3rd Infantry Division will close 3 Highways 144, 119, and 47 for TRAINING

[bpilgrim]

The exercise will test senior officers ability to command a battle. It will involve 3,000 soldiers and 700 military vehicles.

Fort Stewart officials recently talked to Gov. Sonny Perdue about permanently closing state Highway 119 and state Highway 144 in order to give the Army more room to train without public interference.

The roads are owned by the federal government but are operated by the state. Georgia officials estimate motorists would have to take a 50-mile detour around the base if the highways were closed.

more...
http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=26070

will these kinds of disruptions back home start waking folks up :shrug:
is this kind of thing happening in your neighborhood?

peace

[MinnFats]

1. hmmmm....they need to train taking and holding U.S. highways because...

....
why is that again?
there will be a need for u.s. forces to take and hold u.s. highways before long?

i don't like this at all, and it's something like 1,400 miles from my home...

DUers should keep us appraised of similar developments in their neighborhoods...

[buycitgo]

2. maybe here's why? surely you've heard about this

got any Reynolds?

{1984...}...President Ronald Reagan issues an executive order for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to start running "Readiness Exercises" for national emergencies, such as a massive terrorist attack.

The simulations, known as REX-84 and Night Train 84, were drafted and run by FEMA's contact person with the National Security Agency, one Lt. Col. Oliver North. No, really. This is actually, honest-to-God true.

North worked with FEMA from 1982 to 1984, drafting a variety of emergency contingency plans for declared national emergencies (the U.S. has been in a continuously declared state of National Emergency since 1933 and is currently under several new ones in the wake of the 9/11 al Qaeda attack on America).

Among the REX-84 simulations devised with North's assistance was a plan to declare martial law and "temporarily" suspend constitutional protections such as freedom of speech and due process in criminal prosecutions.

A draft executive order based on North's fantasy scheme gave the president and FEMA the power to institute these plans on the president's say-so. The draft order was presented by the White House to then-Attorney General William French Smith, who was appalled and said so. The White House then "dropped" the plan, at least as far as Smith and the public were concerned.

The plans called for the assumption of emergency powers and granted the president to power to enact emergency legislation and judicial functions, essentially destroying the entire fundamental structure of the U.S. Constitution.

As part of REX-84 and the related executive orders, provisions were made for the detention of aliens, enemy aliens and citizens, and restricting the movements of the population. A draft executive order was given to Reagan which would have activated the provisions of Rex-84 according to presidential whim, according to the Miami Herald, which reported that it could not confirm whether or not the order was actually signed.

Finally, we may for a moment flee the unrelenting and horrific true and verifiable portion of our story to venture into the unproven and merely rumored. According to various sources with less credibility (on the face of it) than the Miami Herald, Rex-84 was in fact activated.

According to these stories, FEMA set up detention camps all around the U.S. for use in case of that so-called "emergency" scenario. Some claim that these camps have in fact been built and are fully staffed, just waiting for the day they will be put into use.

http://www.rotten.com/library/conspiracy/American_Concentation_Camps/

plenty more where that came from

[Rex]

5. Just think, the current AG is John "Hang'em High" Ashcroft

Instead of being appalled, John has orgasims over the thought of 'containment' of enemy combatants.

[slaveplanet]

10. don't forget Garden Plot

U.S. MILITARY CIVIL DISTURBANCE PLANNING: THE WAR AT HOME
By Frank Morales
Under the heading of "civil disturbance planning", the U.S. military is training troops and police to suppress democratic opposition in America. The master plan, Department of Defense Civil Disturbance Plan 55-2, is code-named, "Operation Garden Plot". Originated in 1968, the "operational plan" has been updated over the last three decades, most recently in 1991. The plan was activated during the Los Angeles "riots" of 1992, and more than likely during the recent anti-WTO "Battle in Seattle."
Current U.S. military preparations for suppressing domestic civil disturbance, including the training of National Guard troops and police, are part of a long history of American "internal security" measures dating back to the first American Revolution. Generally, these measures have sought to thwart the aims of social justice movements, embodying the concept that within the civilian body politic lurks an enemy that one day the military might have to fight, or at least be ordered to fight.
Equipped with flexible "military operations in urban terrain" and "operations other than war" doctrine, lethal and "less-than-lethal" high-tech weaponry, US "armed forces" and "elite" militarized police units are being trained to eradicate "disorder", "disturbance" and "civil disobedience" in America. Further, it may very well be that police/military "civil disturbance" planning is the animating force and the overarching logic behind the incredible nationwide growth of police paramilitary units, a growth which coincidentally mirrors rising levels of police violence directed at the American people, particularly "non-white" poor and working people.
Military spokespeople, "judge advocates" (lawyers) and their congressional supporters aggressively take the position that legal obstacles to military involvement in domestic law enforcement civil disturbance operations, such as the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, have been nullified. Legislated "exceptions" and private commercialization of various aspects of U.S. military-law enforcement efforts have supposedly removed their activities from the legal reach of the "public domain". Possibly illegal, ostensible "training" scenarios like the recent "Operation Urban Warrior" no-notice "urban terrain" war games, which took place in dozens of American cities, are thinly disguised "civil disturbance suppression" exercises. Meanwhile, President Clinton recently appointed a "domestic military czar", a sort of national chief of police. You can bet that he is well versed in Garden Plot requirements involved in "homeland defense".
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/suppression.html

[IndianaGreen]

3. The story changed, it is now "temporary closures"

The 3rd Infantry Divisions first major training exercise since its return from the Iraq war will prompt temporary closures of three highways on Monday and Thursday, Fort Stewart officials said.

State Highway 144, state Highway 119 and state Highway 47 will be closed from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday to allow soldiers to conduct a training exercise called Marne Blitz.


http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=26070

[Snazzy]

4. the Marne Offensive

was a failed massive attack by the Germans in WWI.

[bpilgrim]

6. Marne Men

Distinctive Unit Insignia

Description: A silver colored metal and enamel device, consisting of a silver rock issuing from the inner arc of a blue annulet inscribed with the words "NOUS RESTERONS LA" (We Will Stay There) in silver letters; on the rock and surmounting the upper part of the annulet, a silver wyvern winged blue bearing thereon three silver diagonal bands.

Symbolism: The rock, inscription, and wyvern refer to the two desig-
nations by which men of the 3d Infantry Division are popularly known, i.e., "Marne Men" and "Blue and White Devils." The rock represents the division's firm stand against the German offensive at the Marne River in World War I. It was there that the commanding officer, Major General Joseph Dickman, stated "Nous Resterons LA." The wyvern, an heraldic form of the devil, bears the division's blue and white stripes on its wing in commemoration of the division's action at Anzio, Italy, in World War II where they were called "Blue and White Devils" by the enemy

more...
http://3rd-id.dodhq.net/history.htm

peace

[fabius]

8. OT, the Marne battle did save Paris

...attacking the overextended German flank. Resulting in four years of stalemate.

So are they going to bypass selection 2004?

Do you think any of our soldiers would go along with it?

[moondust]

7. More conventional forces!

Is just what we don't need to conduct endless police actions against small terrorist cells and individuals. If they need more room then move them to Ft. Hood.

[ShaneGR]

9. lol, in Ohio there would be a public insurrection

Seriously, if you tried to close off a 50 mile stretch of 3 separate highways here, the people would rise up in a chorus of anti-traffic jam histeria.

[tlb]

11. I was in Pittsburgh in summer of 96

when the army held an urban combat exercise exercise in certain areas of the city. The local righties at the time predicted this was a rehearsal for President Clinton's upcoming military takeover of America.

Not all exercises can be held in the backfields of Fort Hood or Camp Lejeune. In the absence of something a little more cocrete, what's the fuss.

[DUreader]

13. Same thing in Philly

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. Here are some additional things to think about...

Legislation has been passed OTHER than the Patriot Act that could be enacted to control large segments of the American population. They are as follows:

Bush Signs $4.6 Bil Bioterror Bill
<http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/071702_bushbiobil.html>

Excerpt:

"Or it could be something else. If anything contained in the vaccine given to "first-responders" should somehow incapacitate them, absolute total chaos would take over the entire country as people, literally, feared for their lives. That would leave a huge window for the government to come in to declare martial law in order to preserve freedom and liberty.

An Associated Press story on July 8 lends further credence to an agenda other than the public's well-being. The first paragraph states 'Federal health officials are quietly making plans for quarantining Americans who might be exposed to a highly contagious smallpox patient, addressing sensitive questions of how to hold people, possibly against their will, in case of a bioterror attack.'

The second paragraph is even more chilling. 'The planning, still in draft form, addresses complex logistical and policy questions, including where people would be kept while waiting for officials to confirm a smallpox case and, if necessary, administer vaccinations.'

Why exactly are people going to be held while waiting for a smallpox case to be confirmed? On what basis are these people being held? And for how long? The plan discussed in the AP story suggests people could be held from two to 17 days. Regardless of who, why, and how long people will be held, people will be forcibly vaccinated."
===================================

FC: Bush signs executive order on SARS quarantine
<http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg02186.html>

"Section 1. Based upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the "Secretary"), in consultation with the Surgeon General, and for the purpose of specifying certain communicable diseases for regulations providing for the apprehension, detention, or conditional release of individuals to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of suspected communicable
diseases..."
==================================

Alabama Mobilizes Tank Battalion for Use Inside the US
<http://www.thememoryhole.org/alabama-guard.htm>

"Approximately 300 personnel from the 1st Battalion 131st Armor (1/131) in southeast Alabama will mobilize. The 1/131 has its headquarters in Ozark and units in Abbeville, Ashford, Florala and Samson. The battalion is equipped with modern battle tanks, the M1-A1 Abrams. The 1/131 will serve in the homeland defense role within the United States."
================================

Tank and Air Force Units Activated for deployment around the U.S.
<http://sandiego.indymedia.org/en/2002/07/1850.shtml>

"July 20, 2002WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A few days after President Bush's release of a homeland defense strategy calling for the domestic use of U.S. military forces, the U.S. activated 300-Army National Guard tank battalions as part of a homeland defense force."

....snip....

"Asked about the massive deployments of tanks and choppers, what role they would play in a domestic deployment, Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Robert Horton said: 'That can't be discussed. It all will depend on the mission.'"

Question: If the primary goal of fighting terrorists is the purpose behind the activation of these units, why activate tank and artillery units? IMHO, tank and artillery units are better suited for the tasks of crowd control and counter-rebellion operations within the United States.

[bpilgrim]

14. very creepy

peace