- ABC TV News last night (Saturday, July 31) aired a story
of Marines "training" on the streets of a West Virginia town
for crowd control and urban combat. A series of chilling video clips showed
Marines in full riot gear moving forward in rank while beating nightstick-like
batons in unison against the plastic riot shields they carried.
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- The scene was identical to many recent protests where
similarly armed police have used such tactics to steamroller protestors.
Other video showed a new type of "non-lethal" stun grenade and
various hardware such as rubber bullets for use in controlling/dispersing
large crowds. The news commentator said the exercises were being conducted
on the streets of small-town America to give Marines a feel for how real
people would react to their presence. The official "explanation"
for these exercises is that the Marine participants will soon be deployed
to Iraq, where they will use their training to quell street protests.
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- Several questions/observations come to mind:
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- 1. Why are Marines being trained in these type of police
tactics at all? Aren't we spending a gazillion dollars to train Iraqi police
to handle these very situations?
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- 2. What is the interest of the United States in using
such intimidation tactics on crowds of ordinary Iraqi citizen demonstrators?
Apparently there is no fear that such protestors would represent an armed
threat, otherwise the marines would be battle-equipped, not carrying batons
and shields and other "non-lethal" toys.
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- 3. What sort of large-scale "street protests"
is the U.S. anticipating in Iraq - and why? Haven't they been insisting
that only a few "foreign insurgents" and diehard "Saddam
supporters" were causing all the trouble?
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- 4. To date, the only (non-combat) public protests in
Iraq have been noisy but peaceful. Why the sudden interest in controlling
these people to the point of screwing them down? Wasn't the (ostensible)
purpose to "liberate" them, and to establish "democracy"?
(Oh, forgot, this IS what democracy looks like. Silly me.)
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- 5. People usually don't protest in significant ways or
numbers unless there's something damned important to protest against. What
does the U.S. know that it isn't saying about what they have in store for
the long-suffering Iraqi people?
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- 6. Is this "training" the Marines are receiving
really intended to be useful on a practical level in Iraq, or will Iraq
simply be Phase II of training to use these forces right here in America?
I'm not a big fan of conspiracy theories, but it's a fact that the Bush
administration has cancelled the Posse Comitatus Act and virtually eliminated
the line between civilian and military control of civil affairs. Really
makes me wonder about our own future and the potential for martial law.
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- After watching this on TV, I went looking for a transcript
on the ABC News website. Nothing. Not even a reference. Maybe they just
haven't updated yet - the last content listed was from Friday - but we
shall see.
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- http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/08/293801.shtml
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