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| This is the supposed scope of Jade Helm 15 as published by The Washington Post |
I'll be honest. In the late nineteen-seventies when I was in high school, I wasn't enthralled with the classes on American Government or on American History. Whenever I could, I took the electives which concerned ancient history and told us of everything from Mesopotamia to the Assyrians. However, there is one thing I remember with regard to American History class, and I remember the lecture quite well. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 is a US Federal Law which limits the powers of the American military so that it may not be used against American citizens on American soil. The military is not to detain, arrest, gather evidence, or do other functions that would normally be done by a civilian military force, even if against those they might believe are domestic terrorists. This does not apply to the National Guard when a governor of a neighboring state, for example, requests aid. It also does not apply to the Department of Homeland Security which was created to be independent of Posse Comitatus. It is supposed to prevent our military from running operations, dark or otherwise here at home, against us.
I realize that Posse Comitatus was weakened by both Barack Hussein Obama, and George W. Bush, following 9-11, however it still exists. The concern is that police forces have become ever militaristic, police training has become directed more toward enemy combatants than efforts to "protect and to serve". The result is that the best "peace officers" find something else to do, and sometimes the aggressive officers, some of whom have a shade of PTSD from Iraq and Afghanistan start running the show. In addition, we have Jade Helm 15, which is claimed to be simply a "special forces exercise" on American soil. I last heard that this was to take place in nine states, although Colorado may now not be included. How can active military exercises where "troops will be embedded in cities" be legal under Posse Comitatus ? Are we ignoring selected federal laws as well as the US Constitution now ?
Pardon me if I am a bit uneasy. This is the regime which told me that my health insurance wouldn't go up, and that my doctor wouldn't change. Now, I will likely never vacation again, because our premiums are so high, and I have a new doctor, and I no longer see specialists for my thyroid. Our government tells us the economy has improved, and yet I know many people who haven't worked for four or five years. I know that good jobs have disappeared. I see an ever militarization of local police and everyone, whatever the agency, has a SWAT team. I know that in a time of austerity that millions of rounds of many different types of ammunition have been purchased by a variety of agencies of the federal government. I am therefore finding it hard to swallow that the same regime which cut breakfasts for active duty military as a cost cutting measure, has the scratch to run as large an operation as Jade Helm 15 "just to keep the boys in practice".
Brighter folks than I are thinking the same thing:
https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/turning_america_into_a_battlefield_a_blueprint_for_locking_down_the_na
