In its ongoing training for the Global War on Terror, the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM), directing the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), plus a number of other units, developed an exercise to prepare troops to capture and hold assets in a hostile country. As most operations at the time occurred arid and hot climates, the ideal location for the exercise would be states in the American southwest, with special emphasis on Texas.
Once exercises began, residents would be warned that they might hear explosions during the operation, but there was no danger to civilians as no live ammunition would be deployed.
Before Jade Helm began, word of its description reached the ever bombastically imprudent Alex Jones. He framed the information to claim the Obama Administration was preparing to stage a military coup with the goal of confiscating everyone's firearms and cancelling the 2016 elections, of course so that he could rule permanently. With the center of the operation being Texas, it would be the first state to find its government cancelled under martial law. He painted images of special forces in a Ride of the Valkyries helicopter assault on sleeping Texas towns and cities, rounding up patriots. They were even going to set up FEMA camps to detain the rebellious populations.
Showing some level of perspicacity that would elude him in later years, Sen. Ted Cruz called on Pentagon officials for details subsequently announcing that he was satisfied the operation was legitimate. Rep. Louis Gohmert would not be so easily placated, mirroring Jones' talking points. Special in his concerns was a map from the prep material of the exercise labelling Texas as "hostile territory." Governor Greg Abbot called out the Texas National Guard as observers of the operation to verify it remained within declared geographic and legal bounaries.
Fast forward 10 years to Chicago this week. Actual helicopters fly over the city, releasing real armed men rappelling on ropes to kick in doors in an apartment building, arresting all the residents in the middle of night, including crying children restrained with zip ties. As of this writing, there is no reporting regarding where those children were sent.
Conservatives' hissy fit level hit 11 when the military under command of a black president engages in a military exercise. The worst outcome envisioned in their paranoid fever dreams comes to pass, warrantless detention of innocent men, women, and children by a militarized strike force in an American city. All enacted by a president actually talking about being a dictator, who attempted one coup attempt already. One scenario was imaginary. One is acted out in the real world.
We wait for the outrage to begin.
https://www.myinstants.com/en/instant/crickets/
