US Army declares war on press freedom, by Gordon Duff

PressTV: US Army declares war on press freedom, by Gordon Duff

Posted on June 26, 2014 by Jean
Thu Jun 26, 2014 11:23AM GMT

By Gordon Duff


The United States Army, operating from a secret base in Arizona, has declared war on independent media through hacking, blocking communications and sabotaging both radio broadcasts.




Computer security teams working with Veterans Today traced a pattern of attacks to Fort Huachuca, headquarters of the US Army Intelligence School.
This base, in the tiny town of Sierra Vista, Arizona, just north of the Mexican border, is home, not only to this spying operation but also to America’s drone program as well. Every drone attack begins there, with “pilots” trained at Fort Huachuca and drones developed and tested there.


The attacks on independent news and media organizations were discovered when a number of websites, not just Veterans Today, began noting unusual traffic patterns and clumsy hacking attempts. Security software traced these attacks to Fort Huachuca and to a number of local police computer systems around the US.


At Fort Huachuca, the internet censorship, operating to block websites worldwide that report news unfavorable to some US policies or that are critical of Israel, a pattern clearly recognized, was traced to commands tasked with training “Cyber Warfare” specialists.


These training classes, funded by Congress and paid for by the American people, are intended to protect government computer systems from attacks by unfriendly governments and terror organizations. In reality however there are other issues as well. America protects her secrets but those secrets are, more often than not, how the American government violates America’s laws.


The Cyber Warfare specialists of Fort Huachuca, operating well outside the authority of the US Constitution, censor the internet, run “sock puppet” websites spreading propaganda and disinformation, orchestrate smear campaigns against journalists and activists who are not under total control and use electronic countermeasures to silence freedom of speech.


PATTERN OF CRIMINALITY



Congress has authorized no funds for the domestic psychological warfare programs at Huachuca. There is no evidence that the command there is operating under any authorization nor is there evidence that they are even under American command at all, particularly as the pattern of activity deeply parallels efforts by organizations such as the ADL and AIPAC, groups, oddly enough, cited by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and members of Congress as tied to espionage against the United States.


By definition, the US Army is controlled by a foreign government that may well represent a “clear and present danger” to the security of the United States.


Any action whatsoever by the US Army inside the United States is a violation of “posse comitatus,” a law that prevents the military from engaging in insurrection against the United States.


Thus, by definition as outlined in Federal Statute, the actions of these intelligence and psychological warfare commands are, technically, acts of insurrection and, by definition, potentially treason, a capital crime punishable by life imprisonment and even death.


Moreover, the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the constitution, clearly guarantees both freedom of speech and freedom of press. Every action, jamming communications, hacking websites, smearing journalists and spreading propaganda are, not just violations of these provisions but acts of war against the United States.


By definition, the US Army is at war with America.


In addition, their actions, jamming telephone communications, hacking Skype servers to interfere with radio and television broadcasts, are violations of both state and federal laws that protect communications infrastructure from terrorism.


By definition, the US Army is a terror organization.


PATTERN OF ABUSE



Edward Snowden’s revelations over NSA spying at home and abroad failed to touch on how information illegally obtained was being used. Here, for the first time, we see rogue commands within the military itself using such information to target both individuals and organizations to serve an agenda consistent with a police state dictatorship.


By definition, the US Army is the American Gestapo.


The pattern is clear, silencing criticism of US policy in the Ukraine, in Syria and Iraq and continued US complicity in Israel’s apartheid abuses of the Palestinian people. News organizations that advocate investigation of fraud at the Department of Veterans Affairs are targeted, those calling for increased financial oversight of military spending and financial crimes are also victims.


By definition, the US Army is involved in racketeering and extortion.


The use of a “training command” to spy on Americans, censor press, wage psychological war and spread wild conspiracy theories, spending millions of dollars while America’s war veterans are dying by the thousands due to health care funding cuts is more than simply unjust, it is criminal.
By definition, the US Army is guilty of mail and wire fraud and conspiracy.


NOT JUST THE ARMY



This is one base, albeit a “secret base” in the parched recesses of the American desert. This is one command. By luck or happenstance, the Army or whoever their controllers are, and no American can be certain of who controls the US Army anymore, chose to make use of a command with strong ties to the intelligence community, many of whose members now side with the independent press.


However, in finding this one command and the series of abuses they are involved in, when added to the NSA abuses and so many others, there is more than a pattern, there is a clear threat.


When you combined control of the corporate press with broad warfare on any independent press, when you combine this with massive and systematic spying on the public and then look at the militarization of police forces across America, it is not unrealistic to assume that America is no longer “America.”


Were one to define a “police state” or “totalitarian dictatorship,” America’s rigged elections, spying, controlled press and government secrecy rival any in breadth and exceed almost all in scope and efficiency.


Many speak of Americans as “sheep.” What is clear is that, should those “sheep” awaken, every provision has been made to lead them to slaughter.
GD/HSN

Gordon Duff is a Marine Vietnam veteran, a combat infantryman, and Senior Editor at Veterans Today. His career has included extensive experience in international banking along with such diverse areas as consulting on counter insurgency, defense technologies or acting as diplomatic representative for UN humanitarian and economic development efforts. Gordon Duff has traveled to over 80 nations. His articles are published around the world and translated into a number of languages. He is regularly on TV and radio, a popular and sometimes controversial guest. More Press TV articles by Gordon Duff