Who's the 'enemy'?
Military carries out urban war exercises
By
Forrest Schmidt
San Francisco
Early in the morning on March 15, some 6,000 troops in the
U.S. Navy and Marines began a week-long "war game" training
exercise in northern California. Its supposed purpose was to
prepare for a potential invasion and seizure of an urban
metropolis in the United States.
At the Alameda Naval Base in Oakland, Calif., more than 100
angry people protested the mock amphibious landing, in which
hovercraft and helicopters loaded with troops sported the
latest in military hardware.
Anti-war activists, ranging from Chicano high school
students to veterans of the Spanish Civil War, denounced
Operation Sea Dragon. They said it is destructive to the
environment, a grotesque waste of $4.5 million, and a threat to
poor, working and oppressed people in the United States and
around the world.
The protesters marched onto the naval base chanting: "Urban
poverty, they don't care! They give us urban warfare!" and "We
want health care, not urban warfare!"
The heavily armed Marines were protected from the protest by
dozens of police, many in full riot gear. Gloria La Riva, a
leader of the International Action Center, confronted Marine
spokesperson Lt. Col. Gary Shenkel as he spoke with
reporters.
"This is just a dress rehearsal for war," she said. "We
think they're just planning an invasion of Iraq."
Shenkel replied: "That's absolutely untrue. This is not a
preparation for war."
So what was it?
A Marine photographer avoided questions from the crowd about
the U.S. role in Iraq, replying that the U.S. military has an
excellent journalism-training program. A pro-Pentagon
journalist agreed, commenting that her editor got his start in
the armed forces newspaper Stars and Stripes.
Over the past few years the Pentagon has attempted similar
military training exercises in many cities and towns across the
United States. In every case the maneuvers were cut short or
canceled because of public outrage.
In San Antonio, a police chief accused the military of
trying to bribe officials into allowing the war games. In
Monterey, Calif., on March 13, anti-war activists protested a
smaller Marine mock invasion.
"Operation Sea Dragon" was originally planned as a beach
landing in San Francisco. Popular outrage forced the military
to move to the more secluded Alameda Base.
Because of the March 15 demonstration, the first day of the
invasion was postponed and scaled down. The Coalition to Stop
Operation Sea Dragon called a protest for March 16 at Oakland
City Hall to demand a halt to the dangerous military
exercises.
The Pentagon claims that Operation Sea Dragon trains
soldiers in the delivery of humanitarian aid in the event of a
natural disaster. But in later interviews Gen. Charles Krulak
admitted: "Humanitarian assistance is not the primary goal.
We're doing it so we can figure out how to do urban
warfare."
A Major Gen. Scales was a little more specific in an Armed
Forces Journal International article. Explaining the need for
urban combat training, he wrote: "The future urban center will
contain a mixed population, ranging from rich elite to the poor
and disenfranchised. ... Moreover, the proximity of the
disenfranchised to the ruling elite provides the spark for
further unrest and sporadic violence."
While this latest exercises could be aimed at Baghdad,
Belgrade or Berkeley, it is clear that capitalism's only answer
to growing poverty amid unprecedented economic growth is
repression and war.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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