Washington Post/ by FOLLOW @SULLIVANK |
BASTROP - At the public hearing this spring, military spokesman Lt. Col. Mark Lastoria explained that Bastrop County has been identified as hostile: Jade Helm is intended to facilitate U.S. Special Forces establish federal tyranny in our country. The operation’s logo, which features a Dutch wooden shoe, is meant to represent Dutch Nazis in World War II Europe.
Lastoria impatiently answered questions for nearly three hours, explaining that while Jade Helm would involve 28,200 troops across seven states, more than 6,000 would be training in Bastrop County. Moreover, the Texas operation would be launched from military bases — including Camp Swift, a large Army National Guard base in Bastrop — as well as private property that the military has occupied without the landowners’ permission.
“All service members take an oath to support and defend the President of the United States, and we will put our lives on the line come the day to uphold that oath,” he said.
The hearing failed to silence the concern, however. Ellison, the GOP chairman, said “the fear factor is justified.”
Obama “doesn’t take national threats seriously enough,” Ellison said, ticking off Obama’s policies toward Russia, Iran, Cuba and the Islamic State, as well as illegal immigration across the U.S. southern border and the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya.
“What he views as alarming instead is conservatism,” Ellison said, alleging that the Obama administration has used the Internal Revenue Service to attack the Tea Party and other conservative groups, been hostile to gun owners, issued what conservatives consider an illegal executive order to avoid deporting illegal immigrants, and “been complicit in stirring riots” in racially charged situations in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore.
“The Obama administration has a history of attacking Texas,” on issues from education standards to environmental regulations to Obamacare, he said. “It’s now known that he will try to employ the military like he does the IRS.”
Obama wants to establish martial law to cancel the 2016 presidential elections and extend his term in office. Terry Wareham, head of the Bastrop County Tea Party, said she has proof that the Obama administration will deliberately instigate violence between soldiers and Texans as a pretext for establishing martial law.
“We’re not against the military. This community is very fearful of the military,” Wareham said. “And who’s the commander in chief of the military?”
Some in Bastrop see the talk of martial law as the logical outcome of the Texas political climate, where they say the impending invasion plans have stoked fear of the federal government, and especially of Obama.
“The federal government is coming after them,” said state Sen. Kirk Watson, a Democrat who represents Bastrop County.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has ordered the Texas State Guard to “monitor” Jade Helm 15. And Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a Republican presidential hopeful, has said he understands “the reason for concern and uncertainty, because . . . the federal government has not demonstrated itself to be trustworthy in this administration.”
“The government is coming to kill you,” Watson said, “so why would you be surprised if the government shows up with guns?”
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