Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Pittsburgh National Guard Prepare For Crowd Control Duties

12160 's Eye On Pittsburgh G-20 Summit Protest





Troops train with Army and Air Force for G20 Summit as part of martial law acclimation


Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, September 23, 2009

As military-run internal checkpoints rapidly multiply across the United States and the country sinks into a state of de facto martial law, it has been announced that no less than 2,500 National Guard troops will work with Army and Air Force personnel to undertake “crowd control” duties during the upcoming G20 Summit in Pittsburgh.

As we reported earlier today, uniformed soldiers are being deployed all over the country to fulfil roles normally ascribed to police as Americans are incrementally conditioned that men in cammo with machine guns will now provide “security” in the new Amerika.

Part of that “security” includes dealing with civil unrest and crowd control, a role also being undertaken by the 20,000 battle hardened troops that are being redeployed inside America under Northcom after returning from Iraq. In the meantime, the Pentagon is attempting to station a further 379,000 active duty troops inside the U.S., a plan being fiercely opposed by the National Governors Association.

That’s also a role being performed by the Pittsburgh National Guard, along with the Army and the Air Force in preparation for the G20 Summit which gets underway tomorrow.

More than 2,500 Guardsmen have been called up for “Operation Steel Kickoff,” the description of which by the DefenseLink website sounds more like a military assault than an act of peacekeeping.

“Operation Steel Kickoff started Sept. 20 with a joint reception, staging, onward movement and integration point process led by the Guard’s 213th Area Support Group, which is working out of a hangar at the 171st Air Refueling Wing in Coraopolis, Pa.,” reports DefenseLink.

“We’re the support role, helping the soldiers and airmen get out and do the things they need to do,” said Army 1st Lt. Matthew Springer, the team leader for Operation Steel Kickoff’s JRSOI process. “Our focus is on ensuring the war fighter is getting the things they need to be successful in their mission.”


The Guardsmen’s “mission” as those involved term it, will be to work with the Army and Air Force to “help local, state and federal authorities keep Pittsburgh safe as demonstrators take to the streets in protest of the worldwide economic summit”. Troops are training to perform, “movement techniques, formations and crowd and riot control.”

“We’re working hard right now because we have Army and Air Force members who haven’t trained together before,” said Army Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Bittner, a platoon leader from 1/110th, D Company. “We are working to mesh, because we all take a lot of pride in this mission.”

“This is definitely a different mission,” said Air Force Master Sgt. Pauline Gonzalez, a 23-year veteran and personnel specialist with the 211th Engineering Installation Squadron. “It’s very hard and very challenging, but it’s been a rewarding experience.”

The fact that soldiers see it as a “rewarding experience” to completely violate the oath that they swore by undertaking duties totally at odds with Posse Comitatus, the law that bars the military from engaging in law enforcement duties, is a damning indictment of how far the specter of troops on the streets has seeped into everyday life in America.

Claims that the troops are merely there to “make sure the citizens are protected” do not correlate with the fact that the entire scope of their mission is to intimidate and oppress peaceful protesters. Military weapons used in Iraq are now being turned on the American people. Tea Party protesters in San Diego were recently targeted with Long-range acoustic devices [LRADs], a torture device used to control insurgents that can cause serious and lasting health problems. LRADs are now a routine fixture at all major demonstrations and now it seems as small local protests too as the entire apparatus of Homeland Security and the war on terror is shifted to focus on Americans who dare attempt to exercise their rights.