I would like to open this diary with two points. First, I'm not looking to violate the site ToS about wild speculation and would like to indicate that I'm in the camp of "Surely not." Second, I'm posting this diary only because I searched and saw nothing else on it. I have been a long-time member and hope that you can appreciate that I'm not looking for a spectacle or heated pie fight, just to get this idea out there so someone can reassure me that people who start these stories are crazy and that nothing this craven could ever happen here.
So what is this mystery subject? Why it's Joint Forces Command Exercise "Noble Resolve." From the Joint Forces website:
(SUFFOLK, Va. - Aug. 20, 2007) -- U.S. Joint Forces Command's (USJFCOM) Noble Resolve 07-2 kicked off today and will conduct a series of simulation-driven experiments throughout the week to enhance homeland defense measures and military support to civil agencies during natural or man-made disasters.
More below the flip.
I'm not sure exactly what it means but it sounds routine enough. However, last night I saw some YouTube comments suggesting something more nefarious. I googled and found numerous nefarious suggestions.
From Indymedia:
The U.S. military "experiment" known as "Operation Noble Resolve 07-2" begins today in Portland, with command centers in Virginia, Texas, Guam, Korea and two locations in Oregon: Salem and Portland. Despite the assurances of the US Joint Forces command that the exercise is "purely a computer-based simulation of an earthquake scenario in Portland", many people in the area are extremely concerned.
And various blogs:
For those hip to conspiracy theories, you know that "terrorist attacks" happen most often at a "coincidental" moment when the government just so happens to run a training drill for the exact kind of terrorist attack that occurs. Knowing this, I have to say I felt scared and paralyzed with fear when I heard that a terror drill involving the detonation of a nuclear bomb will happen in Portland some time in the month of august.
Transparency concerning NOBLE RESOLVE 07-2 is vital for the public safety of everyone in the Lower Columbia River Basin. We call on the planners, directors and participants in NOBLE RESOLVE 07-2 to be vigilant and to maintain transparency with respect to these military exercises. We also urge citizens and our elected officials to monitor the activities of participants connected with the exercises and alert authorities to any suspicious behavior. These exercises have an established pattern of becoming "live" events.
Like I said, I'm of the opinion that the idea that Portland is going to be nuked tomorrow by our own military is malarkey, but I wanted to throw this idea out there for the community.
The reasons I mainly think it's crap go as follows.
- In the "Oregon Truth Alliance" memo references section, they have some copy with a link that says: "Harvard Study Maps Results of 10 Kiloton Nuclear Blast in Portland, OR http://tinyurl.com/... (Pg. 9)," but that Harvard study actually discusses a nuclear attack on DC.
- All of the "facts" presented by the "Oregon Truth Alliance," who is apparently responsible for disseminating this story are little more than conjecture. For instance, they use Chertoff's gut feeling about a terrorist attack as proof that one will likely happen. If it wasn't good enough for Chertoff, why's it good enough for the OTA?
Although I understand that the President has granted himself and has been granted by the congress various "sweeping" powers, I am of the personal belief that those still left in Washington just want to leave and that Bush wants to be dictator about as much as we want him to be. Anyway, I would like to hear the thoughts of the community on the matter.