- The attacks of September 11th, 2001 caused significant
changes throughout our society. For our military services, this included
increased force protection, greater security, and of course the deployment
to and prosecution of the War on Terrorism in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Sadly, one of the first acts of our President was to waive the high deployment
overtime pay of our servicemen and women who are serving on the front lines
of our new War. The Navy estimates that the first year costs of this pay
would equal about 40 cruise missiles. The total cost of this overtime pay
may only equal about 300 cruise missiles, yet this Administration said
it would cost too much to pay our young men and women what the Congress
and the previous Administration had promised them.
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- In another ironic twist, the War on Terrorism has the
potential to bring the US military into American life as never before.
A Northern Command has been created to manage the military's activity within
the continental United States. Operation Noble Eagle saw combat aircraft
patrolling the air above major metropolitan areas, and our airports are
only now being relieved of National Guard security forces. Moreover, there
is a growing concern that the military will be used domestically, within
our borders, with intelligence and law enforcement mandates as some now
call for a review of the Posse Comitatus Act prohibitions on military activity
within our country.
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- In the 1960s, the lines between illegal intelligence,
law enforcement and military practices became blurred as Americans wanting
to make America a better place for all were targeted and attacked for political
beliefs and political behavior. Under the cloak of the Cold War, military
intelligence was used for domestic purposes to conduct surveillance on
civil rights, social equity, antiwar, and other activists. In the case
of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Operation Lantern Spike involved military
intelligence covertly operating a surveillance operation of the civil rights
leader up to the time of his assassination. In a period of two months,
recently declassified documents on Operation Lantern Spike indicate that
240 military personnel were assigned in the two months of March and April
to conduct surveillance on Dr. King. The documents further reveal that
16,900 man-hours were spent on this assignment. Dr. King had done nothing
more than call for black suffrage, an end to black poverty, and an end
to the Vietnam War. Dr. King was the lantern of justice for America: spreading
light on issues the Administration should have been addressing. On April
4, 1968, Dr. King's valuable point of light was snuffed out. The documents
I have submitted for the record outline the illegal activities of the FBI
and its CoIntelPro program. A 1967 memo from J. Edgar Hoover to 22 FBI
field offices outlined the COINTELPRO program well: "The purpose of
this new counterintelligence endeavor is to expose, disrupt, misdirect,
or otherwise neutralize" black activist leaders and organizations.
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- As a result of the Church Committee hearings, we later
learned that the FBI and other government authorities were conducting black
bag operations that included illegally breaking and entering private homes
to collect information on individuals. FBI activities included "bad
jacketing," or falsely accusing individuals of collaboration with
the authorities. It included the use of paid informants to set up on false
charges targeted individuals. And it resulted in the murder of some individuals.
Geronimo Pratt Ji Jaga spent 27 years in prison for a crime he did not
commit. And in COINTELPRO documents subsequently released, we learn that
Fred Hampton was murdered in his bed while his pregnant wife slept next
to him after a paid informant slipped drugs in his drink.
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- Needless to say, such operations were well outside the
bounds of what normal citizens would believe to be the role of the military,
and the Senate investigations conducted by Senator Frank Church found that
to be true. Though the United States was fighting the spread of communism
in the face of the Cold War, the domestic use of intelligence and military
assets against its own civilians was unfortunately reminiscent of the police
state built up by the Communists we were fighting.
-
- We must be certain that the War on Terrorism does not
threaten our liberties again. Amendments to H.R. 4547, the Costs of War
Against Terrorism Act, that would increase the role of drug interdiction
task forces to include counter intelligence, and that would increase the
military intelligence's ability to conduct electronic and financial investigations,
can be the first steps towards a return to the abuses of constitutional
rights during the Cold War. Further, this bill includes nearly $2 billion
in additional funds for intelligence accounts. When taken into account
with the extra-judicial incarceration of thousands of immigration violators,
the transfer of prisoners from law enforcement custody to military custody,
and the consideration of a 'volunteer' terrorism tip program, America must
stand up and protect itself from the threat not only of terrorism, but
of a police state of its own.
-
- There does exist a need to increase personnel pay accounts,
replenish operations and maintenance accounts and replace lost equipment.
The military has an appropriate role in protecting the United States from
foreign threats, and should remain dedicated to preparing for those threats.
Domestic uses of the military have long been prohibited for good reason,
and the same should continue to apply to all military functions, especially
any and all military intelligence and surveillance. Congress and the Administration
must be increasingly vigilant towards the protection of and adherence to
our constitutional rights and privileges. For, if we win the war on terrorism,
but create a police state in the process, what have we won?
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- Cynthia McKinney represents Georgia's Fourth Congressional
District. This is article is a reprint of her remarks before the House
Armed Services Committee on H.R. 4547, The Costs of War Against Terrorism
Act.
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- She can be reached at: cymck@mail.house.gov
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- http://www.counterpunch.org/mckinney0725.html
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- Comment
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- Jerry L. Gardner
7-29-2
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- Dear Jeff,
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- This lady deserves our highest admiration and support
in my opinion, she is, or very much appears to be a very enlightened American.
I applaud her heroic stand and vast courage.
-
-
- Dear Representative McKinney:
-
- I just read what I assume to be your most recent views
on terrorism and the emerging police state in America: War On Terrorism
Or Police State? Once again, excellent insight and truth.
-
- Once again I am extremely impressed, and proud, of your
grasp on the sinister movements of certain elements of our government at
the highest levels, and your very brave stand in alerting the American
public to these destructive acts of legislation and proposals. It's a wonderful
thing to have a country to be patriotic about, such as America's past,
it is an equally dangerous thing to follow "blind patriotism"
to the exclusion of all inherent and obvious evil which now abounds in
our most cherished places of government.
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- You are shining forth as a beacon of truth and light
in a land filled today with gross darkness. Oh how few beacons America
still has and how desperately we need more, the churches have even lost
their vision and spiritual wisdom, they are totally ineffective. Our elected
"servants" who are little more than corporate whores are now
elected "dictators" and have abdicated their assigned positions
of authority and justice. These range from dog catchers, to city managers
to city and county commissions right on up, they are all corrupt. Many
American's can see that, sadly, many cannot. It is reported that Hitler's
aid once commented to him, "It is good for us that people do not think."
Apparently Washington and all levels of government have adapted that truism.
They know if they beat the drums of patriotism and wave our blood soaked
flag, blood from millions of young brave men and women who never had a
chance to live in the society they died to protect from the very forces
that are now commandeering our great nati One doesn't have to be an expert
in economics, or a military or social engineering strategist to see where
America is headed, and with great haste. Personally, I feel the dictatorial
train of a police state USA and fascism has already gained overwhelming
momentum and now it is just a matter of finalizing closure details, which
the power elite are quickly bringing to bear. The NWO has won! But we sorely
need that element of truth and light you so well possess and exude. God
help us when truth completely vanishes from the earth. I pray for your
safety and your continued stand for freedom, you are a treat, a ready meal
in a pit of vipers.
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- The next profoundly stupid question on the lips of the
American people, and soon, will be "what happened?"
-
- History dictates to us that all men and women of truth
and light, those who have had the courage to stand in the face of tyranny
and despotism and call it by name, have stood alone, and in many cases
financially and personally destroyed. These are the people who history
vindicates though, not the despots who in their greed for wealth, power
and domination over their fellow human beings. The Hitler's, the Mao's,
the Stalin's and their ilk, including those right here in America from
the court house to the White House who are really the enemy within, those
power hungry souls who are putting forth draconian legislation and EOs
to secure their power base have had their hour of fame and glory. But I
am totally persuaded that their final judgment will more than erase their
bloated egos and Satanic ambitions. Their days are numbered now, not that
they won't create much havoc in the coming months and cause unbelievable
destruction of America, for indeed they will. In the end, right will still
prevail. I believe justic Ms. McKinney, you are valiantly doing what America
elected the rest of your colleagues and our "so called" representatives
to do, and that is to protect at all cost the constitution of the United
States set forth by our erudite forefather's. You stand when your associates
cower to the demands of the egomaniacal elite who dictate to them and the
powers of a socialist press.
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- One last closing thought. I can't help but be a little
amused at the ignorance of our elected officials and judges. In the recent
flap over "under God" in our pledge of allegiance, it was ruled
"unconstitutional" by an appointed judge who possesses far too
much power for one individual, in my opinion. Yet this same judge upon
appointment took an oath to protect the constitution of the United States
against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. At the closure of that
oath, which we all took, those of us who have served our nation, stated
in accordance with the [law], "so help me God." My point being,
if invoking God into anything having to do with government is unconstitutional,
then it would follow that this judges status as a judge is null and void
because he has in effect rendered an oath unacceptable to the US government
and his authority to ban other such oaths or pledges is void and unconstitutional.
He has in effect broken the very laws he has sworn to uphold. Sadly, leaders
can break laws, as evidenc Forty-four years ago I viewed a required training
film in the Air Force during boot camp which illustrated how surreptitiously
and quickly America could be taken over by a totalitarian government (our
own) and martial law be established. I now sit totally amazed at just how
prophetic and accurate that film turned out to be. America is indeed being
taken without a shot being fired, worst yet, we are giving it away almost
in a state of frenzied patriotic zeal. If American's have learned one thing
from the corporate world and the "education system" it's how
to snitch, or degrade your coworkers, brother's and sister's and friends
in order to advance one step on the business or popularity ladder. What
a shame. How ironic. What a cheap surrender. Whatever happened to words
like, "honor," "integrity," "truth," "devotion,"
and "trust?"
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- T.I.P.S = neighborhood Gestapo, Stasi, Brown Shirts,
SS, the children's patriotic observance and reporting units of Nazi Germany,
or the youth squad. The implications of such a program just scares the
living H---out of me. Can you imagine the idiots whose hands this program
(TIPS) will fall into? People who see a terrorist or communist under every
bed will be reporting their neighbors, and this will only be the beginning
of the nightmare. My Lord, the government is bad enough about screwing
a program up. What is next, COPs, Citizens On Patrol? The ID chip? A loyalty
oath to Bush? Snooping breeds distrust, distrust breeds fear, fear breeds
contempt, contempt breeds hatred, hatred breeds war or reprisal. Isn't
this really the goal of T.I.P.S? I believe it is, how else can a government
expect to gain "total" control over the masses? Proven in China,
the Soviet Union, and all lands ruled by despots. Fear rules!
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- Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!
-
- As the tobacco commercial used to say, "You've come
a long way baby," but in what direction I ask. Are we now hearing
and witnessing the death throes of the great republic of America? It would
appear so.
-
- One last question. Isn't it a strange coincidence that
all of our "enemies" sit on rich reserves of oil? Why are these
the only people who hate us and "attack" us? Go figure. The solution
to war seems very simple. Once we have confiscated every countries oil,
there will be no future need for terrorism or war. Like Alexander The Great,
our power hungry leaders can sit down and cry because there are no more
lands to conquer.
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- Thank you again Rep. McKinney for your heroic stand as
a true "representative" of the people. May God bless you and
keep you in His service. You are indeed a rose among deadly thorns.
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- Jerry L. Gardner
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- North Carolina
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