4um: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid | Counter "Narco-Terrorism" Pilot Program to start in South Carolina! | The project calls for an as-yet-undefined partnership between the National Guard and the State Law Enforcement Division.

Title: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid | Counter "Narco-Terrorism" Pilot Program to start in South Carolina! | The project calls for an as-yet-undefined partnership between the National Guard and the State Law Enforcement Division.
Source: www.charlestoncitypaper.com
URL Source: http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A63489
Published: Feb 18, 2009
Author: BY WILL MOREDOCK
Post Date: 2009-02-18 18:15:27 by Mind_Virus
Keywords: None
Views: 167
Comments: 11

FEBRUARY 18, 2009 Politics and fear unite against terrorism and drugs Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

A little history lesson for those who are capable of learning from history: During the Red Scare days of the mid-20th century, the land was full of fear-mongers, selling their poison to all who would listen, pointing to communists in high places and low, branding as "un-American" anyone who would challenge the conservative orthodoxy of the day.

The essence of the tactic was to link any feared group or individual to communist subversion. It was not necessary to prove communist subversion or to prove a link. Just having it spoken by the likes of Sens. Joe McCarthy or Strom Thurmond was enough to make the fearful and the weak-minded surrender all judgment.

At its most absurd, it was possible to find demagogues accusing everyone from the mafia to the civil rights movement of taking orders from the Kremlin. These were the kind of charges that would not hold up under a minute of critical analysis, but there they were on the pages of our newspapers and on the public airways. And critical analysis was in short supply.

With this background firmly in mind, an article in the Feb. 8 Post and Courier should make us all tremble.

It seems that some state Republican leaders, including First District Rep. Henry Brown, are convinced that international terrorists and street gangs might be in collusion to wreak some mighty evil on our nation. They say the best way to thwart these evil-doers is to create a special police/military force. They want to place the pilot program right here in South Carolina and put it under the auspices of the National Guard.

According to the P&C, Brown and Second District Rep. Joe Wilson have asked Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to back the creation of a military unit to bridge a "perceived security gap between the international drug trade and the war on terror."

The federally funded pilot program has already been created. "The pilot program would target this stealthy world of drugs and money," according to the P&C story. "The new unit is shrouded in secrecy, with scant details of its origin, funding, or status."

Known as the S.C. Counter Narco-Terrorism Pilot Program, the project calls for an as-yet-undefined partnership between the National Guard and the State Law Enforcement Division.

According to Joel Sawyer, press secretary for Gov. Mark Sanford, the governor said the program was "an intriguing idea."

If the program succeeds, proponents say it could serve as a national model for battling terrorism and the drug trade on America's streets. Nobody defined what constituted success or what would become of the pilot program if it did not succeed.

In writing the story, reporters Ron Menchaca, Glenn Smith, and Tony Barthelme maintained a healthy skepticism.

They wrote: "But questions remain. Among them: How strong is the evidence linking terrorists, gangs, and drug traffickers? How would this new program square with existing federal, state and local drug enforcement efforts? And is South Carolina the best place for this mission?"

Is it, indeed? That last question should keep every freedom-loving South Carolinian awake at night.

It's important to understand that civil liberties have historically been an alien concept in this state. In antebellum days, local authorities would open the U.S. Mail without warrant to search for abolitionist material. If any such material was found, it would be publicly burned. Every street and road in the Lowcountry was watched by slave patrols. Any slave or suspicious-looking white could be stopped, questioned, and apprehended with no due process. Anyone advocating abolition could be fined, whipped, jailed, or banished. To return to the state after banishment meant execution without benefit of clergy.

Things improved only marginally in the 20th century. The law rarely bothered to protect blacks from lynch mobs and was, in fact, often complicit in regards to public lynchings. Until the 1960s, black public employees — including many teachers — were routinely fired for belonging to the NAACP.

The idea of having this new police/military unit "shrouded in secrecy, with scant details of its origin, funding or status" operating on South Carolina soil, under the command of South Carolina politicians, police, and military, is scary as hell.

Even in the 21st century, most of the people in this state still live in fear and vote in fear. They have been surrendering their freedom and their judgment to demagogues for generations. And, of course, in South Carolina the past is never really past.

Civil libertarians have been warning for decades that the "war on drugs" is the slippery slope to a police state. With its tradition of government secrecy and authoritarianism, South Carolina would be a perfect incubator for that nightmare.

interesting history that I didn't know about SC. I doubt seriously that this little plan is exclusively Rs, however.

National Guard tries to rehab its drug war mission.(SECURITY BEAT: Homeland Defense Briefs)

National Guard officials said they are willing to step up efforts on the U.S. government's "war on drugs," even though the effort has faded from many radar screens during the chaos and fury of the "global war on terror."

"The Department of Defense's number-one priority is terrorism, so we have to adjust and gear counter-drug operations toward that priority," said Air Force Col. Earl Bell, chief of the Guard's counter- drug programs.

Bell's division plans to become more involved in anti-narcotics missions and coordinate federal and local law enforcement efforts.

Among the priorities is to fuse intelligence between the military and other agencies, and launch pilot projects at federally designated "high intensity drug trafficking areas," including the southwest U.S. border.

"The Guard has to become a catalyst for synchronized operations and cooperation," said Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau. "An unprecedented collaboration between agencies at the local, state and federal level will build a support authority capable of being proactive, not reactive, to the war on drugs."

About 2,500 soldiers and airmen are now involved in the Guard's counter-drug program, which was formed in 1990. Operations range from providing air support for police raids to visiting elementary schools.

Military efforts overseas have overshadowed these operations, officials said. Funding has been on a steep decline in recent years and more than 1,300 positions have been cut since 1999. "Previously, the Guard has waited for a call to action and dutifully fulfilled those requests," said Bell. "Now we may need to emphasize exactly what we can offer other agencies and work together more."

Department of Defense officials have repeatedly defended the military's role in counter-narcotics missions by linking drug money with international terrorist networks.

"Narco-terrorism is truly a threat to our security at home," said Blum. "The National Guard will be an important player in this fight against it."

I guess hoping these fascist asswipes do something about the "security gap" of daily rapes, murders, robberies, carjackings, and home invasions would be expecting too much.

TRAITORS TO AMERICA AND BRAINWASHED IDIOTS SUPPORT AND DEFEND ISRAEL. TO HELL WITH ZIONISTS AND THIER AMERICAN FRONTS: AIPAC/PNAC/ADL/NAACP/FEDERAL RESERVE/SPLC/JINSA/ACLU/CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS/AEI/FEDERAL MEDIA/HOLLYWOOD, et. al.