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green73
07-24-2012, 06:32 AM
The US military will be on call to respond and use force in case of unrest at this year’s Democratic and Republican Party National Conventions in Tampa, Florida and Charlotte, North Carolina.

In a disturbing illustration of the creeping militarization of the day, US Northern Command has admitted that the Army will aid domestic law enforcement if called upon by the Secretary of Defense.

“During the Democratic/Republican National Conventions, Department of Defense personnel will support the U.S. Secret Service,” a Northern Command spokesman said in an email.

“For operational security reasons we do not discuss the numbers of military personnel and resources that are involved,” U.S. Navy Lt. Cdr. William G. Lewis said. “Additionally, we do not share our operational plans.”

Laws and traditions in this country going back hundreds of years have tried to restrict the government’s ability to use its military force on its own people, as a vital safeguard against outright militaristic rule here at home.The Bush administration’s post 9/11 attempts to cripple those safeguards still linger.

Northern Command took over responsibility for homeland security when Bush and the Department of Defense created the agency after the 9/11 attacks.

The practice harks back to the 1968 Democratic convention where a US Army and National Guard plan called Operation Garden Plot authorized an infantry brigade armed with riot control equipment and snipers to quell protesters if called upon.

“My job was to shoot to kill as directed,” said former US Army Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Gary Huber, who was assigned as a sniper in the Garden Plot. “I’m surprised we were issued ammunition because that normally wasn’t the case except when I was assigned along the East German border.”

At a time when the US military is peppered across the world, occupying foreigners in several countries, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the federal government and their professional militias also view American citizens as potential enemies to be dealt with by force.

http://news.antiwar.com/2012/07/23/us-military-on-call-to-use-force-at-2012-political-conventions/

sevin
07-24-2012, 10:36 AM
What are they afraid of? People standing around holding signs?

jkr
07-24-2012, 10:52 AM
POSSE COMA WHAT US?

Acala
07-24-2012, 11:15 AM
Crossing the Rubicon

donnay
07-24-2012, 11:22 AM
United Soviet States of America!


"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

Origanalist
07-24-2012, 11:24 AM
Crossing the Rubicon

Crossed.

Kelly.
07-24-2012, 12:05 PM
United Soviet States of America!


close, UNITED STATES corporation is more like it. ;)

Nickels
07-24-2012, 03:55 PM
What are they afraid of? People standing around holding signs?

lol. occasionally there are stupid troublemakers, but they are rare, we are not Greece or England where the government fears the people.

Zippyjuan
07-25-2012, 11:32 AM
There have been plans in case of emergency for every convention since 1968. How many times have they been called into actual use since? Zero.
From the actual article:
http://www.stripes.com/news/military-stands-ready-if-needed-at-political-conventions-1.183740

The 1968 Democratic convention was indeed riotous, but nobody took over the Army installation. More than four decades later, the idea that the military would be called in to help police a political convention seems drastic.

That doesn't mean plans aren't still in place, though.

Over the past 44 years, Operation Garden Plot has evolved and been superseded by U.S. Northern Command plans created specifically for major public events — including the 2012 political conventions in Tampa and Charlotte.



The secretary of defense would have to approve any request for military assistance, Lewis said.


Northern Command took over responsibility for homeland security when President George W. Bush and the Department of Defense created the agency after the 9/11 attacks. The agency refers to Operation Garden Plot as "an old Army plan that is no longer is in existence," Lewis said.

Military publications have reported security officials have called upon aspects of Garden Plot plans and its Northern Command evolution at political conventions from 1968 through at least 2004.

"I would say that 9/11 increased the threat perception," said John Pike, director of Global Security.org, who has been called to testify to Congress on military affairs. "People have been worried about al- Qaida jumping out of manhole covers."

Pike said he understands that the military must be prepared for a serious event at a political convention, even though as a Nixon-era anti-Vietnam war "street fighter" he sees that scenario as unlikely.