Reich Here, Reich Now

by William Grigg
Aug. 29, 2012

Well, why not?

If there's a Blackhawk in your airspace, don't be alarmed now; it's just "urban warfare" training. That was the message issued to residents of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota by the local affiliate of the Homeland Security State -- and its allies in the government-aligned media -- as the U.S. Special Operations Command prepared to unleash what one police source called "a pack of military helicopters" over the Twin Cities in support of "routine urban environment training."

In a commercial republic -- or a reasonably free society of any description -- warfare of any kind should hardly be considered "routine." This is particularly true of military deployments in a modern urban environment and training that seems suspiciously well-suited to scenarios involving economic collapse and massive social unrest. Those blessed with a capacity for healthy cynicism would suspect that the purpose of such military exercises is to train the public, rather than Special Forces operators -- to acclimate the citizenry to the spectacle of helicopter gunships plying the skies above them.

There is no ambiguity about the purpose of the TSA-supervised BUSSAFE initiative: It is geared entirely to the purpose of molding public opinion.

When heavily armed, black-clad figures began stalking bus and train stations in New Jersey on August 23, Transit Police Chief Christopher Trucillo explained that they hadn't been deployed in response any specific threat. The VIPR teams -- local police units supervised by agents from the Transportation Security Administration -- were intended "to increase uniform police visibility. ... Just to step on a bus and have somebody visually look in the bus, and have the folks on the bus see a police presence, and to give a sense of security to folks who use the bus daily."

That assessment assumes, of course, that people would find such a conspicuous police presence to be reassuring. One potent illustration that this shouldn't the case was offered by the recent shooting at the Empire State Building in New York City, in which two people -- including the gunman -- were killed and nine others were wounded. All of the wounded victims were shot by panicking police, who sprayed their rounds indiscriminately at a target less than ten feet away.

Rational people will experience a variety of sensations when they're surrounded by police. An enhanced sense of security won't be on that list.

They live for this kind of thing: "Local" police in Tampa.

In Kansas City, Missouri, the police department's military auxiliary, the "Tactical Response Team," produced a propaganda video intended to placate public concerns aroused by the increasingly common spectacle of armed raids in residential neighborhoods.

The clip is introduced by what appears to be a tranquilized female officer, whose soothing recitation of official jargon is reminiscent of "Anna," the telegenic emissary of the alien occupiers from "V" ("Don't be frightened, we mean no harm; we're truly anguished by the turmoil our arrival has caused..."). The officer explains that when tactical teams -- that is, military units in black body armor -- serve search warrants, the element of surprise is important "for the safety of everyone."

Well -- would you believe for the safety of everyone who matters to the assailants (meaning themselves)?

"Anytime we're going to kick in a house like this, we've got kids in the neighborhood ...and it kind of resembles a military operation," explains Sgt. Chip Huth. In fact, it is a military operation, an example of what the Pentagon, which now trains and equips local police departments, calls "operations other than war."

According to Sgt. Huth, "We have to establish objective peace before we can move on to any community-building peace." Once the target of the raid is in custody and the "battle zone" is secure, the stormtroopers engage in post-raid "outreach" to those who have been traumatized by the operation.

Members of Kansas City Tactical Response Team -- like their comrades across the country -- have been trained by the Pentagon to follow the standard model of military occupation: Use overwhelming force to "pacify" a targeted neighborhood, then try to win the "hearts and minds" of residents to consolidate control.

This, and not protection of property, is the primary business of "local" police in the American Reich. (h/t Eapen Thampy of Americans for Forfeiture Reform.)