preparatory activities by the executive branch and DHS throughout the last decade—from the Patriot Act, to countless executive orders drafted to suspend (or strip) American civil liberties “are just the beginning” of the nightmare to come, Hagmann said.

He added, “It’s going to get so much worse toward the election, and I’m not even sure we’re going to have an election in this country. It’s going to be that bad, and this, as well, is coming from my sources. But one source in particular said, ‘look, you don’t understand how bad it is.’ This stuff is real; these people, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), they are ready to fight the American people.”

TruNews Wiles asked Hagmann: who does the DHS expect to fight, in particular? Another North versus South, the Yankees against the Confederates? Hagmann stated the situation is far worse than a struggle between any two factions within the U.S.; it’s an anticipated nationwide emergency event centered on the nation’s currency.

“What they [DHS] are expecting, and again, this is according to my sources, what they’re expecting is the un-sustainability of the American dollar,” Hagmann said. “And we know for a fact that we can no longer service our debt. There’s going to be a period of hyperinflation . . . the dollar will be worthless . . . The economic collapse will be so severe, people won’t be ready for this.”

Source: Full TruNews interview, May 2, 2012.

The time for denial is over

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Friday, May 4, 2012

RELATED: Leaked U.S. Army Document Outlines Plan For Re-Education Camps In America

A shocking U.S. Army manual that describes how political activists in prison camps will be indoctrinated by specially assigned psychological operations officers contains numerous clear references to the fact that the policies do apply domestically to U.S. citizens.

Despite the fact that the manual is well over 300 pages long and would take hours to read properly, within minutes of posting our story yesterday a minority of commenters were claiming that the policies outlined in the document only pertained to foreign combat operations and did not apply domestically to U.S. citizens.

This is similar to the denial witnessed prior to the passage of the NDAA when some argued that the indefinite detention provisions did not apply to American citizens despite numerous legal analysts asserting they did and President Barack Obama himself acknowledging they did when he signed the bill.

Click here to read the full document entitled FM 3-39.40 Internment and Resettlement Operations.

The most alarming portion of the document appears on page 56 and makes it clear that detention camps will have PSYOP teams whose responsibility will be to use “indoctrination programs to reduce or remove antagonistic attitudes,” as well as targeting “political activists” with such indoctrination programs to provide “understanding and appreciation of U.S. policies and actions.”

Let’s make one thing clear – the manual primarily deals with enemy combatants captured and detained in foreign prison camps run by the U.S. Military. However, another thing that is just as clear from reading the manual in full is the fact that it also applies to citizens detained within the United States, whether they be DCs (displaced citizens) or “civilian internees,” in other words citizens who are detained for, “security reasons, for protection, or because he or she committed an offense against the detaining power.”

Firstly, throughout the manual there are scores of references to how the U.S. Army would work together with the DHS, ICE and FEMA (page 24) to implement the policies “within U.S. territory” as part of “civil support operations” in the aftermath of “man-made disasters, accidents, terrorist attacks and incidents in the U.S. and its territories.” (page 38).

“The handling of DCs (displaced citizens) is also a mission that may be performed in support of disaster relief or other emergencies within the United States or U.S. territories during civil support operations,” states page 33. Page 56 also states that it is the responsibility of the PSYOP officer to “control detainee and DC populations during emergencies.”

“Resettlement conducted as a part of civil support operations will always be conducted in support of another lead agency (Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security)” states page 37.

All these passages make it clear that the policies outlined on page 56 are also applicable within U.S. territory as part of “civil support operations” conducted in partnership with domestic federal agencies like the DHS and ICE. The U.S. Immigration authorities have no role in detaining prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq and neither do other U.S. agencies also listed in the document such as the Public Health Service (page 224).

The document also contains numerous references to U.S. citizens (notably pages 13, 41). Page 13 notes how “U.S. citizens will be confined separately from detainees,” meaning they will be separated from foreign prisoners in the camps

On page 146 of the manual, we learn how prisoners in the camps are to be identified.

“The prisoner’s last name, first name, and middle initial are placed on the first line of a name board, and the prisoner’s social security number is placed on the second line.”

Last time I checked, the United States Social Security Administration was not responsible for handing out social security numbers to people in Afghanistan or Iraq.

On page 193 of the document, we learn that the policies outlined in the manual can be applied domestically. The language makes it clear that so long as the President passes an executive order to nullify Posse Comitatus, the law that forbids the military from engaging in domestic law enforcement, the policies “may be performed as domestic civil support operations.”

The manual states, “These operations may be performed as domestic civil support operations,” and adds that “The authority to approve resettlement such operations within U.S. territories,” would require a “special exception” to The Posse Comitatus Act, which can be obtained via “the President invoking his executive authority.”

These examples are just a handful of a plethora contained in the 326 page ‘Internment and Resettlement’ document which prove that the policies in the manual apply not only to foreign prisoners abroad, but also to American citizens within the United States.

On top of this, we have the 2009 story about how the National Guard posted a number of job listings looking for “Internment/Resettlement Specialists” to work in “civilian internee camps” within the United States.

The time for denial is over. People spent weeks arguing over the ‘indefinite detention’ provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act, ignoring assertions by top scholars and legal experts that the kidnapping provisions did apply to U.S. citizens.

It appears as though cognitive dissonance is causing some people to desperately search for any way of denying the shocking truth contained in these Army documents. This is particularly prevalent amongst Democrats and liberals, whose support for the cult of Barack Obama has blinded them to the fact that his administration is passing legislation which in many cases is far more draconian than anything Bush signed into law.

Take this comment for example from the Democratic Underground forum. Linking to our article from yesterday, a user writes, “A friend of mine just posted (as he usually does) a ridiculous article from InfoWars and it’s pissing me off to no end. I’m trying to find stuff to continuously disprove this drivel, and I’m probably wasting my time. Anyone able to help on this particular “story”?”

The individual does not even have the inclination to look at the source document to find out if the story is true, they would rather just throw out ad hominem insults like “ridiculous” and “drivel”. Rather than being “pissed off” at the frightening language contained in the U.S. Army manual, the individual is “pissed off” at Infowars for reporting on it.

Yes, the U.S. Army has really written a manual which details re-education camps. Yes, the manual does apply to U.S. citizens domestically. Denying these manifestly provable facts will not make the threat go away. This is not an imaginary monster under the bed.

The time for denial is over.

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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.

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