They had bodies. Bodies of these men's brothers, crew members from the helicopter or Delta soldiers, it was hard to tell from the angles and distances of the camera shots. They were dragging a body through the street at the end of a rope, kicking and poking at the lifeless form. It was ugly and savage, and the men went back out to the hangar and cleaned their weapons and waited for orders that would send them back out. Delta Sgt. Paul Howe was ready. If he was going back out, he was going to kill as many Somalis as he could. He'd had enough. No more rules of engagement, no more toeing some abstract moral line. He was going to cut a gruesome path through these people. http://www3.phillynews.com/packages/somalia/dec12/default12.asp And what happens if we, as citizens, resist the assault of minimally trained local and regional law enforcement agencies operating with massive firepower donated to them by the federal government, and acting under the direction of local government figures who have personal agendas and local political axes to grind? We have already seen the future of law enforcement in the travesties that have already occurred in our cites and towns as a result of the mythical War On Drugs. There is a remarkable parallel in our sending troops into both Somolian and American cities to 'protect the people' from WarLords and DrugLords. In both cases, the Lords die of old age while our self-proclaimed protectors "cut a gruesome path" through the Peasants. In the early 80's, as I watched the helicopters touch down in the Ettersburg, California schoolyard and heavily armed men in camoflage piling out in full view of the children, I had an uneasy feeling that what I was observing went far beyond the stated objective of CAMP (Campaign Against Marihuana Production). After observing the armed assault against mostly happy-hippies living in the hills for some period of time, I eventually realized that the true objective of CAMP was to promote cooperation and interagency comradship between federa l, state and local law enforcement groups. The local yokel volunteers from various law enforcement agencies got to play with the Big Boys, and with the Big Boys Toys, and use the cover of legality to become fully immersed in the mentality needed for an unquestioning assault on the populace. Why pass better laws when you can just arm your enforcers with heavier weaponry, instead? Why provide true justice when you can just make everything a felony and plead it down, instead? Why bother telling 'good' lies when the Herdizens have become so numbed to the lies and thievery of their rulers that 'bad' lies will suffice? Why bother pretending that there will be jacuzzis waiting at the end of the ride in the cattle-car when the Sheeple are passively being herded into them by the strength of an established culture of oppression? Why bother claiming that you 'only want Austria'... ~~~~ Toto <toto@sk.sympatico.ca> ~~~~