The Pentagon’s 1033 program: giving free military equipment to police departments around the U.S.
By Madison Ruppert
End the Lie
December 5, 2011
The police in the United States have been steadily militarized over the past decade to the point of absurdity, as recently exemplified by police rolling out an armored personnel carrier (APC) to the Occupy Tampa protests.
Benjamin Carlson of The Daily covered one of the more unsettling recent developments in this militarization of police, the Department of Defense’s obscure “1033 program” which has given away almost $500 million in leftover military equipment to law enforcement in the fiscal year of 2011.
This year’s total is more than double the amount of equipment handed out in 2010, which was $212 million worth of military gear, setting a new record for the program.
Included in this distribution of military equipment are: armored vehicles, like the one seen at Occupy Tampa and in towns and cities across the nation, along with M-16 assault rifles, grenade launchers, helicopters and even military robots.
Yet the 1033 program looks like it is getting even worse, with orders for the fiscal year 2012 being up 400% over the same period in 2011 according to data provided by the Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency to The Daily.
If it keeps at this pace, that would mean $2 billion in equipment for American police departments in the fiscal year 2012.
The 1033 program was passed by Congress in 1997, which I found quite interesting as most of these programs have been pushed in the wake of September 11th, 2001, under the pretext of fighting the so-called “war on terror.”
However, even then, their justification was that it would be used to fight drugs and terrorism and since it began, over 17,000 law enforcement agencies have accepted $2.6 billion in military equipment, only having to pay for the cost of delivering the gear.
While the gear is practically free, the costs of maintaining the equipment and insuring it fall on the respective law enforcement agencies, meaning it falls directly on the taxpayer.
These costs can be considerable, given that in 2010 city officials in Tupelo, Mississippi considered returning the police helicopter after spending almost $274,000 in maintenance costs in only five years.
Considering that the helicopter was used only 10 missions per year on average, the cost of nearly 54,800 per year, or almost $5,480 per mission (not including personnel, fuel, etc.) hardly seems justified.
The Daily cites unnamed “experts” who say that the recent surge in acquisitions is just the continuation of a decades-long trend of increasing usage of military tactics and gear by domestic police departments.
We have seen these tactics and equipment most recently in the many crackdowns on the legal and peaceful Occupy Wall Street demonstrations across the nation, which were a coordinated effort as revealed by Oakland Mayor Jean Quan.
The director of the Cato Institute’s project on criminal justice, Tim Lynch, addressed my surprised reaction to seeing that this program was enacted long before September 11th, 2001, in a statement to The Daily.
“The trend toward militarization was well under way before 9/11, but it’s the federal policy of making surplus military equipment available almost for free that has poured fuel on this fire,” Lynch said.
The Daily cites some examples of this insane militarization effort in mentioning that in Cobb County, Georgia, incidentally one of the most educated and wealthy counties in all of the United States, now have an amphibious tank.
Similarly, the sheriff of South Carolina’s Richland County is now in possession of what he fondly calls “The Peacemaker,” an armored personnel carrier (APC) outfitted with a machine gun.
The most absurd aspect of the 1033 program is that it is in addition to the Department of Homeland Security grants which allow police departments to purchase vehicles like the “BearCats” I covered briefly many months ago.
Various models of the BearCat weigh in around 16,000 pounds, are bulletproof and outfitted with gun ports, battering rams, tear gas dispensers and radiation detectors, among many other bells and whistles which police never use and never actually needed in the first place.
The Orlando Sentinel reported that more than 500 of these vehicles – which inarguably bear a remarkable resemblance to military tanks – have been sold by their Massachusetts-based manufacturer, Lenco.
This is even more ridiculous when one considers the justification utilized by police departments for acquiring such unnecessary equipment: safety of police and violent crime.
Why is this an incredibly ludicrous justification? Well, as the New York Times and others reported in May of this year, violent crime is at a 40-year low nationwide.
In populations under 10,000, the number of homicides dropped by over 25% last year alone, which totally nullifies the justification given by small town police departments who gladly accept this equipment.
Yet Bill Hutton, sheriff of Washington County, Minnesota, which has a population of 238,136 according to the 2010 census, purchased a $237,000 BearCat a month ago with a federal grant.
He has also obtained grants to purchase a 3-foot-tall $70,000 robot and a $75,000 riverboat and claims that the BearCat has already been used in a kidnapping situation.
He claims that the BearCat allowed the SWAT team to recover the victim safely while “Previously, we would have pulled up in a van, which would not have protected anybody or anything.”
Another official, Bill Partridge, Chief of Police of the 50-person police department in Oxford, Alabama, cited cost savings as justification for his pursuit of the 1033 program.
Partridge says that his department has acquired equipment worth $2-3 million over the past several years, regardless of the fact that his jurisdiction includes only 14,592 people according to the 2000 census.
He says that they have received M-16 assault rifles, infrared goggles mounted to helmets, four inspection robots operated by remote-control, not to mention a $270,000 mobile command unit and a “Puma” armored tactical vehicle.
Partridge says that his department is on the website trying to get the gear on a “weekly or daily” basis, regardless of the fact that it is outright laughable for such a small police department to have an arsenal more suited to a military unit than a small town police department.
This is just a microcosmic example of the larger trend towards turning our domestic police force, which is supposed to protect and serve, into a domestic military force to be used against the American people.
As I have previously pointed out, this is a move toward de facto martial law, which means that martial law would never have to be formally declared since the police could act as military forces instead of actually having to roll out the military.
Of course, S.1867 would erase that need as it would indeed spell the end of the Posse Comitatus Act by allowing the military to capture and indefinitely detain American citizens without charge or trial.
Furthermore, under 1301 it would allow any American citizen to be transferred to any foreign country or foreign entity, allowing for torture or extrajudicial execution.
Lynch of the Cato Institute, seems to agree with my assessment in telling The Daily, “[Acquiring military hardware has] kind of had a corrupting influence on the culture of policing in America. The dynamic is that you have some officer go to the chief and say, people in [the] next county have [military equipment], if we don’t take it some other city will. Then they acquire the equipment, they create a paramilitary unit, and everything seems fine.”
“But then one or two years pass. They say, look we’ve got this equipment, this training and we haven’t been using it. That’s where it starts to creep into routine policing,” Lynch added.
Lynch and others point to the many incidents of SWAT teams, which have become outright paramilitary forces, have injured or even slaughtered totally innocent people.
Take, for instance, earlier this year when a grandfather of 12, who was not even suspected of any wrongdoing, was “accidentally” murdered by a SWAT team member in Framingham, Massachusetts.
He was described by neighbors as the “nicest guy in the world,” and the search warrant was not even the targeted at the man, named Eurie Stamps, Sr.
Another example that comes to mind is Jose Guerena, father and ex-U.S. Marine, who was literally liquefied by a SWAT team that was carrying out a wholly unconstitutional search warrant on his home that was not directed at any particular person, made no mention of his home, and instead was targeted at anyone who happened to be inside the residence.
The Cato Institute has compiled a fantastic interactive map showing the disturbing amount of botched paramilitary police and SWAT team raids across the United States which you can find here.
From the few thousand raids per year in the 1980s, the number of raids conducted by SWAT teams has made a staggering rise to 50,000 per year in the 2000s, and with each raid there is the real possibility of innocent people being slaughtered for no reason at all.
Yet there are some – in reality far too little – in the law enforcement community speaking out against this trend.
Joseph McNamara, the former Chief of Police in Kansas City, Missouri and San Jose, California, said, “It’s totally contrary to what we think is good policing, which is community policing. The profile of these military police units invading a neighborhood like the occupation army is contrary to what you want to do as a police department. You want the public to feel comfortable calling you to report crime and supporting you in working against crime and coming forward as witnesses.”
“The idea that some police have that by being really super tough and military and carrying military weapons is a way to prevent crime — this is false,” McNamara added. “We have a lot of evidence on how to prevent crime and the major component is to win support for police, that we’re not this aloof occupation army.”
I find his choice of words to be disturbingly accurate. What we are seeing is indeed an “aloof occupation army” that is treating us like enemy combatants in a war zone and if S.1867 is put into action it will become an explicit reality.
Arthur Rizer, a lawyer in Virginia who has served as both a military and civilian police officer, also made a fantastic point in asking the following question, “If we’re training cops as soldiers, giving them equipment like soldiers, dressing them up as soldiers, when are they going to pick up the mentality of soldiers?”
“If you look at the police department, their creed is to protect and to serve. A soldier’s mission is to engage his enemy in close combat and kill him. Do we want police officers to have that mentality? Of course not,” he added.
Of course this is exactly what we are seeing, police thinking that they are somehow above the law or a military force that is there to intimidate, control and oppress, instead of protect and serve.
The greater trend towards militarizing domestic police forces shows that our illegitimate government is increasingly treating all Americans as the enemy, effectively turning the bloody military “counterterrorism” apparatus around and redirecting the resources to the United States.
Seeing how the so-called “war on terror” has affected foreign nations, I don’t think that any sane American who actually keeps up on the news would be comfortable with having that machine turned back towards us.
Top Search Terms Used to Find This Page:
- military giving equipment to police
- 1033 illuminati
- military giving weapons to police
- pentagon distribution of weapons to police
- pentagon giving police departments free weapons dec 5
Learn more:
- Battlefield US: Pentagon arms police departments with free heavy weaponry
- Equipment strengthens link between air, ground
- Just what America needs: police with tanks
- Occupy Chicago fear police wiretapping
- S.1253 will allow indefinite military detention of American civilians without charge or trial
Short URL: http://EndtheLie.com/?p=30059
Korn: Obama’s an Illuminati puppet
Patrick Gavin
Politico
December 8, 2011
President Barack Obama is loved by a lot of actors and musicians, but one band won’t be performing at any of his campaign rallies: Korn.
The metal band, which rose to fame in the 1990s when its “Follow the Leader” album, spoke with Billboard.com to promote their new album, “The Path of Totality,” and explained the meaning behind some of their songs, including “Illuminati.”
FULL ARTICLE HERE…
(hat tip: Activist Post)
S.1867: the end of the Constitution and America as we know it – Madison Ruppert of End the Lie on RBN (video)
Madison Ruppert
End the Lie
December 8, 2011
Top Search Terms Used to Find This Page:
Learn more:
- Madison Ruppert interviewed on the Common Sense Show on RBN
- Big Brother is watching you: Madison Ruppert on Flow of Wisdom Radio
- Do not be deceived: S.1867 is the most dangerous bill since the PATRIOT Act
- The entire United States is now a war zone: S.1867 passes the Senate with massive support
- The nightmare scenario portrayed in the novel “1984” has arrived with the passing of Bill S.1867. How long will it be before those with anti-government views are lifted off the streets maybe never to be seen again?
Does the Indefinite Detention Bill Foretell Future? (video)
by Greg Hunter
USA Watchdog
December 7, 2011
Camp X-ray in The Land of the Free?
The recent passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (Senate Bill 1867), otherwise known as the “Indefinite Detention Bill,” should scare the heck out of anyone who loves the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
This bill effectively hands over control to the military to arrest, torture and even kill terrorists on American soil. It also allows the military to hold suspected terrorists indefinitely without a trial or due process.
This applies to both non-citizens and citizens of the United States! With this bill, you are not innocent until proven guilty. You are guilty until proven innocent, and you may never get a trial to defend yourself. There is surprisingly little written in the mainstream media about this Senate bill that passed 93 to 7 at the end of November.
Last week, Wired.com posted a compelling article on the “Indefinite Detention” debacle.
It said in part, “So despite the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of a right to trial, the Senate bill would let the government lock up any citizen it swears is a terrorist, without the burden of proving its case to an independent judge, and for the lifespan of an amorphous war that conceivably will never end. And because the Senate is using the bill that authorizes funding for the military as its vehicle for this dramatic constitutional claim, it’s pretty likely to pass.
It would be one thing if the military was clamoring for the authority to become the nation’s jailer. But to the contrary: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta opposes the maneuver. So does CIA Director David Petraeus, who usually commands deference from senators in both parties. Pretty much every security official has lined up against the Senate detention provisions, from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to FBI Director Robert Mueller, who worry that they’ll get in the way of FBI investigations of domestic terrorists. President Obama has promised to veto the bill.” (The links in the preceding two paragraphs are impressive and need to be read.) (Click here to read the complete Wired.com post.)
My question is who decides who is a terrorist, and who checks to make sure the charges are valid?
Read Full Article
(hat tip: Activist Post)
The nightmare scenario portrayed in the novel “1984” has arrived with the passing of Bill S.1867. How long will it be before those with anti-government views are lifted off the streets maybe never to be seen again?
By David Noble
End the Lie
December 3, 2011
The passing of the Bill S.1867 by a staggering 93-7 vote should leave every American shocked and angry at this clear infringement off their constitutional rights. The passing of this Bill now means that any American citizen could face indefinite military detention without charge or even having a trial. Out has gone the legal system of Due process (which is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it).
That protection no longer exists. How long will it be before people with anti-government views are lifted off the streets maybe never to be seen again? Remember we have already seen the likes of Ron Paul supporters being harassed and called potential terrorists because of their constitutional viewpoints.
I wrote an article earlier this year asking the question “How long before we are living the nightmare Portrayed in George Orwell’s Film 1984?”
With the passing of this draconian Bill that question has been answered. We are now living in that nightmare scenario. We can no longer count on the legal system as corrupt and flawed as it is to protect us from the dictatorship which we are undoubtedly living under. Many of us have been labelled conspiracy theorists and have been accused of fear mongering for trying to warn people that this was the goal of the global elite and their puppet government all along.
The reality is that the real fear mongering comes from the government. They want us to constantly live in fear of terrorist attacks but at the same time they leave the borders virtually unprotected. They try to convince us with lies that we need to invade other countries in order to win this war on terror. We are constantly bombarded with their false science and lies on climate change and warned that if we don’t do what they want we will face severe consequences. Yet despite the supposid severity of the situation, they are not heeding their own warnings and continue to live their lavish lifestyles. They are even controlling what we can grow, eat, drink and the medicines we can take using lies and false science to convince us that they are right. We have also seen America brought to the verge of financial collapse which I believe has been brought about on purpose. Fear mongering was again used to win support for the banker bailouts. Anybody who understands the monetary system can see that it is one big ponzi scheme that is going to crash in the long haul. With this kind of fear mongering they are gaining more and more control over our lives.
Now only the most stubborn and ignorant of people can deny that the government is waging war not against terrorists but against the American people. Just look at the way the recent protests have been met by what can only be described as police brutality. Take also the surveillance system that has been put in place that tracks our every movement. Or how about the violation of our rights by these naked body scanners and the health threat that they pose. Take the naked body scanners for example. They were put into place because of the actions of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who failed in an attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day 2009. The body scanners are meant to keep us safe from this kind of thing happening again. Yet Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was allowed to board the plane despite the fact that he was on the terrorist watch list and it is also acknowledged that the body scanners would not have stopped this kind of attack anyway.
While we have been worrying about terrorists and debating climate change the government have been waging war for years against the American people. They have managed to fluoridate the water supplies claiming that it is beneficial despite fluoride being a toxic substance that has been used to sedate and dumb down prisoners of war in concentration camps.
There are already over 800 FEMA camps throughout America. These have railroad facilities as well as roads leading to and from the detention camps. Ask yourself why these are needed if not for use against the American people. There have also been reports and videos of Stacks of mass coffins waiting to be filled across America. See also here
This has all been paid for with tax payers’ money. With the passing of this Bill these FEMA camps have just become a whole lot scarier because they could now potentially be filled with American citizens. Don’t be surprised if you start finding foreign troops patrolling the streets of America in the near future. This is the only way I could see them being able to enforce this as I would hope that no American soldier would do this to his own people. The time has come for those who have taken oaths to protect America to follow those oaths.
I am sure that anyone who lived through the horrors of the Second World War will see a lot of similarities with what is happening today and the rise of Nazi Germany. It is up to every one of us to put a stop to this, denial is no longer an option.
Top Search Terms Used to Find This Page:
Learn more:
- How Long Before we are Living the Nightmare Portrayed in George Orwell’s Film 1984?
- Do not be deceived: S.1867 is the most dangerous bill since the PATRIOT Act
- Georgia passes anti-immigration bill
- The entire United States is now a war zone: S.1867 passes the Senate with massive support
- Anti-government American citizens: the new al Qaeda boogeyman?
How Long Before we are Living the Nightmare Portrayed in George Orwell’s Film 1984?
by David Noble
End the Lie
June 3, 2011
Police have been taking money from people in traffic stops in Middle Tennessee without even charging them with anything. This is being done in the so called war on drugs. Some police agencies it seems are more concerned about making money than stopping the drugs. They are seizing this money simply based on the suspicion that it’s linked to drug trafficking. What’s more is that if the officers don’t come up with enough cash they could lose their jobs. This is just one of many incidents where our rights are being violated as we are treated like criminals and terrorists.
Every week it seems that we come closer to living the nightmare portrayed in George Orwell’s 1984. Police are more interested in controlling law abiding citizens than catching criminals. Just look at what happened to Television host Adam Kokesh and other activists for silently dancing at the Jefferson Memorial. The police went as far as handcuffing, chocking and slamming Adam Kokesh to the ground. As you can see in the video below the police even refused to tell them what law they were breaking. Surely this is a clear violation of their right to free-expression.
This is just one of many examples where we are not expected to even ask what law we are breaking. In fact in many cases the suspects are released without charge which would suggest that none had been broken in the first place. Also worrying is that we are no longer viewed as innocent until proven guilty. The killing of a U.S. Marine in front of his wife and baby in his home near Tucson, Arizona being a perfect example. A SWAT team stormed his house firing 70 times in a hail of bullets that left the father-of-two, who had served twice in Iraq, dead. These shots were not fired in retaliation as the report reveals, Jose Guerena’s gun had not been fired. It seems that the SWAT team had decided to shoot first and ask questions later. This was nothing less than the murder of an Iraq war veteran. It is ironic that Jose had come through serving in Iraq only to be killed in front of his wife and child in his own home by those who are paid to protect us.
It has become so bad that even going on a well-earned holiday could end up with you and your family being groped by these TSA workers who also view young kids as potential terrorists. In the video below they can be seen carrying out a drug test on a 6 year old.
They are taking no chances on missing any potential terrorists even when the suspect is only 3.
These TSA pat downs and their naked body scanners are clear infringements on the 4th amendment but the majority don’t seem to care. Soon we will have the TSA everywhere even in your local department stores.
It’s not only the TSA and police who are seeking to control us. We have government telling us how to live our lives like we are incapable of looking after ourselves. They are trying to do away with everything natural like organic food and herbal remedies and replacing them with their unhealthy alternatives in the name of profit. It has got so bad that Chicago schools are forbidding children from bringing their own lunches. I can guarantee that the food they are being served is not Organic. Do they not trust the parents to provide healthy pack lunches?
It’s not just the US that’s demonizing healthy food as you can see from this article from the UK “Boy, two, is snatched by social workers after mother refused doctor’s advice to feed him junk food” Believe it or not healthy eating is now considered a mental disorder. If you don’t believe me I suggest that you read this article from the Guardian newspaper entitled “Healthy food obsession sparks rise in new eating disorder”
Not content with telling us what to eat, it seems it is now deemed offensive to draw the American flag in school.
Students have also been sent home for wearing t-shirts with the American flag on them, though it seems ok to wear t-shirts with the Mexican flag. We have even had Mexican Students Protesting Patriotic Clothing in America. All I can say is that if you find the American flag offensive no matter the reason then you should not be living there.
No cost seems too high to pay for these elitists and their quest to bring about a one world government. They are intent on doing away with the Constitution and Bill of Rights to bring us completely under their control. If this madness is allowed to continue then it will not be long before the nightmare portrayed in George Orwell’s film 1984 becomes a reality.
Learn more:
- The nightmare scenario portrayed in the novel “1984” has arrived with the passing of Bill S.1867. How long will it be before those with anti-government views are lifted off the streets maybe never to be seen again?
- Globalist George Soros Declares the Death of the Dollar
- Smart meters: public health nightmare or public utility boon?
- Police Brutality: Because They Don’t Want To Have to Tell You Twice
- Edward Griffin – Soviet Subversion of the Free Press (1984)
Legal for U.S. Govt to Execute Citizens Without Trial Abroad, Coming to U.S. Soil? (video)
Youtube -TYT
December 3, 2011
Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks discusses a new part of the Defense Authorization Act that makes it legal for the United States government to detain and in fact execute U.S. citizens abroad.
(hat tip: Activist Post)
PN 