MEDIA ROOTS — In recent months, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has been performing deadly operations in Honduras to combat the War on Drugs.  Abby Martin of Media Roots and RT interviews Professor Adrienne Pine of American University about the most recent DEA slayings in the region.  They discuss the complete disregard for sovereignty, due process and rules of engagement.  

Professor Pine points out that America’s War on Drugs is enhanced by stunting the roots of democracy in Honduras.  She cements this assertion by sharing, “The police and the military forces in Honduras were the forces responsible for carrying out a coup in 2009 and then for violently enforcing it.”  Professor Pine goes on to explain that the U.S. financially supports the Honduran police and military, despite the State Department’s own warnings of widespread corruption among the agencies.  Rather than pulling back from the overt sanctioning of corruption to promote an undercurrent of civilian led democracy, the U.S. continues to fan the flames by inserting military and DEA assets.

DEA Agents out of Control in Honduras

Professor Pine focuses on the origins of the disastrous American foreign policy in Latin America with the Plan Columbia incentives where civilians were murdered and dressed like guerillas to collect U.S. taxpayer funded bounties.  She then compares the U.S. sanctioned murders on foreign soil to the streets of America, where impoverished African-American and Latino-American populations pay a disproportionate price for the failed policies of the Drug War.  

Drawing a correlation from the War on Terror to the War on Drugs, the professor explains how America’s brutal imperial policies are now coming full-circle as the Iraq model is being adopted across Central and South America.  The interview takes an interesting turn as the discussion turns to U.S. government complicity in drug trafficking.  

The total cost of the DEA from 1972 to 2009 exceeds $536 billion.

Chris Martin for Media Roots

Photo by HonCOAwikiMpubdom

MEDIA ROOTS — After 9/11, U.S. war budgets skyrocketed, leading to a Pentagon purchasing binge previously unrivaled in history.  Through the 1033 Program and Homeland Security grants, thousands of law enforcement agencies have received an excess of military weaponry and equipment, which were once reserved for war zones abroad.

In the style of Amazon.com, local police forces can even create “want lists” to facilitate future acquisition.  As a result, those charged with protecting and serving Hometown, USA now possess military-grade weaponry and garb.  This militarization concerns all U.S. citizens, because taxpayer dollars ultimately fund police militancy.

The Posse Comitatus Act was designed to limit federal military involvement in local law enforcement activity.  While the Act is still nominally intact, it is increasingly bypassed through militarization of local police.  Militarization is exemplified by arming domestic drones and conducting military exercises in major U.S. cities, including nighttime maneuvers above Miami and Los Angeles, and daytime tank training on the streets of St. Louis.  Even small-town Peñitas, TX receives Pentagon weaponry.  

Domestic police forces classify many of their weapons as “less-than-lethal” or “non-lethal” in order to shirk the thornier questions associated with militarization.  These euphemisms are outright lies, since many of these weapons can cause death, including tasers and rubber bullets.  (These concerns don’t stop local police from adding Taser shotguns to their arsenals, or shooting an Attorney with rubber bullets, at which police officials laughed hysterically.)  LRADs have been strutted out at town hall meetings, the 2009 G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, the 2010 G-8 meeting, the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago, against OWS protests, and elsewhere.  The LRAD Corporation boasts about many local police departments using LRADs, including Boston, San Diego, and Santa Ana.  Unfortunately, by marketing harmful weapons as “non-lethal,” both the compliant U.S. public and zealous U.S. police departments accept their increased use. 

Government officials who support increased militarization fail to realize the Pentagon is selling more than just military-grade weaponry and material to local police forces.  It is tacitly providing domestic police with a paramilitary ethos, which your local police department may perceive as a green light to behave in a militant manner.  Officials who support militarization as a safeguard against terrorism are misdirecting their concerns, since U.S. citizens are more likely to drown in a bathtub than die in a terrorist attack in the U.S.  So with no terrorist threat in sight, police forces often end up using military equipment during daily police operations, sometimes with devastating consequences.  Meanwhile, all government officials ignore the basic facts that spending on domestic priorities (e.g. education, healthcare, clean energy) creates more sustainable jobs than manufacturing military weaponry and equipment.

Since the last protest movement of national significance, the U.S. government has been learning how to better deal with public dissent, irrespective of public grievances.  Meanwhile, no mass protest movement has adapted accordingly.  This leaves the peaceful United States citizenry facing an inappropriate use of military-grade weaponry, whether lethal or non-lethal.  Essentially, USA is now a weapons testing ground against first amendment activity, often enabled by local officials.

After pressure from independent and international media outlets, the Pentagon temporarily halted a small portion of their weapons sales to certain domestic police forces.  Sensitivities to election year politics surely played a part – no branch of the federal government wishes to remind the public of police-state activities or the conflicting message associated with spending rampantly during times of austerity.  Regardless, the real question remains: what is the ramping up of police militarization preparing for? 

Potentials are grim, since the U.S. government completely ignores the political predicament articulated by the Occupy Wall Street movement.  It also avoids confrontation by relocating key functions, like moving the G8 Conference from Chicago to Camp David.  When ignorance and avoidance prove inadequate, the government opts to confront protests head-on and crush them where they sprout up.  If the Occupy Wall Street movement resurges this summer, look for the U.S. government to continue this pattern of ignorance, avoidance and physical oppression. 

  Abby Martin reports on the militarization of local law enforcement for RT TV

For further discussion about the militarization of U.S. police, click here.

Christian Sorensen for Media Roots

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Photograph by Flickr user Alexhophotography

MEDIA ROOTS – The documentary Garbage Warrior follows Mike Reynolds, a pioneering architect with a heart of (recycled) gold.  Recognizing humanity’s collective stampede towards self-destruction, Mike works tirelessly to provide families in New Mexico with self-sufficient, sustainable housing.  His designs contrast starkly with the bland, conformist and unsustainable residential architecture present throughout the U.S. today by combining natural materials with local products to create residential masterpieces.  Each house provides its own electrical power, water, and sewage processing.  Furthermore, the construction process produces minimal waste, thrives on experimentation and is entirely flexible to the unique needs of each family.

Instead of embracing or rewarding Mike’s selfless vision to empower society, his local government throws roadblocks in his path.  Mike’s frustration dealing with government red tape raises an important question: when hindered by the U.S. government, do we break the rules, enjoy the benefits associated with such liberty, and hope the government doesn’t notice?  Or, do we accept regulatory oversight, allowing our liberty to be infringed upon, and waste time living with official approval?  These questions not only face eco-pioneers and locals striving to be sustainable, but also to the civil liberties violations associated with Washington’s War on Drugs, surveillance state, and general encroachment upon the Fourth Amendment.

Urgent societal issues of global resources come to the forefront in this documentary.  Eventually, our planet’s inhabitants will have to confront the dilemmas associated with peak oil, water scarcity, and climate change.  Our willful ignorance of these topics will only continue to render this planet uninhabitable for future generations.  If we all follow Mike’s lead, we’d be able to take care of take care of ourselves, our communities, and revive our only planet.

These issues should appeal to Republicans insistent on self-sufficiency and limited government, and Democrats insistent on environmental responsibility.  The distrust of the U.S. government, which is shared by members of the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street alike, is further impetus for taking care of our communities and ourselves.  Also, the empowerment associated with sustainable practices is addictive–self-reliance revives forgotten crafts and encourages innovative design.  As Mike advises us, we shouldn’t let society’s rulebook stop us from achieving self-sufficiency and from taking care of one another. 

Documentary – Garbage Warrior

Christian Sorensen for Media Roots

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Photo by Flickr User Lewis and Clark Community College

MEDIA ROOTS – If AIPAC can write legislation, then the U.S. electorate can too.

Dear People of Iran,

Whereas the CIA overthrew your democratically-elected government in August 1953;

Whereas the CIA and the White House supported the Shah, who suppressed political dissent violently and relentlessly throughout your country;

Whereas the aforementioned oppression contributed to the rise of political Islam within your country;

Whereas our country armed Iraq in a war against your country during the 1980s;

Whereas the chemical weapons which our country sold Iraq killed thousands of your citizens;

Whereas the USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 in July 1988;

Whereas, one month later, President George H.W. Bush stated: “I’ll never apologize for the United States of America. I don’t care what the facts are.”

Whereas our military has maintained a constant presence in the Persian Gulf since the 1980s;

Whereas our presence in Southwest Asia has surrounded your country on multiple sides;

Whereas Persia has not initiate hostilities with any neighboring country for over 200 years;

Whereas the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) manipulates our corrupt politicians to the detriment of both the U.S. and Iran;

Whereas our corrupt politicians profit from lucrative weapon contracts by hyping war with your country;

Whereas our corrupt politicians serve on the boards of war corporations when they retire from “public service”;

Whereas war is a racket, and U.S. corporations profit excessively from endless armed conflict;

Whereas our intelligence agencies concede that your country is not currently producing a nuclear weapon;

Whereas our sanctions against your country, including banning you from using SWIFT services, are an aggressive detriment to your wellbeing;

Whereas our corporate media demonize you and promote conflict in order to attract higher ratings and to profit from increased advertising revenue;

Whereas our unconditional support for the state of Israel has directly contributed to the deaths of your scientists;

Whereas our corrupt politicians and special interest groups use the “threat” posed by your country to install a black hole of unproven technology known as a “missile shield” in Eastern Europe;

Resolved that we, the people of the United States of America, apologize on behalf of our elected and unelected officials;

At the end of the day, we have a lot in common: The people of Iran and the United States are victims of election rigging; We both have religious currents, some of which prioritize ritual over education; Both our peoples enjoy rich artistic histories, and have created breathtaking cinema, sculpture, and poetry; Sizeable portions of our societies protest the corruption emanating from our respective capitals; Finally, both of our governments are targeted heavily by the Israeli Mossad.

We have a lot of work to do.  We both must work daily to change the corrupt nature of our governments, and to never forget the common humanity shared by the people of Iran and the people of the United States of America.

Written by Christian Sorensen for Media Roots.

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Photo by Flickr user Ali Reza_Parsi