Former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld speaking at CPAC 2011 in Washington, D.C. Jose Padilla, a man held as an “enemy combatant”, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate a lawsuit that accuses government officials, including Rumsfeld, of torturing him in a military prison. (Photo by Gage Skidmore)
(TFC) – Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld believes that looting is the transition to freedom. He spoke about it at length in a press conference hosted at the Pentagon. He said:
“While no one condones looting, on the other hand, one can understand the pent-up feelings that may result from decades of repression and people who have had members of their family killed by that regime, for them to be taking their feelings out on that regime.”
Of course, he said this in 2003 when he was trying to downplay the behavior of “good looters” in Baghdad that had lashed out against a regime that employed security services that seemed to kill without accountability. According to UPI, Rumsfeld said that looting was:
“a natural consequence of the transition from a dictatorship to a free country.”
In the same press conference, Brigadier General Vincent Brooks advised against using overwhelming force to contain the looting because it sparks defiance. He said it would probably upset locals if troops
“simply imposed control on the population, that wouldn’t achieve the desired effect. We wouldn’t be everywhere and we might also alienate [the] population.”
To be clear, the government’s position is that it’s perfectly OK to use the boot of military force on civilians domestically, but not in a war zone. Let that sink in.
The use of militarized police in this country is reaching proportions that are, as General Brooks warned, going to alienate the population and create additional unrest. This is a point in American history where we may already be past the point of no return. It seems unlikely that police departments will be willing to reverse their position in regards to militarized police. It seems unlikely that the American people will grow to accept the continued presence of uniformed thugs that can kill with impunity.
Eventually, the immovable force will meet the immovable object in an engagement that will grow out of control. Baltimore may very well be the start of that conflict.