Hey John, this link and attached PDF were sent to my by some close friends of mine..
I have come across this awhile back and sent you info about this before, but the time has come now and I guess we will find out if these drills will go live.
Many people are concerned enough that they have or are leaving town, If any thing does happen we will also be getting the hell out of here..
I am very upset that Black Water is in Portland conducting these drills, I do not feel safe at all with that company conducting any biz here in P-town. I have seen videos of them blasting innocent civilians away just for fun, those fucking murders should be executed or in prison for life, and normally I don't agree with capital punishment.
If all this is real and this "goes Live" you can't say I didn't warn you, If not, this just goes to show how people are afraid of our own Government and their minions, so much so that they would leave town on a moments notice.

Please read the link below and all of the PDF and tell me what you think.

www.dhs.gov/xprepresp/tr...30526487.shtm

Joe
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Okay, just read the pdf and followed the links. Short answer: I think the author of the pdf is a little hysterical, and most of his assertions and conclusions are not supported by any evidence (he includes links, but most of them are either links to less-than-credible sources, or sources that do not support what he is saying).

Not to sound dismissive, but I think the idea that a DHS emergency response drill is being used to stage terrorist-style attacks in American cities is ridiculous on many levels. I totally agree with your point that the fact that people believe stuff like this shows very deep mistrust in the federal government - which I think is interesting, but doesn't make anything in the pdf any more true.

I know that you are likely to disagree with several of my reasons for thinking this is ridiculous, but here's one that I think you'll agree makes sense: let's say hypothetically that the federal government had a dark and nefarious plan to stage terrorist attacks. Why would it make sense to stage an emergency response drill at the same time? Conducting a large-scale drill doesn't make it any easier to plant actual bombs - in fact it would probably make it more difficult because local law enforcement and emergency responders would be on alert due to the drill. It would be easier (and more effective) to plant the bombs when there was no drill going on. So the whole concept is pretty illogical.

It would take me an hour or two to list everything about the pdf that (in my opinion) doesn't make sense, but here's a few that jumped out at me:

- most of the author's key claims about emergency drills on 9/11 are not supported by the links he includes. and the mere fact that there were some emergency drills taking place on 9/11 doesn't prove much of anything by itself.

- the fact that PNAC wrote in 2000 that transformation of national security policy would be slow without a major catastrophe is not exactly stunning. I think every liberal and conservative scholar of national security policy agreed that was true at the time. (and clearly it was). additionally, if the future leaders of the Bush administration were planning on secretly killing thousands of Americans, it wouldn't make much sense for them to publicly write about it.

- the accidental-transport-of-nuclear-weapons story is interesting (and very troubling by itself), but again, the links do not back up the author's very alarmist claims.

- his more extreme claims about recent changes to national security law are also not supported by the links. There is some debate right now about the proper role of the military in disaster assistance, but the Posse Comitatus Act is not "gone". Habeas corpus for US citizens has not been suspended either - although the Military Commissions Act did suspend it for non-US citizens who are labeled as "enemy combatants", which I agree is unconstitutional, and one of the worst things that Congress has done since I've been working here.

- the bit about the military simulating martial law in Portland is not supported by the sources.

- the emergency manager for the veteran's affairs health system is not "in charge of planning" the drill that the author is so tweaked about. Based on his job I would be surprised if he had a big role at all, which is why the fact that he is going on vacation is not that weird.

Sorry if that was a little long - your email sounded concerned and I figured you usually like more info rather than less.

John

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