a funny feeling about those recruiting station shut-downs...

[Liberty Belle]

Something's bothering me about all those news stories about protesters shutting down recruiting stations all across the country over the weekend.


I'm on just about every liberal/peace activist/anti-war rally lists around. While there was plenty of communication about the anti-war rallies planned nationwide, I never heard a word about any plans to shut down military recruiting stations. Not even here in San Diego, my hometown, where I publish a liberal newsletter and am on just about every progressive group's distribution list.

Did anyone else hear about plans to shut down recruiting centers ahead of time? I hope so.

The thought occurs to me that these simultaneous events could have been staged by GOP or intelligence community operatives to demonstrate that anti-war protesters are violent/vandals. Some of these sites were hit with graffiti, fake blood, etc.

Was it just coincidence that CNN ran that poll a couple of days earlier asking whether the time's come to shut down anti-war protests? Or was the question aimed to set us up for just exactly that scenario--after Buscho first sets up a "need" for a clampdown by portraying protesters as something other than peaceful.

[MADem]

1. I'm no activist, I read a lot though, and never saw it mentioned n/t

[jdots]

10. beats me didn't hear anything

don't be afraid you can come hide here.Is this why my dogs were barking all day ?......doing something like that would be as effective as shutting down super cuts....turn off the t.v. it's gonna be okay.

[Memekiller]

2. Can we find anybody who's heard of it?

I mean, if no one on DU has heard about this, then I'd say it was a political stunt.

[The Doctor.]

3. Names and backgrounds...

Get names and backgrounds of the people doing this.

Were any of these 'vandals' arrested?

Who is doing the recruiting?

There's always a trail to follow.

The best way to counter violent protests is with peaceful ones.

[seabeyond]

4. i read a lot and get lots of email, i didnt hear

anything about it either. as a matter of fact, going thru pictures thought they were cool but thought wow, really odd never heard anything about this. we were getting reports across the nation on the different protests and all these werent included

[seabeyond]

5. thinking further though, some of those signs too good for repug

they werent violent, they went for the theological claim, like jesus says love your enemy that means dont kill them, those arent in the mentality of repugs. to get dems, they would put more offensive and explosive comments. i didnt see any sign over the top

[Liberty Belle]

6. Spooky, isn't it? In more ways than one, I fear.

I'm going to ask some friends who are leaders in the anti-war movement here if they can ask around and find out if anyone knew about the SD event, or saw this happen. Was it even done during the anti-war events? Earlier? Later? Or not at all--merely photoshopped?

Those of you in other cities might talk to shop owners, etc. near the recruiting centers and see if they can corroborate whether the events are even real or not. If they are, who did them?


Either some hitherto unknown anti-war groups managed to operate very far under the radar in a lot of different cities simultaneously, or there's something more sinister going on here.

Anyone know how to reach Will Pitt and ask him about this?

[seabeyond]

7. it late, maybe tomorrow

there will be enough people to see your post and be able to shed some lite

good post though. it is odd

[fooj]

9. You can reach Will Pitt at Truthout FYI--- He has a webpage

and you can e-mail him there.


Peace!

[AuntiBush]

15. No one. Not 1 person where I live seen or heard a thing...

No no has seen, nor heard a word of this. Think I'll call my local newspaper and tv stations and plainly ask.

It is odd. Wouldn't the Media Whores want to point the finger, "LESS" it's because many were too peaceful, too religious minded.

I think some were ligit, other's were staged.

[Liberty Belle]

21. Where do you live? Was a station in your area shut down?

[lonestarnot]

26. Go to truthout.org and email him... good thinking on this one could be all

staged... feel a draft? Close the war!

[Memekiller]

8. Bad idea, if true...

I would think anti-war protesters would be a bit more savvy than going after recruiting stations. It's not the most effective place to protest. Makes them see anti-soldier rather than pro-soldier.

[maveric]

11. My son is trying to join the Navy and they put him on a 1 year wait list.

And that was after stringing him on and blowing him off for 3 months.

[Liberty Belle]

17. Uh-oh...hope that doesn't mean they're waiting to start a draft

and want to save all the warm bodies for the army and marines.


I hope he gets accepted soon. What about the Air Force? Any takers over there, perhaps?

[seabeyond]

22. they need army and marine not navy

from what i understand they are dismissing current navy. some are concerned they are going to be shifted to ground in iraq

[lonestarnot]

27. how many on nuke subs these days? n/t

[seabeyond]

29. i dont know anything about anything, but........ i did read a poster

whose brother with all kinds of experience was being let go early. she was curious about that

[Liberty Belle]

31. My nephew. I'm glad he enlisted back a few years ago;

the safest place to be on this planet may be in a sub deep under the sea.

[me b zola]

34. CNN ran a story a week or two ago

about Airforce being retrained for army purposed to be sent to Iraq.

They made it sound like it was a small number, but it could be larger numbers than they are letting on.

[lostnfound]

41. A friend's son joined Navy but is being sent as Corps medic to Falluja

in May. Of course when he joined, they told him he would serve on a ship or at a Navy hospital. Then they told the whole class they were going to be assigned to be medics for the Marine corps. Then he thought he had a reprieve..they told him he would go to Kuwait. Now they say he is going to Falluja.

[LincolnMcGrath]

12. Never heard a thing about them either beforehand.

You might be on to something.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

13. I checked both my email addy spam folders on the off chance

something had slipped past me when I saw these post. They didn't have anything in them that pertained to the protest. I wondered who organized it, too. I just assumed it was some group I'd managed to not touch base with yet. Now your post has me wondering even more.

[dandrhesse]

14. I didn't hear anything about it but we barely heard anything about the

protest either. The pictures offered only showed one that was of a violent nature with the fake blood etc and that did strike me as odd, but the rest showed people that looked to be protesting peacefully, so I don't know

[Liberty Belle]

19. San Diego's center was vandalized with graffiti.

[dandrhesse]

24. That is very bizarre

Sounds like abortion clinic protesters to me

[ultraist]

16. Maybe it was the anarchists

They vandalized some Bush campaign HQs and have been known to do that type of thing. They don't communicate well with the Dem groups.

[Beam Me Up]

18. Nominated because I'd like to hear an answer to this good question.

I don't consider myself 'in the thick' of various political actions, but I do hang out in those circles a bit. I hadn't heard anything about shutting down recruiting stations. You're right. This is odd--and possibly ominous. I'd be curious to know who here knew about these particular protests in advance.

[Liberty Belle]

20. Help keep this kicked so more can see it.

Thanks for nominating. I keep hoping someone heard something and that I'm just getting too paranoid, but I'm really starting to wonder now.

[Beam Me Up]

36. Will do. n/t

:kick:

[burn the bush]

23. the one in nyc was planned. I don't know that any vandalism was in

involved there though and kind of doubt it. On the other side of town we marched to two recruiting stations but I don't know that they were in any way shut down other than that we were such a huge crowd that no traffic was able to get in to them. These stops were planned. I don't believe any vandalism was involved at these stops either.

[Liberty Belle]

28. Way to go.

I'm glad to hear that New York's, at least, was planned as part of a peaceful protest. Hope you saved some kids' lives with your actions.

[me b zola]

35. Was this the one that diamond posted pix ?

Their banner, in the pix, was military families against the war. That protest looked very peaceful & a family event, it had the feel of authenticity.

[RubyCat]

25. Imagine if they really are conducting false flag operations against

the protesters to discredit them. It would get interesting if this was the case. Talk about getting busted. Of course, they'll say that it was just the mischief of the Young Republicans from a nearby college and direct attention away from the government.

I'd like to know who is the source of all the photographs of the closed recruiting stations. Who invited the press to take pictures of the closed recruiting stations?

[Liberty Belle]

30. Good question. The one in Boston had a creditline of Indymedia,

but I don't know about the others.

[drummer55]

32. never heard a thing about it super liberal portlandia n/t

[alittlelark]

33. Here in N CA I heard NOTHING

odd....?

[applegrove]

37. They do not have the money for another war. Seventy million

people in Iran. Can you spell I N S U R G E N C Y!.

Iran is making noises that it wants to bond. Sanctions are back in style for NK.

And the draft offices were rattle Americans to the core.

ONLY KARL IS ALLOWED TO RATTLE AMERICANS TO THE CORE!!!

[MrNiceGuyDied]

40. well...

Suppose the $1 Trillion missing from the pentagon, the $9 Billion missing in Iraq, along with all the overcharging has actually been diverted into a 'war chest'.

That's enough for a few wars.

What I can't believe is that NOBODY is following up on the $1 Trillion.

Rumsfeld says the necessary documents needed to account for the money were destroyed on 9/11 and ...poof it's all gone.

[CantGetFooledAgain]

51. What is your source on that information...

...about the documents supposedly destroyed in 9/11? If that's what they are claiming, it is highly suspicious to say the least.

[MrNiceGuyDied]

52. OK Mae culpa

The article I read about Rumsfeld saying the documents were destroyed on 9/11 comes from prisonplanet an Alex Jones site.

But...the link I found for you actually doesn't hurt my point (that a secret 'war chest' might exist) it actually bolsters it IMO.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml

[CantGetFooledAgain]

54. Thanks for the link.

That's an interesting article. Shocking too. I wonder how much of that "lost" money isn't really lost, but just got diverted into slush funds for secret projects.

[Generic Other]

38. Links to photos taken in various cities

Looked like regular folks to me.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3330967&mesg_id=3330967

[Extend a Hand]

39. recruiting stations shutdowns in NY...

On the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the New York City War Resisters League with many other groups (see below) organized demonstrations at military recruitment centers in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.

http://www.warresisters.org/counter-recruitMar05.htm

[lostnfound]

42. I don't think so. If true, more likely they would do one or two events

and do something really destructive and attention getting.

[rocktivity]

43. Maybe there was a decision to keep extra-extra top secret

Suppose the cops, or the recruiters themselves, had found out?

:headbang:
rocknation

[oldlady]

44. I didn't march, but dropped off protesters

in Madison (on the link of pictures) and the march ended in front of the recruting station pictured but didn't "shut it down"--they just rallied in front of the shop--I'm not sure it was even open. I'll ask when the kids get up, but there was no conflict & the protesters were real (regular folks we know well).
peace

[Just Me]

45. I'm a member of several activist orgs & received no notice!

When I saw the string of threads I thought, "Wow. How come we didn't think of that." However, when I saw the graffiti, I knew none of the orgs I work with would suggest that kind of destruction of property.

:shrug:

I would like to know what orgs organized that particular protest.

[Beam Me Up]

46. Kicking because this is TOO weird. Surely someone knows who organized

these 'shut downs'.

[oldlady]

47. what happened?

the postings on indymedia for the various cities indicate that the protests were planning to go to the recruiting offices & the staff there just closed the doors. organizations included Peace & Justice, Veterans for Peace. The kids (young adults) I dropped off said the recruiting offices were open, but the staff just locked the doors, turned off the lights, or went to their cars in the parking lot to wait the crowd out. They taped a sign on the window, a law that recruiting for illegal purposes, including an illegal military action, is itself illegal. I sure don't smell a right-wing plot here.
peace

[donsu]

48. kick

I was surprised too. the press didn't cover the protests much but this info about the centers sure made it.

[vireo]

49. Thread about Madison rally

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=186x6102

It was legit and promoted beforehand.

[katinmn]

50. Nope. I too am on dozens of lists.

Would not surprise me if they defaced the property to make us look bad.

[scarletlib]

53. kick