"Citizen, Can I See Your ID."
by Al Martin

What has not been explained to the American people is the reason why 35,000 Army Reservists and 65,000 National Guard have been called up. It is to maintain internal checkpoints. It has nothing to do with the external "War on Terrorism." All of these people are being trained at the US Army School of Urban Control at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. CNN actually showed an urban training mock-up, what they're training on, and what the new Internal Security checkpoint is going to look like. It was mighty sinister looking.

There was a barrier that went across the road. To the right was an elevated shed like structure, elevated perhaps fifteen feet in the air. It had a small second story that was open. On it was a sign that read "Homeland Security Internal Checkpoint." There were sandbags and the wooden arm that crossed the road read "100% ID Checked." Then there was a small shed to the right with a small barbed wire area behind that. On this structure was a sign, which read, "All citizens not having proper identification will be detained. All foreign nationals will be detained. All citizens who are deemed to be acting in a suspicious manner will be detained." At each of these posts there will be six armed Army or National Guard reservists with M-16's with full field kit. On top of the structure to the rear, the open structure on top, there's a man with a machine gun emplacement.

They showed the actual mockup used for training purposes. They had new uniforms. They weren't in their regular uniforms. It's a new gray uniform with a gray helmet and a visor so you can't see their eyes. The only thing you can see is from their lips down because they said that's "to prevent any retribution" from people who don't like this new idea.

This uniform looked exactly like the Imperial Storm Troopers from "Star Wars" except instead of white, it was gray. All the helmets have little transceivers so they can communicate with each other. There will be six guards at each internal security checkpoint. And there's another warning on the inside of the barbed wire enclosure, "Any detainees attempting to escape will be shot." It was a yellow and red sign inside the detainment area.

The only person who actually spoke on camera during this story was a sergeant, an Army Reservist sergeant. You could tell that he completely disagreed with what was going on. You couldn't hear the question being asked, but he was looking at the camera and he said, "We're here to protect the people." Then he put his head down and shook his head, and you could tell he didn't believe a word of what he was saying -- like it was some big frigging joke.

Then they showed the procedure they were using to train these guys. An average American car, like a Ford or a Chevy, drives up and there's supposed to be a husband and wife in the front seat and a couple of kiddies in the back. So they drive up to the checkpoint, and the corporal comes up to the car and says, "May I see your identification, citizen."

They call everyone "citizen." I swear to God, I'm not making this up. Then the guy asks for his driver's license, then something else and something else. Then he says, "Very good, citizen."

There's a spot on the gate that goes across the road that they had x-ed out. But you could tell what it said because the sergeant alluded to it. It said, "All citizens are required to present their National Identification Cards." But they left it blank as a black spray-painted out spot because the legislation for that hasn't happened yet.

The big sign on the side of the one and half story shed with the machine gun nest on top said "Homeland Security Internal Checkpoint." And now we're all supposed to say, "Hail the Republic." That's the new mantra. They showed a bunch of guys being trained at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, probably enlisted and reservists and such. And they kept raising up their right arm saying, "Hail the Republic."

The sergeant even said that they are duplicating the ancient Roman Legions salute to Caesar, using the right arm upraised with the fist. Instead of "Hail Caesar," though they say, "Hail the Republic."

This is what's coming. People don't believe it or people don't understand it but when 80% of the people support whatever "security" measures are necessary.

What does it all mean? We all better start worrying when George Bush starts to play the fiddle.

Congress is supposed to be recessed for the rest of the year, but they will be giving the Administration extraordinary wartime authority -- pursuant to all remaining legislation. In other words, they will simply allow the Administration to act under pending statutes. They are simply going to transfer to the Administration emergency wartime power to act under bills, which are still pending, even though they haven't been passed.

The implication is that we will be under a defacto state of martial law soon. There are 100,000 military being trained for these internal security checkpoints.

When they were showing the lines of enlisted and reserve people being trained in this camp, with M-16s in their hands, I can tell you I don't think any of them would hesitate to shoot at American citizens. I think they're being indoctrinated. The indoctrination they're going through is obvious. The enlisted people are being told by the drill sergeant that they are being given extraordinary authority that "your job is to protect the security of the State at all costs."

There is a direct parallel between the old Soviet Union and the East Bloc and what we are doing. We are establishing internal travel restrictions on the American people. We are essentially following the Soviet textbook. In the Soviet Communist Bloc, for example, there were checkpoints in every city. You had to have what's called an "internal travel visa." You had to have that visa stamped at every checkpoint in every city. Then they checked you out at every entrance to every city. Then if you checked out, they would affix a visa stamp and charge you ten marks for it. It was a real racket.

What will be interesting to see is what kind of a racket is going to go along with these internal security check points. In other words, how much of a "toll" are they going to charge? They're going to have to do something to pay for all of this and one of the obvious ways to pay for it would be to charge everyone a one or two dollar "toll."

And this is what we should be looking forward to - toll booths around the nation. They're not saying this yet, but obviously in an effort to pay for this, there's going to be some sort of a "security tax." Since this system is incredibly cumbersome (having to stop every single vehicle and check identification) and we've been taught to be suspicious of driver's licenses because it's so easy to obtain false driver's licenses, the implication is that national security cards are the only thing that will eventually be accepted as identification. The further implication is that in order to accommodate traffic (this will create traffic jams miles and miles long), there would be a separate line for those carrying pre-approved internal visas whose allegiance to the government has already been checked.

The sergeant on the news report said that all the people involved (100,000 military people) are being forced to swear new loyalty oaths to the United States. He just mentioned the government's overall policy, which Bush talked about last week, that all federal civilian employees are going to have to take new oaths of allegiance to the "Republic." And that extends to some members of the military who will be involved in internal security.

Surprisingly enough all these border checks, you would think, would be handled directly by the military - or under the auspices of the military. They're not. They're under the auspices of "Homeland Security." What it means is that you have 100,000 troops (reservists and national guards people) based in the United States, which will be seconded to the Office of Homeland Security. Their ultimate jurisdiction is being transferred from the Department of Defense to the Office of Homeland Security.

In other words, the Office of Homeland Security is gaining a militarized division of 100,000 troops.

It's finally getting some of the liberals nervous. But it's coming. Day after day, they're showing polls that seventy to eighty percent of the American people are prepared to approve whatever security measures are "necessary" to "fight terrorism."

MILITARY FRAUD DEPT.: According to the Friendly Colonel, the Redstone Arsenal base commander was chortling over the fact that the accuracy of the missile strikes in Afghanistan thus far was 37%. He was actually chortling on how "high" the accuracy rate has been. The general's exact words were that "the defense contractors will get paid as long as the things go off and hit the right country."

Also, the Friendly Colonel realizes the reason the FBI didn't stop all those weapons shipments from Huntsville Alabama (See previous story http://www.almartinraw.com/column22.html)

What they were doing was pre-positioning materiel in Pakistan. That leads one to the conclusion which he had already made earlier - that somebody knew this war was going to happen, possibly as long as six months ago (May 2001). In other words, they didn't know specifically the target, but somebody thought it likely that a "terrorist event" would happen that would precipitate a response by the US in Afghanistan.

And Where Did the "Mushrooms" Go? (See previous column http://www.almartin.raw/column32.html) They were intended for use by US armed forces. In other words, they were pre-staging supplies. That's where the "mushrooms" (anti-personnel land mines) went. He got an explanation how these "mushrooms" are used by Special Forces when they are clearing an area. When an area is being swept, they drop this weapons system behind them - to protect their rear and also to prevent anyone else from re-infiltrating an are which has already been cleared. The specific use of these mushrooms is in a sweep operation. When forces sweep an area and they don't want the area re-infiltrated they leave this passive weapons system behind. These weapons are principally used in an urban warfare environment.

The only correlation that can be made is that there would be an attack against the United States of sufficient size which would warrant a response, hence the predisposition of these weapons system, like these mushrooms which are under intense international criticism by an anti-land mine group in London.

The general also said that they're "re-ordering missiles like crazy - the Cruise and Tomahawk missiles." They are being reordered and Rockwell is building them as fast as they can. Cruise Missiles are about $1.6 million each, and the Tomahawks, which are larger, longer range, more advanced with a heavier payload, are about $3.5 million each.

He estimated that about 300 missiles have been used so far. It's not big money, but these missile systems are extremely profitable to build. They have a simple guidance system, a simple conventional explosive, and the micro-processors necessary for the look-forward view capacity is pretty simple. All they have to do is not hit the side of a mountain on the way to their target…

MEDIA DEPT.: According to a reliable inside source, all the mainstream media outlets have received a confidential memorandum from the White House asking that they change the monikers they're using "Homeland Security" to "Home Front Security." Apparently they believe that "Home Front Security" sounds more patriotic and less sinister than "Home Land Security."

They have also asked the media not to show any more footage of the urban training and internal security checkpoints and to minimize the coverage of any "future" troop movements within the United States. The implication is that when these internal security checkpoints get set up, there will be a lot of movement of troops, helicopters, etc. So as not to disturb the domestic tranquility of the people by telling the people the truth, the government is asking the media to limit coverage of any domestic troop movements.

All the media will comply because they're all dying to jump on the government line. MSNBC has in fact changed their moniker form "Homeland Security" to "Home Front Security." "Home Front" is more homey sounding and much more patriotic. It strikes a chord with a lot of people especially older people who remember this being so extensively used for security measures put in place during the Second World War.

EDUCATION/ INDOCTRINATION DEPT.: A warning of note -- Mothers of America beware. Last week during National Patriotism Day, sixty million American schoolchildren were supposed to stand up and say the Pledge of Allegiance together.

There was a little known and briefly shown incident on TV about a teacher in New Jersey. He was a fifth grade teacher who changed the words of the Pledge of Allegiance from "I pledge allegiance to the flag" to "I pledge allegiance to the Office of Homeland Security." Subsequently it was noted that in his opinion children are never too young to be taught obedience to the State. It should also be noted that the teacher in question who professed to be a loyal Vietnam veteran with a flat top hairdo, a Marine Corps. tattoo on his arm and a Timex watch, and replete with a polyester tie. He rather looked like some sort of reject for the corner stool at the local VFW, when he explained that "he never saw a commie he didn't want to bomb."

HISTORY OF FBI ANTI-TERRORISM SUCCESS DEPT.: In 1995, pursuant to the first round of "anti-terrorism" legislation a/k/a HR1701, the FBI was given a special $300 million grant to track down terrorist assets worldwide.

After a five-year search and an expenditure of $300 million of American taxpayers' money, they managed to find one bank account belonging to the Hamas terrorist group. It was in a savings bank in New Jersey, and it had $17000 in it.

The Treasury Department's current pronouncements that the terrorist assets they're freezing every day is just so much nonsense. They're not giving us any details about who owns these accounts or how they know they're connected to terrorist groups. One of the accounts they seized in California? Upon further investigation, it turned out that the account with $346 in it was in fact the coffee and donut fund for the local Arab American Chamber of Commerce.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH DEPT.: Having gone out to the $8.99 All You Can Eat Chinese Buffet with a bunch of cohorts, we found out that unbeknownst to us, there was an FBI agent sitting in the booth nearby. He was there not in an official capacity, but just having dinner with his wife. Anyway, we were talking about the new Office of Homeland Security and what the internal checkpoints were going to look like and what the new parameters of our new National Identity cards will be and, of course, referencing George Bush as George "Never Saw a Document He Didn't Want to Shred" Bush. And we talked about the number of civil rights that the American people will be giving up in this new campaign against terrorism.

When we got up to leave, the FBI agent said to me, "Hey pal, best flap your gums while you can because a year from now I'll have the power to arrest you for such seditious talk."

He was wearing his FBI badge on the inside to ensure that he would get his 15% discount at the restaurant.

My pals are all older and they're afraid that they'll get their Social Security checks taken away from them for hanging out with me. Then I told the FBI agent that, "Hey, we're just speaking the truth." And he said, "Like I said, seditious talk."

So remember - the new government mantra is "Speaking the truth about government misdeeds and abuses of power equals sedition."

AS SEEN ON TV DEPT.: The new checkpoints have been established and they look just like the mockups that were shown on TV. There's a large red and yellow placard that says "Homeland Security Internal Checkpoint." You have to show your driver's license to go through and you're told that soon even that will not be sufficient. There was a company of National Guard setting up an ancillary facility. They had their new gray helmets with the visors on, so you couldn't see their eyes. And it is true. We went through the checkpoint.

And yes, they really do address you as "Citizen."


AL MARTIN is America's foremost whistleblower on government fraud and corruption. A retired US Navy Lt. Commander and former officer in the Office of Naval Intelligence, he has testified before Congress (the Kerry Committee and the Alexander Committee) regarding Iran-Contra. Al Martin is the author of "The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran Contra Insider" (2001, National Liberty Press, $19.95) He lives at an undisclosed location, since the criminals named in his book have been returned to national power and prominence.