Opening commentary by William Flatt to the 3rd Continental Congress:
Monday, June 16, 2003
Dear patriots:
As an officer in the newly reconvening 3rd Continental Congress, I feel it is important to bring to your attention the following article (see below), as it directly affects - in a very dangerous way - how Sec. 501 of "Patriot Act 2" may be applied; to expand government power to strip people of their US citizenship:
I quote: "Some 680 detainees from 42 countries are in Guantanamo, categorized as unlawful combatants by the U.S. government. It has refused demands from human rights organizations to recognize them as prisoners of war. They have no constitutional rights as non-U.S. citizens being held outside U.S. territory, and none have been formally charged or allowed access to attorneys.
As applied, the new and unconstitutional legislation coming out of D.C. (under Section 501) would authorize the grabbing of ANY peaceable US citizen from off the street, thrown into a van never to be seen again, and likely transported to "Gitmo" to await execution as an "enemy of the state".
I do not think I am exaggerating in the least when I say that this will be the future of ALL OF US, unless we work to better organize ourselves against these clear and present threats to our lives and liberties! This is not merely an invitation to participate in 3CC or to ask you to tell others about 3CC; rather I ask that you ponder how all of the many patriots and patriotic organizations, each with their own specific areas of focus, will work together to restore our precious freedoms which are slipping away. In the words of Ben Franklin; "If we do not hang together, men, we will most assuredly hang separately".
This article was recently posted at http://www.Military.com, posting an AP article that I also posted on the IMC message board (as follows):
In Liberty,
Colonel William Flatt, HQ INDMILCORPS
Secretary of Defense to the 3rd Continental Congress
Original story links at http://64.207.156.228/ and
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Guantanamo officials are ready to provide a courtroom, a prison and an execution chamber if the order comes to try terror suspects at the base in Cuba, the mission commander said.
Although no new directive has been given and no plans have been approved, a handful of experts are looking at what it will take to try, imprison and, if need be, execute detainees accused of links to Afghanistan's fallen Taliban regime or to the al-Qaida terror network.
"We have a number of plans that we work for short-term and long-term strategies but that's all they are - plans," Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller said in a telephone interview Monday.
Isolated on Cuba's eastern tip and out of the jurisdiction of U.S. civilian courts, Guantanamo is a likely location for U.S. military trials.
Last month, officials named Army Col. Frederic Borch III the chief prosecutor and Air Force Col. Will Gunn as chief defense lawyer for the proposed trials. The Pentagon has listed 18 war crimes and eight other offenses that could be tried, including terrorist acts, and has issued rules for the tribunals.
Borch said he was looking at prosecuting at least 10 possible cases before a tribunal.
Some 680 detainees from 42 countries are in Guantanamo, categorized as unlawful combatants by the U.S. government. It has refused demands from human rights organizations to recognize them as prisoners of war. They have no constitutional rights as non-U.S. citizens being held outside U.S. territory, and none have been formally charged or allowed access to attorneys.
The cases would be decided by a panel of three to seven military officers who act as both judge and jury. Convictions could be handed down by a majority vote; a decision to sentence a defendant to death would have to be unanimous.
Some civil liberties advocates have criticized the process.
"Any further movement in the direction of trying these men in commissions that could have the power to carry out death sentences is cause for great concern," Vienna Colucci of Amnesty International's Washington D.C. office said Monday.
Miller said renovations on a building being considered as a courtroom began in March and likely will be completed next month. The building is being rewired and could be used as a courthouse with facilities for media and military officers.
There also are plans to build a permanent modular detention facility, to imprison detainees who might be sentenced to indefinite terms, and an execution chamber should any be sentenced to death, he said.
"We're getting ready so we won't be starting from scratch," Miller said, speaking while on a visit to Washington D.C.
About five people have been drafting several plans for the last six months, he said. It was unclear how much money it would take to sustain such a permanent mission.
After the detention center opened in January 2002, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld called the detainees "among the most dangerous, best trained, vicious killers on the face of the Earth." But, after lengthy interrogation, many are thought to be low-level former Taliban fighters and unlikely prospects for commission trials.
WASHINGTON — President Bush signed an order Tuesday that would allow for the trial of people accused of terrorism by a special military commission instead of civilian courts, The Associated Press has learned.
The order, signed by Bush before he left for Crawford, Texas, gives the Bush administration another avenue to bring the Sept. 11 terrorists to justice, said White House counsel Albert Gonzales.
"This is a new tool to use against terrorism," Gonzales said in a telephone interview. The White House was to release the order late Tuesday.
Gonzales, a former Texas Supreme Court judge who is the president's top lawyer, said a military commission could have several advantages over a civilian court. It is easier to protect the sources and methods of investigators in military proceedings, for example, and a military trial can be held overseas.
Gonzales said there may be times when prosecutors feel a trial in America would be unsafe.
"There may not be a need for this and the president may make a determination that he does not want to use this tool, but he felt it appropriate that he have this tool available to him," the lawyer said.
Indiana Militia Corps News Clips
Archived items that the mainstream will not report, or try to send down the 'memory hole'
Disclaimer:
The links on this and other pages do not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the Indiana Militia Corps by these websites/organizations, nor does IMC necessarily endorse or affiliate with any site or link featured herein. The images and text used on this page are used within the context of the "fair use" clause (Title 17, USC sections 501, 506 & 507). The use of any image or news story is not, and should not, be construed as an infringement upon any rights, privileges, benefits or immunities.
United States Constitution, Article IV, Section 4:
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union
a Republican Form of Government..."
Retired Four-Star General Tommy Franks says that if the United States is hit with a weapon of mass destruction that inflicts large casualties, the Constitution would likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government. Franks didn't speculate about how soon such an event might take place, but with unsecured borders and millions of illegal aliens entering the US every year, the likelihood is indeed high.
Critics of the U.S. Patriot Act have argued that this law, rushed through Congress in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, aims to curtail civil liberties and sets a dangerous precedent. Although little attention has been given to the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 (dubbed Patriot II), Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft seeks to dramatically expand on these draconian powers with yet another 'Patriot' Act.
But Franks' scenario goes much further. He is the first high-ranking official to openly speculate that the Constitution could be scrapped in favor of a military form of government.
However, the position of the Indiana Militia Corps is that only strict adherence to the US Constitution will insure the security of the nation. Our Constitution represents the heritage of freedom that gave birth to this nation. It guarantees to us a limited Republic with a special (not general) government limited to certain duties and obligations, with checks and balances and separation of powers.
Maj. Gen William Flatt cautions: "Nothing, not even this contrived 'war' on 'terrorism' can be used to justify the arrogation of unlimited emergency powers, let alone the abolition of our foundational documents. Only those interested in enslaving America would leave us without a Constitution, and only those who would wage war on the People would seize the opportunity to impose martial law. Such people are worse than criminals, they are traitors by definition!"
"Our position is that any official abandonment of the Constitution and/or the suspension of natural Liberties under martial law, for any duration and under any circumstance is on its face an Act of War against We, the People of these united States. In this event, the people will consider any actions taken by these hostile parties to be just cause for using whatever legitimate force is necessary to resist, repel and defeat them. Either we are a free people in control of our government, or we are slaves to an absolute regime."
While Gen. Flatt is cautiously optimistic about the final outcome for freedom and individual liberty, the IMC leadership has confirmed intel that indicates a long-standing and systematic design to reduce America to utter subjugation. "I believe it's not a matter of whether 'it can happen here', but when" says Flatt. "We see precisely the exact social conditions needed to undermine freedom, and these conditions did not happen by accident. The political and economic manipulations, too, evince a design that is malignant. Some call it globalism, some call it a 'new world order'. Whatever you call it, it is dynamic and flexible, and changes with the times to create the most effective and incremental transformation of America."
"For example," Flatt continues, "The establishment learned that direct infringements on the Right to keep and bear arms results in more arms and ammunition in the hands of an ever-growing proportion of law-abiding citizens. These citizens rightfully and correctly perceived a threat to their liberties and acted to insure that they have the means to defend that liberty. Gun-hating politicians have learned that passing anti-gun legislation can have negative consequences for their careers when the next election cycle begins.
"Instead, these enemies of liberty have opted for a more insidious and unguarded route to confiscating Americans' firearms. They create a surveillance state where everyone is a suspect, and where a dissident may be arrested for merely criticizing the authorities. A police state where everyone will carry a national ID card. It would connect with a central database that would catalog everyone's psychological profile, and attitudes. Instead of having to round up everyone's firearms at once, it would be possible to preventively detain potential resisters and confiscate their firearms before moving on toward people more disposed to submit to police power in the face of possible gun confiscation."
"For this reason, concerned and law-abiding citizens have realized the necessity for a well-regulated volunteer militia. Through the comparative safety of mutual defense, patriotic Americans believe it is possible to defend against the increasing threat of totalitarianism in America."
See the article below about Guantanamo Bay and its role in the enslavement of the American people through the contrived 'War on Terrorism'.
Asa Hutchinson, Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security for the United States Department of Homeland Security, announced that the Department of Homeland Security is continuing to deploy a border management system by planning tests of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology at the U.S. land border with Mexico.
Radio frequency (RFID) identification technology refers to wireless systems that allow a device to read information contained in a wireless device or "tag" from a distance without making any physical contact or requiring a line of sight between the two. It provides a method to transmit and receive data from one point to another.
"We are driven by a vision of the way our borders can and should operate in the future, and that future is getting closer and closer with every layer of US-VISIT we deploy," said Under Secretary Hutchinson. "Through the use of radio frequency technology, we see the potential to not only improve the security of our country, but also to make the most important infrastructure enhancements to the US land borders in more than fifty years. Working with our border partners, we intend to see that it's done in the right way and at the right pace," Hutchinson continued.
The technology will be tested at a simulated port this spring. By July 31, 2005, the testing will begin at the ports of Nogales East and Nogales West in Arizona; Alexandria Bay in New York; and, Pacific Highway and Peace Arch in Washington. The testing or "proof of concept" phase is expected to continue through the spring of 2006.
The technology will use biometric identification issued to pedestrians and visitors crossing in vehicles. RF technology deployed at the land border allows for the automatic recording of visitors' arrival and departure, but would also allow everyone who is implanted to be tracked by satellite. The RFID system being used is made by Applied Digital Solutions, and dubbed "Digital Angel".
Once it has been field-tested at the border, this technology could eventually be deployed internally - possibly as part of the now-proposed national ID card system.
A new Pentagon strategy for securing the U.S. homeland calls for expanded U.S. military activity not only in the air and sea -- where the armed forces have historically guarded approaches to the country -- but also on the ground and in other less traditional, potentially more problematic areas such as intelligence sharing with civilian law enforcement.
The strategy is outlined in a 40-page document, approved last month, that marks the Pentagon's first attempt since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to present a comprehensive plan for defending the U.S. homeland.
The document argues that a more "active, layered" defense is needed and says that U.S. forces must be ready to deal not just with a single terrorist strike but also with "multiple, simultaneous" attacks involving mass casualties.
Some of the provisions appear likely to draw concern from civil liberties groups that have warned against a growing military involvement in homeland missions and an erosion of long-established barriers to military surveillance and combat operations in the United States.
The document acknowledges, for instance, plans to team military intelligence analysts with civilian law enforcement to identify and track suspected terrorists. It also recognizes an expanded role for the National Guard in preparing to deal with the aftermath of terrorist attacks. And it asserts the president's authority to deploy ground combat forces on U.S. territory "to intercept and defeat threats."
The document, titled "Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support," was signed June 24 by acting Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England and is now a basis for organizing troops, developing weapons and assigning missions. It was released late last week without the sort of formal news conference or background briefing that often accompanies major defense policy statements.
Legal barriers to sending the armed forces into U.S. streets have existed for more than a century under the Posse Comitatus Act. Enacted in 1878, the law was prompted by the perceived misuse of federal troops after the Civil War to supervise elections in the former Confederate states. Over the years, the law has come to reflect a more general reluctance to involve the military in domestic law enforcement, although its provisions have been amended from time to time to allow some exceptions, including a military role in putting down insurrections, in assisting in drug interdiction work, and in providing equipment, training and advice.
Along with civil liberties groups, many senior Pentagon officials have tended to be wary of seeing troops operate on U.S. soil. Military commanders argue that their personnel are not specifically trained in domestic security, and they worry that homeland tasks could lead to serious political problems.
Still, the Pentagon has established new administrative structures in recent years in recognition of a growing military contribution to homeland defense. It set up the Northern Command in 2002 to oversee military operations in the United States. It created a new assistant secretary for homeland defense. And it designated a one-star general on the Joint Chiefs of Staff to work on the issue.
Additionally, the National Guard has been building small "civil support teams" to provide emergency assistance in the wake of a chemical, biological, nuclear or high-explosive attack. By the end of 2007, 55 of the 22-person teams are due -- at least one for each state and U.S. territory.
The new strategy notes that the Guard "is particularly well suited for civil support missions" because it is "forward deployed in 3,200 communities," exercises routinely with local law enforcement and is accustomed to dealing with communities in times of crisis. Indeed, Guard leaders have welcomed an expanded homeland security role.
But they have also argued for allowing the Guard to retain its overseas combat missions, concerned that a sole focus on civil support would undermine the Guard's ability to serve as a strategic reserve and to fight in future wars.
The new strategy calls for the development of larger sets of "modular reaction forces" to be staffed by the Guard for dealing with the aftermath of mass-casualty attacks. Officials said the composition of these forces is under discussion as part of this year's Quadrennial Defense Review, a Pentagon-wide reassessment of missions, weapons and forces.
But the homeland defense strategy also explicitly rejects the idea of dedicating these additional Guard forces to the civil support mission, saying they will remain "dual mission in nature."
In the area of intelligence, the strategy speaks of developing "a cadre" of Pentagon terrorism specialists and of deploying "a number of them" to "interagency centers" for homeland defense and counterterrorism -- a reference to new teaming arrangements with the FBI and other domestic law enforcement agencies. The document notes that this represents a significant departure from the Cold War when Pentagon analysts worked mostly with the State Department and the intelligence community to combat the Soviet Union.
"The move toward a domestic intelligence capability by the military is troubling," said Gene Healy, a senior editor at the Cato Institute, a nonprofit libertarian policy research group in Washington.
"The last time the military got heavily involved in domestic surveillance, during the Vietnam War era, military intelligence kept thousands of files on Americans guilty of nothing more than opposing the war," Healy said. "I don't think we want to go down that road again."
WHITE HOUSE — President George W. Bush has again defended a secret domestic surveillance program - telling reporters he will keep re-authorizing it, as long as the nation faces a threat of an enemy that wants to kill Americans
In an end-of-year news conference, Bush said that a "two-minute phone conversation" between someone in the United States linked to al-Qaida and operatives elsewhere could lead to the loss of thousands of lives.
Bush said the program has been effective in disrupting the enemy, while "safeguarding our civil liberties." He said it's done in a way that's consistent with the laws and the Constitution. And Bush said as president and commander in chief, he has the responsibility and authority to protect the country. Critics contend that the domestic spy program has nothing to do with foreign terrorists and everything to do with dismantling the civil liberties of Americans.
The program's existence was revealed in a New York Times article last week. The president said it was "shameful" for someone to disclose this program in a time of war.
Meanwhile, reaction continues on Bush's Sunday night address to the nation on Iraq, most of it predictably divided along party lines.
Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy said Bush shouldn't try to silence critics by calling them "defeatists." And he said Bush should acknowledge that the war has created more terrorists and put Americans at greater risk.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said he agrees with Bush that there's always a place for dissent at home. But he said, "The stakes are too high for us to allow political games and partisanship to detract from our objective of helping establish a free, stable and democratic Iraq."
Summary: Despite three court rulings that cell phone tracking by government agencies without a court order is illegal, a fourth court ruling has now authorized blanket spying. The government can now use cell phone data to track physical location, without a search warrant or probable cause. Turn on your cell phone and you give government agencies instant information about your location, and even your speed of travel. It may not be long before you get a speeding ticket in the mail, or police at your door.
NEW YORK — A federal court issued an opinion permitting government agencies to use cell phone data to track a cell phone's physical location, without a search warrant based on probable cause.
The ruling seems to be in line with recent revelations about President Bush authorizing secret, warrantless wiretaps. The court opinion on Dec. 20, 2005 went largely unnoticed by the media or the public, but may have major ramifications on privacy rights and issues.
Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein of the United States District Court, Southern District of New York issued the opinion, despite three previous rulings to the contrary by other judges. There is no party to appeal, so the ruling paves the way for government agencies in all states to begin cell phone tracking without legal difficulty.
There was only one party in each case that was rejected by other courts, the same party in the case that was given approval -- the Department of Justice. The DOJ did not appeal the cases it lost, and there is no party to appeal the case it won.
"What other new surveillance powers has the government been creating out of whole cloth and how long have they been getting away with it?" commented the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation on it's web site.
The DOJ revealed an attitude that a court order is not needed in the brief submitted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Brown: "A cell phone user voluntarily transmits a signal to the cell phone company, and thereby 'assumes the risk' that the cell phone provider will reveal to law enforcement the cell-site information."
When the issue comes up in other courts there will be no case of appeal for judges to review for guidance, creating the more likely situation that each subsequent case will be easier and easier for the DOJ and other government agencies to win, say legal analysts commenting in various blogs.
Legitimate needs for tracking have been used by commercial vendors and government agencies to justify monitoring of all consumers with a cell phone. The checks and balances put in place to protect individual privacy, such as court orders, are in jeopardy by blanket use of tracking systems that have no accountability, according to government watchdog groups and privacy advocates.
National Engineering Technology Corporation (NET) is actively negotiating with various state department of transportation agencies to track cell phone users, without their permission. The data will be used to study traffic flow and provide information to various systems and third parties to notify drivers of ways to avoid traffic congestion.
News stories tell of car thieves captured because a toll transponder, or other Global Positioning System (GPS) device in a car used to identified their location. Web sites already exist that enable the public the ability to track the location of cell phones. These sites advertise services to do things such as know the location of a teenager, or find a lost child.
The present traffic systems do not capture the personal information available from each cell phone, but opponents of cell phone tracking express concerns about the potential for that information to easily be included with the simple click of a computer mouse.
The DOJ was previously turned down by other judges in New York, Long Island, and Texas.
Each time the DOJ included a request to capture the dialing information of incoming and outgoing calls, as well as physical location of each phone.
The previous judges rejected the requests stating that investigators cannot track cell phones without going through the hoops necessary for getting a traditional search warrant.
The DOJ did not respond to requests for comments.
Part 2
Drivers with cell phones are being tracked in a new government program designed to monitor the location and speed of cell phones in vehicles moving along Missouri highways.
The state of Missouri has entered into a $6.2 million contract with National Engineering Technology Corporation (NET) to track cell phone users, without their permission.
The first test of the system is now under way in Kansas City and St. Louis, according to published reports. The high-tech, government authorized spy network is operated by NET and Delcan, a Canadian company. The two are owned by ITIS Holdings, a British company.
Cell phone tracking is also taking place in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Norfolk, Va., Atlanta and Macon, Ga. Vehicles with E-ZPass or FasTrak toll transponder payment systems are also easily tracked by government agencies in a similar way.
Missouri is the first government agency to begin a program designed to track the movement of vehicles, ostensibly to provide traffic information to motorists in real time. The same electronic tracking information has potential to be used for much more.
Federal regulations now require cell phones to transmit a signal that identifies the location of the phone for use by 911 operators. That same information can be used to track any cell phone that is turned on.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has called for a system that enables consumers to opt out of the tracking program, according to news reports.
The information being gathered by the Missouri Department of Transportation could be used for far more than just providing traffic information to the public on crowded highways. The tracking system can provide the exact location of any cell phone user, track movements of a cell phone, tap into a cell phone conversation, and even be used to issue speeding tickets by mail.
The Missouri program charts the relative speed of drivers by measuring the time between the intermittent signals cell phones send to towers along a stretch of road. That information is then used with computerized highway maps to show the location and speed of each cell phone.
Under the current contract for services, the private information associated with each cell phone is deleted from the system, so there is nothing in the present service that identifies individual cell phone owners. However, opponents are concerned that in the future that information will be used to send speeding tickets to drivers by mail.
Officials in the Missouri Dept. of Transportation were quoted in local press reports as being in favor of selling the tracking information to outside users in order to pay for the costs of the system.
The terms of the contract with NET allows that company to sell the tracking information to outside vendors. The government has no authority to monitor where the information ends up, according the terms of the contract.
After the first two years of the contract the state can enter into a revenue sharing agreement with NET and receive funds from the selling of the tracking information to third parties, giving the government an interest in selling information instead of protecting it. The government could also begin issuing speeding tickets by mail as an added means to generate even more revenue.
The traffic monitoring plans assume NET will market more detailed information to the private sector - automakers that offer onboard navigation systems, cell phone companies, shipping businesses, or media traffic reporting.
The government has no plans at the present time to notify cell phone users that their phones may be tracked without their knowledge or permission, according to news reports. There is also no means to provide for consumers who wish to opt out. Presently the only way to do that is to turn cell phones off.
"It's a mission creep issue that would be of most concern to consumers," said Lillie Coney, associate director of EPIC, as reported by AP. "They may start out saying we want to know if there's a traffic problem and then take that information and start using it for different purposes."
President George W. Bush has signed executive orders giving him sole authority to impose martial law, suspend habeas corpus and ignore the Posse Comitatus Act that prohibits deployment of U.S. troops on American streets. This would give him absolute dictatorial power over the government with no checks and balances.
Bush discussed imposing martial law on American streets in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks by activating “national security initiatives” put in place by Ronald Reagan during the 1980s.
These “national security initiatives," hatched in 1982 by controversial Marine Colonel Oliver North, later one of the key players in the Iran-Contra Scandal, charged the Federal Emergency Management Agency with administering executive orders that allowed suspension of the Constitution, implementation of martial law, establishment of internment camps, and the turning the government over to the President.
John Brinkerhoff, deputy director of FEMA, developed the martial law implementation plan, following a template originally developed by former FEMA director Louis Guiffrida to battle a “national uprising of black militants.” Gifuffrida’s implementation of martial law called for jailing at least 21 million African Americans in “relocation camps.” Brinkerhoff later admitted in an interview with the Miami Herald that President Reagan signed off on the initiatives and they remained in place, dormant, until George W. Bush took office.
Brinkerhoff moved on the Anser Institute for Homeland Security and, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, provided the Bush White House and the Pentagon with talking points supporting revised “national security initiatives” that would could allow imposition of martial law and suspension of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, the law that is supposed to forbid use of troops for domestic law enforcement.
Brinkerhoff wrote that intentions of Posse Comitatus are “misunderstood and misapplied” and that the U.S. has in times of national emergency the “full and absolute authority” to send troops into American streets to “enforce order and maintain the peace.”
Bush used parts of the plan to send troops into the streets of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. In addition, FEMA hired former special forces personnel from the mercenary firm Blackwater USA to “enforce security.”
Blackwater USA, in its promotional materials, describes itself as “the most comprehensive professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations company in the world,” adding that “we have established a global presence and provide training and operational solutions for the 21st century in support of security and peace, and freedom and democracy everywhere.”
Blackwater is also a major U.S. contractor in Iraq and has a contract with the Bush White House to provide additional security work “on an as-needed basis.”
The Department of Homeland Security established the “Northern Command for National Defense,” a wide-ranging program that includes FEMA, the Pentagon, the FBI and the National Security Agency. Executive orders already signed by Bush allow the Northern Command to send troops into American streets, seize control of radio and television stations and networks and impose martial law “in times of national emergency.”
The authority to declare what is or is not a national emergency rests entirely with Bush who does not have to either consult or seek the approval of Congress for permission to assume absolute control over the government of the United States.
The White House press office would neither confirm nor deny existence of Bush’s executive orders or the existence of the Northern Command for National Defense. Neither would the Department of Homeland Security.
But my sources within the White House and DHS tell me the plans are in place, ready for implementation when the command comes from the man who keeps telling the American public that he is a “war time president” who will “do anything in my power” to impose his will on the people of the United States.
And he has made sure that power will be absolute when he chooses to use it.
Around two tons of marijuana were found inside the tunnel. This is the largest of the 21 cross-border tunnels that have been found since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, told THE NEW AMERICAN that despite the sophisticated technical means used by the Border Patrol to discover tunneling operations, "most of the tunnels that have been discovered have been the result of plain, dumb luck. The tire of a Border Patrol vehicle sinks into one of them or heavy rain causes them to collapse." Which, Bonner notes, is not reassuring, since there undoubtedly are many more tunnels still to be discovered. These tunnels are known to be used for smuggling drugs and illegal aliens. They also could be used (and almost certainly are being used) to smuggle terrorists — along with weapons and explosives — into the United States.
Tunnels Show Dangers on Porous U.S.-Mexican Border
Acting on an anonymous tip, U.S. Border Patrol and Drug Enforcement Agency agents uncovered a major smuggling tunnel originating 100 yards south of the U.S.-Mexico border and comes up inside a modern industrial warehouse nearly half a mile inside the U.S., in San Diego. The tunnel, which was discovered on January 25, is nearly 80 feet underground and is reinforced with concrete. It also has electric lights, an air ventilation system, and a pulley system to facilitate the transport of drugs and other contraband.
US Coast Guard Arms Boats With 20mm Cannon & Machineguns
As reported on National Public Radio — April 12, 2006
The US Coast Guard has armed its boats on the Great Lakes (Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario) with mounted 50 caliber machine guns and 20mm cannon. The Coast Guard made the announcement without identifying the real or perceived threat that would necessitate the use of such weapons.
The Coast Guard also did not identify whether the normal use of force policy would apply to the use of these weapons, or whether that policy has been modified.
All News & Current Events will be published in the LIBERATOR, the IMC e-newsletter. Thanks For visiting this web page. Please click HERE to go to the new editorial & newsletter page.
In Liberty,
MG William A. Flatt
Some extremely important articles remain posted here:
The order, signed by Bush before he left for Crawford, Texas, gives the Bush administration another avenue to bring the Sept. 11 terrorists to justice, said White House counsel Albert Gonzales.
