U.S. Special Forces, Foreign Troops Practice Invading Tampa by MIKAEL THALEN | INFOWARS.COM | MAY 21, 2014
News groups promise invasion is not "Russians" or "New World Order." U.S. Special Forces and commandos from as many as 19 foreign nations practiced “invading” Tampa, Fl. this week during an unprecedented international training exercise. Conducted outside the Tampa Convention Center Wednesday, residents looked on as service members from every branch of the U.S. military ran drills alongside commandos from Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Jordan, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, Sweden and Thailand. Local newspapers worked to relieve worried residents prior to the exercise, assuring them that the sound of gunshots and low-flying military helicopters was only part of a drill. “If you see military helicopters flying over downtown Tampa next Tuesday, it’s not a sign that we are under attack by the Russians, the North Koreans or the New World Order,” said The Tampa Tribune. According to the training scenario, commandos were tasked with rescuing Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn from an “insurgent village” held by “violent extremists.” Helicopters, boats, ground mobility vehicles, and commandos unloaded blank rounds as a 14-man team worked to locate the mayor. “This was different,” one participant said. “This was a first for me. Usually no one sees what we do.” Loud pyrotechnics were used as four snipers on the roof of Tampa General Hospital surveyed the mayor’s rescue. “It was fun,” Buckhorn told reporters. “I love doing this. I love supporting Socom and the men and women that serve there.” The demonstration was held in conjunction with the fourth International Special Operations Forces conference, where delegates from 84 nations met to strengthen “the Global SOF Network.”
High-ranking members including Army Lt. Gen. Joe Votel discussed several topics including the “nightmare scenario” of “Sunni extremists or extremist organizations” obtaining biological, chemical, radiologic or nuclear weapons. “I think we have to be concerned about them falling into the hands of people who would have less difficulty employing those and for me that’s why I think this is hugely important,” Votel said while also mentioning the situation in Syria. “I do think we have to be very, very concerned.” A noticeable increase in domestic urban warfare exercises, like the unannounced 2012 military helicopter drill over Miami that used simulated gunfire, has made many uncomfortable given recent revelations about military training aimed at mainline Americans. Army troops at Mississippi’s Camp Shelby blew the whistle last October after being told that the American Family Association, a mainline Christian ministry, was a domestic hate group similar to the Ku Klux Klan. Soldiers at Fort Hood were recently warned that anyone supporting anti-abortion, Christians or Tea Party groups could face disciplinary action under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Soldiers were told that such groups presented a major domestic terror threat to the country. In August 2013, a Department of Defense training manual uncovered by conservative watchdog Judicial Watch labeled supporters of “individual liberties” and “states’ rights” as “extremist.” The manual also warned military personnel against “active participation” with such organizations. The U.S. Army’s new 300-acre “fake city” in Virginia, where troops allegedly train for foreign combat scenarios, more closely resembles an American city than a foreign one. Complete with a replica Washington D.C. subway and a Baptist church, the training center seems to mirror the shift in training material. Leaked Marine Corps’ documents provided to Infowars this month showed how a seperate military urban training center in North Carolina was updated to include a Baptist church and farmhouses, transforming it from its original foreign appearance. Given the fact that a large portion of U.S. troops align themselves with conservative values, the federal government’s actions towards the military is unsurprising. In 2009, former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stood by a report that labeled returning military veterans as the main terror threat. Special Ops units perform exercises in Tampa VIDEO BELOW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNjDtmuZYhM
U.S. To Reveal Legal Logic For Drone-Killing Of Americans by RT | MAY 21, 2014
Last month, Judges decided "national security" no longer fit excuse for non-disclosure The US is to disclose its legal basis for drone-targeting Americans suspected of terrorism. The government will not appeal an earlier court decision. Judges decided in April that national security was no longer a fit excuse for non-disclosure. The decision by the US Solicitor-General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. not to appeal April’s ruling was revealed by an anonymous administration official on Tuesday, and reached last week, according to AP. The court’s decision will demand the release of a memorandum laying out the foundations for drone killings of American citizens suspected of terrorism. The move resulted out of pressure by liberal and conservative senators, following last year’s revelations by the government of the four Americans killed in Yemen in 2011. However, only a part of the document will be revealed, and the date for its release is yet to be named. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals has in April overturned a lower-court decision not to disclose the legal rationale for the drone killings. Circuit Judge Jon Newman, writing for the panel, explained last month that “whatever protection the legal analysis might once have had has been lost by virtue of public statements of public officials at the highest levels and official disclosure of the DOJ White Paper.” One such statement belonged to Attorney-General Eric Holder, who spoke in March 2012 expressing his support for the program as “entirely lawful” when it came to targeting people linked to Al-Qaeda and related groups. The New York Times – two reporters in particular, Charlie Savage and Scott Shane – fought for the release of a Justice Department ‘White Paper’ that contains a detailed explanation of why the controversial killings were legal. Included in that document are details on the 2011 Yemen killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen who intelligence officials have said joined Al-Qaeda and became the terrorist organization’s de facto propagandist.
The rationale for not disclosing the memorandum on acceptable drone killings of Americans hinged on the dangers this could have posed for military plans, clandestine operations and foreign relations. But the judge believes these reasons are no longer logical. The US drone program has received widespread public criticism both at home and abroad. It has led to innumerable civilian deaths, with the two last US administrations being its ardent supporters. To top the list of already highly-questioned operations in places like Pakistan and Yemen, a US court in April threw out a case involving the drone death of three Americans in the latter. Judge Rosemary Collyer of the US District Court in Washington ruled that the Americans killed in the 2011 strike had no recourse to the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, as the legal team for the families had argued, because the US military did not make an effort to restrain the three individuals who were killed. And since “unmanned drones are functionally incapable of ‘seizing’ a person,” that circumvents the law, the judge believed. Around the same time, US Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper has requested that a crucial intelligence bill requiring the government to disclose who exactly it kills overseas be thrown out as well. And just last week at a debate concerning the NSA’s bulk spying programs, former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden had admitted that the information from user metadata is actually also used as the basis for killing with drones. Special Ops units perform exercises in Tampa VIDEO BELOW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNjDtmuZYhM
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