National Guard, Now Authorized to Use Live Ammo, Flood America's Streets
Already deployed in multiple states, over 10,000 guardsmen are scheduled to
flood Minneapolis streets - representing the first time in its 164-year
history that the organization has been fully mobilized - and they have been
authorized to carry live ammunition.
by Alan Macleod
May 31st, 2020
By Alan Macleod
The national security state and the military are joining forces with the
police and national guard to counter the nationwide protest movement that
has exploded since the police killing of unarmed black man George Floyd on
Monday.
In response to the police capitulation in Minneapolis, leaving their
precinct to be burned down, Minnesota governor Tim Waltz has called on the
National Guard to put down the revolt. Already deployed in multiple states,
over 10,000 guardsmen are scheduled to flood Minneapolis streets,
representing the first time in its 164-year history that the organization
has been fully mobilized. They have been authorized to carry live
ammunition. While Waltz's actions might appear drastic, it appears he is
actually a moderating influence, as Washington is pushing him to put active
duty military on the streets.
"I think it's really important again for folks to think about the uniqueness
of our nation of protecting civil liberties is to make sure that civilian
control of the military and especially inside the United States is carried
out by civilians, by citizen soldiers by National Guard," he said.
Yesterday, the Pentagon ordered soldiers and military police from Fort
Bragg, North Carolina, Fort Drum, New York, Fort Riley, Kansas and Fort
Carson, Colorado, to be ready to be deployed potentially anywhere in the
United States within a matter of hours. Authorities also deployed a Predator
Drone to Minneapolis to monitor the protests.
According to documents leaked to The Nation, the military is actively
monitoring uprisings in six other states - New York, Ohio, Colorado,
Arizona, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Waltz revealed yesterday that he is
already working closely with the military, receiving "intelligence support
of what they're seeing, what they're signal intercepting, they have
obviously from N.S.A. and others massive support to be able to see who these
operators are." The N.S.A. is supposed to be a purely foreign intelligence
agency, but, as Edward Snowden revealed, the agency was conducting a massive
spying operation both internationally and domestically. Waltz later claimed
that he misspoke when referencing the N.S.A. by name.
Minnesota National Guard Stand Guard At State Capitol
National guard stand by the State Capitol during demonstrations over George
Floyd's death, St. Paul, Minnesota on May 31, 2020. Damairs Carter | IPX
Some National Guard members appear to be profoundly uncomfortable with the
idea of being deployed to oppose protestors. One anonymous guardsman told
The Nation's Ken Klippenstein: "We're a combat unit not trained for riot
control or safely handling civilians in this context. Soldiers up and down
the ranks are scared about hurting someone, and leaders are worried about
soldiers' suffering liability," adding that, "My [colleagues] are people of
common sense and common decency. They may not want to step over any lines
when doing their jobs, but wanting only goes so far when you're
under-trained and under-equipped."
President Trump, however, appears very keen to see the National Guard
respond to the protests. "I can't stand back and watch this happen to a
great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the
very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the
City under control, or I will send in the National Guard and get the job
done right," he stated, adding that the rioting "thugs" were dishonoring
Floyd's memory. "When the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!"
he concluded, clearly encouraging a violent crackdown against protestors.
As Establishment Condemns China for Hong Kong Repression, Trump Tweets About
"Shooting Looters"
The US establishment is united in condemning Beijing for its overreach, all
the while President Trump is tweeting about "shooting looters."
MintPress News | Alan Macleod | May 29
The country's police already resemble its heavily armed military. Between
1998 and 2014 the value of military hardware given to U.S. police
departments ballooned from $9.4 million to $796.8 million, with police
departments across the country equipped with armored personnel carriers,
tanks, and other machines appropriate only for a battlefield. Police are
also increasingly trained to view citizens as threats and criminals, rather
than members of the public they are serving.
The nationwide demonstrations flared up after video of Floyd's murder went
viral on social media. Officer Derek Chauvin - somebody with a long history
of police brutality (including killing) - can be seen suffocating a
handcuffed Floyd for nearly nine minutes, including for nearly three minutes
after he loses consciousness, despite onlookers pleading with him not to
kill him. Protests have erupted in dozens of locations across the United
States and internationally, enraged by the latest example of racist police
brutality caught on camera. On Friday, Chauvin was charged with third degree
murder and manslaughter.
"Deadly Exchange": America's Racist Policing Has Roots in Israel
While training in Israel, American police are taught what Israel calls
counterterrorism, but is in fact "refined methods of racial profiling"
MintPress News | Miko Peled | May 29
Both America's police and army have serious problems with white supremacy.
The modern police force evolved from the slave patrol forces of the 18th and
19th centuries, and were a key force in maintaining and promoting white
supremacy and the slave labor system. Meanwhile, Matt Kennard's book,
Irregular Army, details how, after 9/11, the U.S. military began actively
recruiting from Neo-Nazi gangs and militias in order to fulfil its
recruitment quotas. The deep state has always attempted to infiltrate and
derail struggles for civil rights; the F.B.I. infamously carried out a
campaign of targeted assassinations against the black liberation movement
between the 1960s and 1980s, even sending a letter to Martin Luther King Jr.
telling him to kill himself. It is unlikely, therefore, that the national
security state's reaction to these latest protests will be a positive one.
