Fort Lee Troops And Police Take On Protesters in "Anti-Terrorism"
Drill
Exercise involved "all aspects of protecting of
the military installation whether its protesters or
terrorists."
Soldiers teamed up with police at Fort Lee, Virginia this week
for a three day long "anti-terrorism drill" that involved
defending themselves from actors playing the part of "agitated"
protesters.
A report from CBS
affiliate WTVR provides details of the drill, which
centered on containing and quelling a staged demonstration.
The volunteer protesters held aloft signs, one
of which declared a "racist free zone" (see opposite,
click to enlarge).
"We train our solders as realistically as
we can, to protect for us as a garrison, other soldiers and
families on the post" Fort Lee's Garrison Commander Colonel
Mike Morrow told reporters.
Combining active duty soldiers with civilian police
has taken weeks of planning according to the report. The drill
involved "all aspects of protecting of the military installation
whether its protesters or terrorists."
Fort Lee Chief of Police Joe Metzger told WTVR
that in times of emergency the military and the police must
work together. "We forget one's wearing blue, one's wearing
a uniform. We all come together for the same cause". Metzger
stated.
Apparently that cause involves the prevention
of people exercising their First Amendment rights.
One participating soldier was quoted as saying "I learned
over here we also have missions back in the US to protect our
families and friends and this is a part of doing so".
Now it is clear that the American people are the classed on
same threat level as "terrorists" by the military
and the police. Why else would such an exercise be part of an
"anti-terrorism" drill?
Back in June we covered the news that current Department of
Defense anti-terrorism training course material states that
the exercise of First Amendment rights in the US constitutes
terrorist activity.
The ACLU wrote a letter of protest to the DoD regarding its
Antiterrorism and Force Protection Annual Refresher Training
Course, which advises personnel that political
protest amounts to "low-level terrorism". All
DoD personnel are required to complete the course on a yearly
basis.
Over the last few years we have also seen countless
examples of security assessment reports from the
likes of the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland
Security and the FBI, as well as police training manuals, which
state that anti-war protesters, gun owners, veterans, Ron Paul
supporters and those who merely cite the Constitution should
be equated with extremists.
The latest evidence of such training was sent to us last week
in the form of a 2006 FBI training video produced as part of
a program to train police how to spot and apprehend terrorists.
The "terrorists" in the presentation were people
carrying video equipment, cell phones and sleeping bags in their
cars, along with people taking photographs of structures.
Watch Alex Jones' breakdown of the training video below (begins
at 6.20 mins):
