More Militarized Than The Military

[Dawson Leery]

http://reason.com/blog/2010/05/14/more-militarized-than-the-mili

"There's a telling scene related to all of this in Evan Wright's terrific book Generation Kill. Wright was embedded with an elite U.S. Marine unit in Iraq. Throughout his time with the unit, Wright documents the extraordinary precautions the unit takes to avoid unnecessary civilian casualties, and the real heartbreak the soldiers feel when they do inadvertently kill a civilian. About 3/4 through the book, Wright explains how the full-time Marines were getting increasingly irritated with a reserve unit traveling with them. The reserve unit was mostly made up people who in their civilians lives were law enforcement, "from LAPD cops to DEA agents to air marshalls," and were acting like idiot renegades. Wright quotes a gunnery sargeant who traveled with the reserve unit:

"Some of the cops in Delta started doing this cowboy stuff. They put cattle horns on their Humvees. They'd roll into these hamlets, doing shows of force—kicking down doors, doing sweeps—just for the fuck of it. There was this little clique of them. Their ringleader was this beat cop...He's like five feet tall, talks like Joe Friday and everybody calls him 'Napoleon.'"

[Fumesucker]

1. Felt just like home to them... n /t

[Lifelong Protester]

2. Wow, powerful juxtaposition of photo and words, and as I

have been adding everywhere today, this quote from JFK:

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

[hifiguy]

3. Figures.

Marines understand the nature of the situation they are in and are professionals. The "cops" are just a bunch of adolescent goons and bullyboys.

[Dawson Leery]

4. According to this article, the military has to be fired at in order to attack.

[hifiguy]

5. That is a sensible basis for engaging.

If the Army or Marines are being fired on, they have every right to defend themselves.

I just wish all those GIs were back at home to share Thanksgiving with their families. That is where they should be.

[gratuitous]

7. I wonder what the rule is for firing a missile from a UAV?

Because from what I can tell, it doesn't take much for some guy sitting in front of a viewscreen to push the button on the remote control and *boom!* goes the target.

[GoneOffShore]

6. Oh but the cops need this equipment because they faced down

two bank robbers in 1997 who were armed with high powered weapons.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2346069#2354733

And of course we have the cop cheering section weighing in.

Terra, terra, terra!!!!