The Invasion Has Been Canceled- Kinda

From World Net Daily:

DES MOINES, Iowa – Following publicized reports that the Army National Guard was planning a military training exercise on the streets of a rural Iowa town, the commanding officers have called off the mock "invasion."

The Guard had planned a four-day urban military operation in tiny Arcadia, Iowa, population 443, sending troops to take over the town and search door-to-door for a suspected weapons dealer.

The exercise was designed as a mock scenario to give soldiers the skills needed for deployment in an urban environment, and military officials stressed that only households that consented to be part of the drill would be searched.

"It will be important for us to gain the trust and confidence of the residents of Arcadia," [emphasis mine ~sig94] Sgt. Mike Kots, readiness NCO for Alpha Company, told Carroll's Daily Times Herald. "We will need to identify individuals that are willing to assist us in training by allowing us to search their homes and vehicles and to participate in role-playing.

"We really want to get as much information out there as possible," Kots continued, "because this operation could be pretty intrusive to the people of Arcadia."

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood, however, told WND that the operation has now been "scaled back" and no longer involves an "invasion" of Arcadia.

I will be the first one to think that perhaps we were reading too much into the intentions of the National Guard, but I still maintain that this is a very dangerous trend, a trend that should be resisted at every turn. It is just too similar to heavy handed tactics employed elsewhere in the world where people end up being slaughtered.

I do not wish to see these measures meted out on our own shores. Let the Russians and the Chinese and the tinpot dictators around the world bring overwhelming military force to bear on their own peoples. But. Not. Here.

This is America damn you. We have enough government intrusion in our lives without this final insult.

And don't give me the argument that our people are more skillful, better trained, etc etc. I still remember Ruby Ridge and Waco. The men participating in those debacles were among the most highly skilled, highly trained specialists in the country. So why did so many innocents die...

There is a place for the brave men and women of our Armed Forces. It isn't hiding in the bushes of my backyard taking pictures of my neighbor or sending armed patrols into the streets of my community not knowing what the hell is going on but looking for someone who may or may not have ever been there. We have police for that. And that is just what I did for years.

You want the National Guard to make a real difference? Do you want to use America's Finest in a manner that benefits every American citizen? Then guard our borders! Stop the violence that is spreading like a disease through the border states. Don't give me this shit about "weapons dealers" when Arizona and Texas are over run by hoodlum drug cartels!

I have news for you Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood ... the US State Department, Bureau of Consular Affairs, has issued a travel advisory for American citizens concerning any plans they have to visit our southern friends - Mexico:

"Some recent Mexican army and police confrontations with drug cartels have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades."

Now there's a mission for you! Try to gain the "trust and confidence" of the citizens of El Paso or Tuscon or San Diego by protecting them against gangs of Mexican criminals crossing our borders!