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LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER By Bob
Unruh
An ad campaign featured on a U.S. Army website
seeking those who would be interested in being an
"Internment/Resettlement" specialist is raising alarms across the
country, generating concerns that there is some truth in those theories
about domestic detention camps, a roundup of dissidents and a crackdown
on "threatening" conservatives.
The ads, at the
GoArmy.com website as well as others including Monster.com, cite the
need for:
The campaign follows by only weeks a report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warning about "right-wing extremists" who could pose a danger to the country – including those who support third-party political candidates, oppose abortion and would prefer to have the U.S. immigration laws already on the books enforced. The "extremism" report coincided with a report out of California that the Department of Defense was describing protesters as "low-level terrorists." The new ad says successful candidates will "provide external security to … detention/internment facilities" and "provide counseling and guidance to individual prisoners within a rehabilitative program." Officials at the state and federal National Guard levels told WND they were unaware of the program, although one officer speculated it could be intended for soldiers trained in the U.S. and dispatched overseas to "detention facilities." From the national level, WND was told, officials were unaware of any such "internment facilities" at which there could be jobs to be available.
At a NationalGuard.com website, a front page video describes the position thoroughly. But one of the critics was a YouTube contributor who identifies himself as jafount and titled his video, "Want a job putting people into camps?"
Alarmed by the ads, he said it, the idea "just absolutely blew my mind." Citing a promise that successful applicants would be trained in "search and restrain procedures," he said, "That's code for violating the 14th Amendment." Likewise, he said, "use of firearms" is "code for depriving somebody of their life.' "This is the real deal, I think," he said, citing, among others, the NationalGuard.com link. "I saw something that didn't sit right with me. I posted it so other people can investigate," he said. A commenter on the YouTube site pooh-poohed the whole suggestion. "You have … put out a relatively benign fact, twisted it into something sinister, and then did a tinfoil-hat connection to give a false impression," the forum participant wrote. The ads list as "advanced responsibilities" issues such as supervision and administration, responsibility for the "prisoner/internee" population, "custody/control for the operation of an Enemy Prisoner of War/Civilian Internee (EPW/CI) camp," and work on "custody/control for the operation of detention facility or the operation of a displaced civilian (CD) resettlement facility." An editorial at CanadaFreePress.com raised some overall concerns:
"This is just another step in the U.S. government's long term plan to build the infrastructure that could be used to contain wide spread popular revolt. Combine this with the swine flu fear mongering and the potential for a mass swine flu vaccination operation and it is easy to see what might happen. Refuse to take their poisonous vaccine and you might risk being locked up as being a hazard to public safety. With the economy in the toilet and more and more people not trusting either political party or the corporate media, the 'powers that be' realize that they need to continue building their martial law apparatus. These Army National Guard job listings are just another piece to that puzzle proving what we already know is being built," the editorial claimed. At the Examiner, a commentator wrote, "Correctional/internment facilities? I have to admit that the U.S. government is good at one thing: creating fluffy names for evil acts. During WW2, of course, the U.S. didn't have concentration camps, we had 'relocation centers' for hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese citizens." The jobs also were listed at Jobsearch.money.cnn.com, employmentguide.com and freedomsphoenix.com. That followed by only weeks a Department of Homeland Security report that described as "right-wing extremists" those who oppose abortion and support secure national borders. Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law Center, has told WND that as part of his organization's research for its lawsuit over the DHS "extremism" report, it has discovered additional information that it is withholding now but will include in a pending amended complaint. Thompson said one of the things that sparked the organization's curiosity was a reference by DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano in the original report to not only government resources but also non-governmental resources. Thompson said the information he has "creates even more concern that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is unconstitutionally targeting Americans merely because of their conservative beliefs." The earlier DHS report was "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment." WND has posted the report online for readers to see. The report linked returning veterans with the possibility of terrorism, and when it was released it created such a furor for Napolitano she has given several explanations for it, including that she would have reworded the report and that it was issued by a rogue employee. She later apologized to veterans for having linked them to terror. But Thompson noted that the report also targeted as "potential
terrorists" Americans who:
Thompson told WND no apology has been offered to the members of any of those classes of citizens. Thompson said the original "extremism" report was "the tip of the iceberg. … Conservative Americans should be very outraged." The Thomas More Law Center filed its lawsuit against Napolitano and the DHS on behalf of nationally syndicated conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage, Gregg Cunningham of the pro-life organization Center for Bio-Ethical Reform Inc. and Iraqi War Marine veteran Kevin Murray. It alleges the federal agency violated the First and Fifth Amendment
constitutional rights of the three plaintiffs by targeting them for
disfavored treatment and chilling their free speech, expressive
association, and equal protection rights. The lawsuit further claims
that DHS encouraged law enforcement officers throughout the nation to
target and report citizens to federal officials as suspicious rightwing
extremists and potential terrorists because of their political beliefs.
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