Friday, February 27, 2009

Harmless exercise, or pratice for action in the US?

RNS had posts here and(the followup) here on an exercise that was going to be carried out in a US city. Last night I saw a piece on it at Smallest Minority, but didn't have time to go into it.

I have to say this: once upon a time, I wouldn't have thought anything bad of it, but that attitude went out the window when I watched video of OK National Guard troops in New Orleans holding people at gunpoint so their arms could be stolen. What made it worse was what one troop said: "I never thought it'd come to this, but we've got our orders" I believe was the wording. Pissed me off no end, and largely ended my trust in the NG. I've read that a number of NG troops said that either they were never asked, or their commanders said "No", but at least some said "Yes". The fact that they were from here... Downright disgusting.

1 comment:

MauserMedic said...

I addressed this earlier at my site, and left a comment at the one in this case. There is no good reason to do this using citizens' homes. Even if innocent, it's wrong.