Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

When we show up, we win.

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

The willow is too close to the house.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

In my day, never was longer.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Republicans don’t trust women.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Not all heroes wear capes.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

You are here: Home / U.S. Troops at Ft. Stewart Plotted to Assassinate President Obama [updated]

U.S. Troops at Ft. Stewart Plotted to Assassinate President Obama [updated]

by | 125 Comments

This post is in: ,

This is scary:

“LUDOWICI, Ga. — Prosecutors say a murder case against four soldiers in Georgia has revealed they formed an anarchist militia within the U.S. military with plans to overthrow the federal government.

One of the accused troops, Pfc. Michael Burnett, pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter and gang charges in the December slayings of former soldier Michael Roark and his girlfriend, 17-year-old Tiffany York.

Burnett told a Long County judge that Roark, who had just left the Army, knew of the militia group’s plans and was killed because he was “a loose end.”

Prosecutor Isabel Pauley says the group bought $87,000 worth of guns and bomb-making materials and plotted to take over Fort Stewart, bomb targets in nearby Savannah and Washington state, as well as assassinate the president.”

Jay Bookman at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution sums it up:

Sometimes these things get blown out of proportion, but $87,000 in weaponry suggests otherwise. And when you’re willing to murder two people to keep the plot secret, you’re pretty serious about it. The bodies of Roark and York were found by fishermen along a deserted rural road. They had apparently been executed.

I’ll update this post as I learn more.

By the way, this is why you don’t make jokes about the president “not being one of us.”

UPDATE: Reuters reported last week that white supremacists have been joining the army to overthrow the Zionist Occupation Government (ZOG) and to prepare for the upcoming race war. So…

UPDATE 2: Apparently the group calls itself F.E.A.R. — Forever Enduring Always Ready — and they planned to bomb Forsyth Park fountain Savannah, and in Washington state, they planned to bomb a dam and poison the state’s apple crop. For their big finale, they were going to overthrow the government and assassinate President Obama. All further updates will be at ABLC (to the extent there are any) because I’m going to a bar and will probably forget to keep posting over here. I’m done with today.

[via Atlantic Wire]
[cross-posted at ABLC]

Reader Interactions

125Comments

  3. 3.

    kerFuFFler

    Yeah, it’s stuff like this that points out how truly dangerous it is for politicians and pundits to keep sounding their “dog whistles”.

  5. 5.

    Culture of Truth

    Interesting that they are being prosecuted by the local DA and not by the military or federal prosecutors.

  6. 6.

    Culture of Truth

    Pauley said Aguigui funded the militia using $500,000 in insurance and benefit payments from the death of his pregnant wife a year ago. Aguigui was not charged in his wife’s death, but Pauley told the judge her death was “highly suspicious.”

    jeebus

  8. 8.

    j

    Look at what happened to Sadat. He was gunned down at a military parade by his elite guard because the right wingers were pissed at him for signing the Camp David Accords.

  9. 9.

    Calouste

    So… $87,000 worth of guns and bomb-making materials bought of the salaries of four enlisted soldiers? These guys must have led rather austere lives to afford all that. cough cough

  11. 11.

    Culture of Truth

    The prosecutor said the militia group had big plans. It plotted to take over Fort Stewart by seizing its ammunition control point and talked of bombing the Forsyth Park fountain in nearby Savannah, she said. In Washington state, she added, the group plotted to bomb a dam and poison the state’s apple crop. Ultimately, prosecutors said, the militia’s goal was to overthrow the government and assassinate the president.

    Heckuva plan.

  12. 12.

    beltane

    These people must have been depressed or otherwise emotionally fragile or whatever it is we call white people who are engaged in terrorism.

  14. 14.

    Dennis SGMM

    These people in no way represent the modes of thought of the opposition party nor are their actions in any way a reason to prohibit anyone, anywhere, from exercisng their god-given right to obtain as much firepower as they can afford.

  16. 16.

    Cassidy

    @Culture of Truth: The military has the right to prosecute or not prosecute. If it’s a crime committed in the local area, the military will usually allow the investigation to run its course saving what they can do, with much less evidence, as a back up plan.

    Not to say this is the case. I’m guessing that the chain of command is just as surprised as anyone else. This isn’t normal work day chatter, so they were likely unaware. What typically happens is the police call the Provost Marshal and says they have a warrant. The MP’s go and pick up the individual(s) in question and then contact the Chain of Command. Staff Duty is usually not informed beforehand and no one knows what the hell is going on unless the CQ sees it and reports it to the Staff Duty.

  17. 17.

    Redshift

    I’ll be interested to hear when these guys enlisted, and how it lines up with the Bush Administration’s relaxing the recruiting rules on gang membership and past criminal records when they were having trouble getting enough cannon fodder for Iraq.

  18. 18.

    Jay in Oregon

    But remember, when you point out that the extremist right wing in the U.S. is growing more dangerous, you are being partisan and uncivil.

    Michelle Malkin and everyone else who shrieked long and hard to bury that DHS report in 2009 can collectively eat a bag of salted dicks.

  21. 21.

    scav

    So long as they only bought stuff they could carry, this is exactly the behavior the Scalia-revealed Founders™ intended.

  22. 22.

    Hill Dweller

    Sovereign citizen and militia group numbers have skyrocketed during the last two Democratic administrations, and it is partly the result of Republican rhetoric.

  23. 23.

    mechwarrior online

    @Redshift:

    This sort of thing was a problem even before that, I’m sure it’s gotten worse but when I was in from 2000-2004 gangs were already a problem. As was large swaths, particularly among the officers, considering Democratic civilian leaders illegitimate.

    I’m not shocked at all by this, and this could catch a treason charge.

  24. 24.

    eric

    Upcoming Conservative: Obama wants to prosecute them in secret so that he can apply Sharia law and have them executed.

  25. 25.

    Suffern ACE

    So what would anarchists do with a government once they had overthrown it? Not rule it I presume. Once the apples are destroyed, what next?

  27. 27.

    mechwarrior online

    @Suffern ACE:

    You’re giving them too much credit. Anti government whackos are just like dogs chasing a car, they know what they want but are clueless as to what will happen once they get it.

  28. 28.

    Keith G

    Serious threat though there four were, they weren’t the sharpest tools in the shed. Doing away with a “loose end” so they remain a rather obvious loose end does not show a great deal of sophistication.

  29. 29.

    Roger Moore

    @Culture of Truth:

    Interesting that they are being prosecuted by the local DA and not by the military or federal prosecutors.

    It makes sense. The murder case sounds relatively open-and-shut compared to the rest of the stuff they’d have to prove. You charge them with that to start with, then use it to try to flip one or more of them to provide details on the murkier conspiracy. If the conspiracy goes further than the four guys already charged, that’s probably the best way of finding out. Might want to keep an eye out for anyone with their distinctive tattoos, too.

  31. 31.

    Dennis SGMM

    @mechwarrior online:

    Gangs were a problem at the larger, more secure Army bases when I was in Vietnam (’71-’72). I was out in the boondocks and I had no inkling of how bad it was until we visited one of those bases to hit the BX and I found it necessary to level my M60A1 on my own countrymen.

  33. 33.

    Anniecat45

    @Cassidy:

    If soldiers commit a crime outside of a military base, it’s usually prosecuted by the local police and district attorney. These two were arrested for killing a couple of civilians and i gather the crime took place on civilian territory.

  35. 35.

    Roger Moore

    @Suffern ACE:

    So what would anarchists do with a government once they had overthrown it?

    Live happily ever after. That’s the basic anarchist theory: the government is the problem, so all we need to do is get rid of it and everything will be sweetness and light. They’re even more delusional than the Randroids.

  36. 36.

    Soonergrunt

    I’ve dropped my thread. I’ll add what little I have on this here:
    The Army Times top story is the AP feed.
    So far, it looks like four Privates and a Sergeant. Among other things, they apparently had intention to “take over” Fort Stewart, GA. I’m not sure how they intended to take over an installation with 24,000+ personnel. It seems that the Army was about to charge these guys under UCMJ and they cut a plea deal in the federal civilian system, if I’m reading the story right. There are still charges pending in the state of Georgia.
    I know that military members can be charged under multiple jurisdictions for the same event, due to “multiple sovereigns”.
    I’m up to my eyeballs in work, so I won’t have more until later.

  37. 37.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @mechwarrior online: Bullshit. Pure, unadulterated bullshit. Stop trying to push the utterly false meme that large chunks of the military and especially the office corps regard Democrats as illegitimate. Post some links supporting that shit or fuck off.

  38. 38.

    Cassidy

    @Anniecat45: I know. I got out last year. The military always has jurisdiction. They don’t always exercise it. Sometimes, they allow the local authorities to press forward and if it doesnt work, file their own charges.

  42. 42.

    Dennis SGMM

    Am I the only one who is amazed that despite the billions thrown at national security, the NSA, FBI, etc., the people charged were able to construct this plot and to commit murders along the way?

    If I was, heaven forbid, in any way a cynical old fucker, I’d say the fact that none of the alleged perps were Muslims helped them to evade notice.

  43. 43.

    kerFuFFler

    @Suffern ACE:

    “So what would anarchists do with a government once they had overthrown it? Not rule it I presume. Once the apples are destroyed, what next?”

    Frankly I suspect these losers just want to fire off a bunch of ammunition. Perhaps they have a vague fantasy that after blowing up a fort or two, and killing our President, all of society will collapse and it will be every man for himself!

    And then they can have MORE FUN with their weapons! And who knows, maybe……profit?

  44. 44.

    Soonergrunt

    @Soonergrunt: turns out I was not reading that right. The one Private has plead guilty in local civilian (State) court. While there are charges pending in the Military Justice system, all the current action is taking place in the state jurisdiction.
    I couldn’t find who has physical custody of these guys.

  45. 45.

    qwerty42

    @Keith G:

    …Doing away with a “loose end” so they remain a rather obvious loose end does not show a great deal of sophistication.

    Yeah, maybe they watched some of the old James Bond movies and thought this was like being in SPECTRE.

  46. 46.

    mechwarrior online

    @Dennis SGMM:

    We had open gang fights on Norfolk Naval base off and on. People kept their same colors and everything from the city they came from. It was largely looked over and ignored, but it did spiral out of control at various times. Fights along racial lines were fairly common as well, though it was almost always African American’s and Latinos. Often the racial violence tracked directly with gang violence as most of the gangs were race specific.

    White power groups weren’t nearly as much of a problem. They existed but they didn’t tend to initiate large scale violence at all, mostly just crazy people sitting alone thinking crazy crap. The real nasty part of it was that the brass and officer corps made it fairly obvious Democrats were illegitimate leaders and Bush had saved us from them all. I’m guessing this seemed like tacit approval for such views.

    Though, I never heard of any group of Asians or Muslims causing trouble or starting riots at the enlisted club that spilled out off base and landed on the news.

  48. 48.

    Cassidy

    @kerFuFFler: I know an anarchist who thinks that gov’t, in general, is immoral and shouldn’t exist. I never understood what he thinks should happen after that. I assume he thinks everyone will love in some sort of Utopian bliss with nothing but morals to make them act right?

  49. 49.

    Dennis SGMM

    @Raven:
    LBJ was the precursor of today’s Gitmo. I was Navy and one of the admirable things about that service at the time and place was that even muttering the n word in private would get you righteously fucked up by the rest of the troops.

  53. 53.

    dance around in your bones

    Speaking very cynically, I especially liked the part about poisoning the state’s whole apple crop.

    That’ll show ’em! Like a reverse Johnny-Appleseed.

    That said, I’m glad they were caught before they could do any actual damage.

  55. 55.

    Cassidy

    Re: the update, the white power people have been joining the military for years to get training. This is not new. The standards were never relaxed in that regard; association with a white supremacist org or white power tattoos has always been grounds for denying entry and kicking people out. They think they’re slick, but inevitably they usually get caught. Most of them aren’t disciplined enough to keep their traps shut when an AA/ Hispanic NCO tells them what to do.

  57. 57.

    Soonergrunt

    @Cassidy: As a matter of fact, the Army has a guy on death row by the name of Timothy Hennis. Hennis was tried and acquitted in civilian court in 1985 for the murders of his wife and two step-daughters. He was allowed to continue his military career and retired from the Army. He was recalled from retirement to Active Duty and court-martialed when new technology allowed old evidence to be re-examined.
    He lost his appeal to the Army Court of Criminal Appeals and his appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces was returned without hearing, cutting off his access to the Supreme Court, barring something extremely unusual.

  58. 58.

    mechwarrior online

    @Dennis SGMM:

    I blame it on part of the “all volunteer” service. Let’s be honest. Recruiters are actively searching for people that have already fallen through the cracks and will sign those papers. They also really don’t care what happens with them once they get in.

    I realized something was up when in Navy bootcamp half of my group was from Texas and more than half of them couldn’t swim and had to take the ASVAB multiple times because they kept flunking it.

  59. 59.

    Culture of Truth

    @Roger Moore: Yes, but so often with cases such as this, broadly speaking, local prosecutors are shut out. As it is, I’m already reading the Feds are sniffing around.

  60. 60.

    Amanda in the South Bay

    When I was in (2003-2007) it always seemed like the most (really, the only) vocal proponents of political views were on the right. Maybe there was a silent majority, but pretty much the only people who got vocal about politics were on the right.

    TBH about the gang problem, I’ve just always assumed they’ve been a problem off and on over the years. I’m not entirely sure its just because of the lowering of recruiting standards
    during the Bush years.

  62. 62.

    jimmiraybob

    To meet the Bush 2 (W) war plans, the recruiting standards were decimated. This blow back was predicted.

    (Oops, late to the party)

  63. 63.

    Roger Moore

    @dance around in your bones:

    That said, I’m glad they were caught before they could do any actual damage.

    You need to read the article more closely, then. Yes, they got caught before launching their plot, but not before committing a couple of murders. Not soon enough.

  64. 64.

    Cargo

    In 2009, my partner and I had dinner with an old college friend of his, who had moved to Los Alamos to work on military robotics and aerospace projects (probably drones). He had top secret clearance, was a civilian but had some kind of working military officer rank equivalent. Obviously, a Bush-era hawk, the war on terror had been very good to him and his career. Anyways, shortly before we parted company, he asked us about what we thought of Obama (this was winter 2009, maybe a month after the inauguration) and he said the following words I will never forget:

    “If I was in the same room with him, I’d be happy to take him out.” and he made a pointing-gun gesture with his finger. Casually, as if he was talking about catching a ball game. This member of the military-industrial elite at Los Alamos had an opinion of Obama where shooting him in the head was something he’d not only cheerfully admit to wishing it would happen, but offered to do it himself. Joking or not, it chilled me to the bone.

    Neither my partner or I have spoken to the gentleman since.

  65. 65.

    Villago Delenda Est

    If these maggots believe this ZOG crap, then they are, in effect, Nazis.

    We learned how to deal with Nazis during WWII.

    No quarter for these maggots. None.

  68. 68.

    mechwarrior online

    @Amanda in the South Bay:

    The DOD actively recruits people from places like New Orleans and Detroit who have been failed by the system. Gangs are an unavoidable fact of life there. They “should” be processed out, just like the white power groups as well, but they aren’t. From what I recall the recruiter still gets to count them as recruits for his performance regardless of if they wash out or not. So they just shovel them all in and hope someone process them out.

    Usually they are, but they can often sit around for years and ferment trouble until they cross the line or do something crazy enough to actually be thrown out.

    I don’t know what the solution is.

  71. 71.

    Pope Bandar bin Turtle

    Michael Roark — Howard’s younger brother, by any chance?

    Why do US troops hate Ayn Rand?

  72. 72.

    celticdragonchick

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Bullshit. Pure, unadulterated bullshit. Stop trying to push the utterly false meme that large chunks of the military and especially the office corps regard Democrats as illegitimate. Post some links supporting that shit or fuck off.

    I observed similar attitudes in the 90’s. It was not universal, but the willingness to engage in open insubordination to the CINC was very, very widespread in the Army.

  73. 73.

    Dennis SGMM

    @NCSteve:
    Really? Again, non-cynical old fucker that I am, I’d think that the gov would devote some portion of its anti-terrorism attention to people with access to crew-served weapons.

  74. 74.

    Rafer Janders

    Look, people, let’s not panic. At least this isn’t terrorism. It can’t be, since it was a plot by white Americans, and therefore is ipso facto not terrorism.

  75. 75.

    El Tiburon

    Hey guys and gals – I really don’t think we are even supposed to be talking about this stuff. It offends certain people and gosh-darnit, it’s just not fair.

  76. 76.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @celticdragonchick: Not my experience. While the majority of the officer corps does lean right, it is not by any means monolithic. Further, officers with whom I served took civilian control of the military seriously. They may have bitched about politicians, but they would certainly have followed orders emanating from the White House. Notice how few soldiers have been prosecuted for refusing to follow orders. Bitching and insubordination are different.

  77. 77.

    scav

    So, um, who controls the all-important pillar of the national government, the WA apple crop at this moment? Seriously, how to judge a response? Low-hanging wackos, but heavily armed low-hanging wackos that have already killed. Still, as a nation, we’ve apparently calmed down a bit since the media went on high alert after a burning bush joke was made within the same county as the CiC.

  78. 78.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Of course, this “plan” of theirs barely qualifies as a fantasy, let alone something they could actually pull off. So, this vanguard of four was going to hold off an entire division and seize the ammo depot (good luck with that…there are probably more than four guards on duty at any hour of the day at that ammo depot) and then, somehow in the manner of The Turner Diaries a spontaneous movement would form out of thin air and roll across the country like the Red Army taking Berlin in 1945.

    Sure! That’s the ticket!

  79. 79.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @TK421: Whoa! You mean this anti-government militia movement didn’t start until Obama went after a terrorist? I thought Oklahoma City was more than 3 years ago.

    And what about all of the lynching? I’m pretty sure that predates the Obama presidency.

  81. 81.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @celticdragonchick:

    That’s quite an assumption to make in any plan.

    As my very first First Sergeant told me as a fresh shavetail, “assume” makes an ass out of you and me.

  82. 82.

    Chyron HR

    @TK421:

    Ah, you noble True Progressives, always ready to stand with your White Power brothers-in-arms against the “ZOG”.

  84. 84.

    jp7505a

    @kerFuFFler: It’s up on huffington post. The teacherbgot fired. Didn’t that great statemen from North Carolina Jessie Helms tell Bill Clinto not to visit Fort Bragg because some soldier might shot him.

    But hey cantca take a joke (sigh).

  85. 85.

    mainmati

    @Culture of Truth: I think that’s because the original prosecution was probably just local, pre-meditated murder and they just found out about the bigger plait. My guess is that we will soon see the DOJ, FBI involved. I assume all of those involved will be cashiered from the Army if they haven’t already.

  86. 86.

    Keith G

    I wonder if there is any ideological intersections between these four and Timothy McVeigh.

    Anyway, to get a handle on how futile their “base takeover” plan was, use google maps. Not a job for four. If they were lucky, they might have been able to hold the base Burger King for a few hours but not much else.

    Edit: BTW if they are racist, a military installation named after a Rebel calvary general would be the place to be.

  87. 87.

    Patricia Kayden

    At least this time they were caught, although it’s sad that two people had to die first.

  88. 88.

    mainmati

    @Cassidy: Politics, like Nature, abhors a vacuum. You take away government, corporations will move right in and create their government. In fact, that’s what they’re already trying to do.

  89. 89.

    dance around in your bones

    @Roger Moore:

    I’m sorry – yes, I read that part. That WAS actual damage. I was referring to the overthrowing the gov’t, assassinating the Prez, the apple genocide, et al.

    On the other hand (though it sounds harsh) those ‘loose ends’ chose the company they kept, were willing to go along with the plot….sooooo, you pay the ticket, you take the ride.

    I don’t like to hear of ANYONE getting murdered, however.

  91. 91.

    Soonergrunt

    @celticdragonchick: But his point, and I would agree, was that they didn’t consider him to be illegitimate. They didn’t like him, but they didn’t run around with this talk of refusing to obey orders. The few wingnuts who did that shit were like Michael New, and got either kicked to the curb or court-martialed.

  92. 92.

    rikyrah

    when DADT was in effect, one of the reasons that I said it was ridiculous for law abiding gays and lesbians to be kicked out was:

    1. the military was accepting RURAL Terrorists (White Supremacists)
    2. the military was accepting URBAN Terrorists (Gangbangers)
    3. the military was accepting straight up criminals.

    but, law abiding gays and lesbians couldn’t serve?

    G-T-F-O-H

    yes, these folks need to be rectally probed by the Secret Service.

  95. 95.

    jp7505a

    THe usual rightwing sites are totally ignoring this. But Drudge is totally outraged that the White House Facebook page has a picture of Obama as part of the Neil Armstrong tribute. OH it’s all about Obama. Problm is it’s an image of Obama looking up at the moon. Isn’t that what the Armstrong family asked people to do in honor of Neil Armstrong/

  97. 97.

    Curt

    I live in Savannah, just a few blocks from the park and fountain mentioned as a target. Ft. Stewart is VAST, and the main base part of it is like a city unto itself. NO WAY four guys could “take it over” with anything less than a nuke. As for bombing the fountain in the park, that really makes no sense. There’s nothing symbolic about it, and seldom more than a smattering of people around it at any time, except for major events, like when they turn the water green for St. Patrick’s Day. There’s a government building complex about half a mile further into downtown Savannah that would make more sense if they want to have a go at something that matters, but then these guys are also supposedly talking about poisoning apples in Washington clear on the other side of the continent.

  98. 98.

    M31

    And the thing about ‘poisoning the whole apple crop’ is just weird. In the field? It’s thousands and thousands and thousands of acres. Even if they got tanker trucks full or Roundup and started spraying they couldn’t do more than wilt a few smallish orchards. If they got access to a huge storage facility, then what? Pour diesel fuel on them? They could totally, I mean totally ruin a whole lot of apples! Like maybe .1% of the year’s crop.

    Once that happens, whoever has the guns rules, man. NO SCHOOL LUNCH APPLESAUCE FOR YOU UNLESS YOU BOW DOWN TO THE ANARCHISTS BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

  100. 100.

    Davis X. Machina

    @jp7505a

    Isn’t that what the Armstrong family asked people to do in honor of Neil Armstrong.

    Are you sure they didn’t ask us all to vote and throw That Awful Negro out of the White House? That’s what a real American hero would want….

  101. 101.

    Gravenstone

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent):

    @TK421: Whoa! You mean this anti-government militia movement didn’t start until Obama went after a terrorist? I thought Oklahoma City was more than 3 years ago.

    One note troll only knows one, sad note. Take pity on him, for he knows nothing better.

  102. 102.

    WJS

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Of course, this “plan” of theirs barely qualifies as a fantasy, let alone something they could actually pull off. So, this vanguard of four was going to hold off an entire division and seize the ammo depot (good luck with that…there are probably more than four guards on duty at any hour of the day at that ammo depot)

    Well, there are some problems with how things are organized on Army posts, and I’m surprised that people are of the opinion that soldiers are walking around armed and could stop four armed individuals.

    The US Army practices some of the most stringent gun control in the world–live ammunition and weapons are going to be secured and locked in arms rooms, and the only personnel allowed to have loaded weapons are either going to be MPs or a unit on a shooting range. Personally owned weapons are going to be locked up in unit arms rooms (if the soldiers live on post) and anyone with a weapon in their vehicle is either an idiot or about to kicked out for being an idiot.

    What happened at Fort Hood should have woken people up to the fact that even the large bases like Stewart or Hood are essentially large concentrations of unarmed soldiers performing duties WITHOUT their weapons or live ammunition. It took civilian cops to stop Major Nidal Hasan; if these four guys had tried to take over Fort Stewart, it would fall on the MPs or the local police to stop them.

    Having said that, the Army can’t figure out how to get people who have never been deployed to stop killing themselves. How are they going to root out clowns like this?

    I once had to pull a shift “guarding” the ammunition dump on Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. It was me and a guy from Guam, and we were handed M16A2s with no ammunition in them because they didn’t trust us. We were told not to pretend to have ammo because someone would definitely shoot us if we did, and we were warned not to fall asleep.

  103. 103.

    Gravenstone

    @M31: You know one of them had to bite into an apple and find half a worm. Some people just take things way too personally.

  105. 105.

    gelfling545

    @Villago Delenda Est: Whether or not they could realistically implement their plan they did kill 2, possibly 3 people to further it so they took it very seriously indeed. It doesn’t necessarily take strategic genius to do a great deal of harm. Was Lee Harvey Oswald, to take but one example, a brilliant organizer?

  106. 106.

    Lancelot Link

    Either the leader of this “anarchist” plot, Isaac Aguigui, or a lookalike of the same name, was a page at the 2008 Republican National Convention, according to Gawker.

  110. 110.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @TK421:
    I assume from two hundred years of failed mini-revolutions, or the entire previous human history. I’m guessing YOU’RE referring to the death of a man who voluntarily waived his right to fair trial, as determined by a federal judge according to established case law on this issue.

  111. 111.

    Yutsano

    @M31: Thar even greatly understates it. Washington provides 70% of the nation’s apple crop as well as the major supplier to Japan. Apples are grown literally everywhere here. They’d basically have to poison the whole state.

  114. 114.

    Fort Geek

    I had this mental image of some of these idiots moving stealthily through an apple grove, camouflaged ladders in hand, each with a bandolier of apple-poison syringes.

  117. 117.

    hep kitty

    Pardon the OT, but

    Fuck Jeb Fucking “Republican party needs to change tone” Bush – Shut . the . fuck . up First I’ve heard. Not that I’d give a shit what the enabling brother of a fucking blood-soaked, nation-wrecking asshole (of such magnitude that even the most brilliant, talented writer could not have written the Bush presidency as a fiction), thinks. I was there, all 8 terrifying years. You and your tribe. And now, this. Here we are.

    But if you can’t suck tea party dick like everybody else, including the prez/vp candidate, learn to pucker.

  119. 119.

    hep kitty

    I love this cat but she is bugging the shit out of me right now

    quit rubbing your lip on the lapdesk. that’s why you got a damn sore on your lip, from rubbing your lip on things

    fuck

  121. 121.

    mclaren

    As I’ve been saying for many a year now:

    Q: What do you call a heavily-armed fanatic who is convinced that Barack Obama is a Marxist Kenyan moslem?

    A: A police officer.

    Q2: What do you call a heavily-armed fanatic with hundreds of heavily-armed followers who is convinced that Barack Obama is a Marxist Kenyan moslem?

    A2: An officer in the United States Army.

  123. 123.

    mclaren

    @mclaren:

    Fuck Jeb Fucking “Republican party needs to change tone” Bush – Shut . the . fuck . up First I’ve heard. Not that I’d give a shit what the enabling brother of a fucking blood-soaked, nation-wrecking asshole (of such magnitude that even the most brilliant, talented writer could not have written the Bush presidency as a fiction), thinks. I was there, all 8 terrifying years. You and your tribe. And now, this. Here we are.

    Don’t think Jeb’s gonna go anywhere politically. The comment I heard about Jeb Bush from a life-long Republican was: “Three generations of imbeciles is enough!”

  124. 124.

    someguy

    It’s good we’ve got some right-thinking veterans here but the sad truth is the Officer class and about 75% of the enlisted class in the military are straight up fuckin’ wingnut and the government should be keeping tabs on them. They’re basically a red state fifth column.

Comments are closed.