Bush says maneuvers not his business

Gov. George W. Bush, R-Texas, says it is not his job to get involved
in the concerns over Army Night Stalkers using live ammunition in a
civilian area of his state.

The Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina,
has
confirmed Operation Last Dance began in Kingsville Feb. 8 and has been
continuing in other small towns near Corpus Christi.

Little warning was given to civilians in Kingsville prior to the
event that has prompted some to seek crisis intervention counseling.

Angry citizens are now calling for the dismissal of the police chief
and his assistant.

The exercise involved the elite forces of the 160th Special
Operations Aviation Regiment — the Night Stalkers. A specially trained
helicopter regiment stationed in both Fort Campbell, Kentucky and Hunter
Army Airfield, Georgia.

Night Stalkers got their name because of their special training to
fly just over tree tops at high speeds in the dark. They were on just
such a training mission in Kingsville last week.

Eight black helicopters roared into town, with one nearly crashing as
it hit the top of a telephone pole and started a fire near a residence.
The soldiers on board staged a mock raid on two empty buildings, using
real explosives and live ammunition in machine guns. The two-hour gun
battle has residents and some officials furious — and some scared to
death by what they heard and saw.

Police Chief Felipe Garza and Mayor Phil Esquivel were the only city
officials in Kingsville involved in approving the military training
exercise. At least one other Texas Mayor turned the military away for a
similar request and accused them of offering a bribe.

Both Garza and Esquivel have refused to provide details, insisting
that they were sworn to secrecy by the Army.

Numerous attempts were made to find out the reaction of Bush. When
WorldNetDaily contacted his office, aides were not aware of Operation
Last Dance. On Monday an aide acknowledged that calls had been coming in
about the event, but no statement had been issued by Bush.

Late on Monday a public relations spokeswoman called with a
response.

“Apparently you need to contact Fort Bragg if you need more
information about this,” she said. “Apparently in these types of
exercises the Army goes through local law enforcement and local
officials and not through the state.

“So this really isn’t an issue that would be dealt with by the
governor’s office. We’re going to look into it further, but at this
point all I can tell you is that you need to contact Fort Bragg for more
information. According to the Army, they have notified local law
enforcement in all the communities that they are doing these exercises
in,” she told WorldNetDaily.

Kingsville is not the only place to experience Operation Last Dance.
Other Texas communities are also witnessing similar events.Tomas Sanchez, emergency management coordinator for the Federal
Emergency Management Agency is not pleased about what happened in
his town. Yesterday he met with county commissioners in a special
session to brief them on his own investigation.

Sanchez was not notified of the exercise in advance. The police claim
they were engaged in a hazardous materials training drill with the Army;
however the fire department and Sanchez were not included in that
training. Sanchez does not believe the police department claims and told
WorldNetDaily that there is a group asking for the removal of Garza and
his assistant.

Sanchez is a highly decorated Vietnam veteran with 30 years service
in Navy intelligence work. He has worked with Special Operations and
knows how they operate. He was asked by WorldNetDaily to describe
the nature of the training mission.

“I can tell you specifically. In my humble opinion, based on my
background, the scenario if I were creating this ops plan,” he
described. He gave his belief as to the scenario the Night Stalkers
were working under.

“Martial law has been declared through presidential powers and war
powers act, and some citizens have refused to give up their weapons.
They have taken over two of the buildings in Kingsville. The police
cannot handle it. So you call these guys in. They show up and they
zap everybody, take all the weapons, and let the local P.D. clean it
up,” he said.

“In urban warfare, the militarization of the police, this thing got
out of order. The citizens did not comply with executive order so
and so. They refused to give up their weapons,” he re-emphasized.

Sanchez and other military experts questioned by WorldNetDaily all
pointed to Presidential Decision Directive 25 as the document being
used to authorize the military to participate in domestic police
action. PDD 25 is classified as Top Secret, and even Sen. Orrin
Hatch was unable to obtain a copy as chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee. Only a brief summary is available to the
public.

Sanchez and others believe the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act has been
eliminated by PDD 25. The posse comitatus act forbids the use of the
military as a domestic police force.

“That was a big issue a few years ago, because when they set this
thing up back a few years ago, the legal folks, the jack folks were
saying, ‘Hey, that may have applied one time, but no more. It
doesn’t apply anymore.’ So that’s the reason,” explained Sanchez.

“They kind of give them the carte blanche where they can do what
they want to do. They are guaranteed they will not be tried under
the uniform code of military justice. They’re exempt. There’s no way
to nail these guys. Even if we got them to court they would get
presidential pardons,” said Sanchez.

“It’s a done deal. I think there’s some U.N. folks involved in this
thing too,” he added.

Sanchez, 56, is now a lieutenant colonel in the Texas State Guard. He
says
that he takes the oath he raised his hand to very seriously.

“You know, we took an oath when we got sworn in to defend the
country against foreign and domestic enemies. It doesn’t say what
kind of domestic enemies. It could include guys in black uniforms in
the assassination squads and so on,” he declared.

Sanchez was cleared for top secret clearance and was what he calls a
“spook” for Naval Intelligence. One of the most decorated veterans
of Vietnam, he was disabled and wounded in action. He survived two
plane crashes and other close brushes with death.

In the Navy he was assigned the responsibility to find bad officers
and bad military police. He says he is just continuing to do what he
once did for the Navy.

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David M. Bresnahan, a contributing editor for WorldNetDaily.com, is the author of “Cover Up: The Art and Science of Political Deception,” and offers a monthly newsletter “Talk USA Investigative Reports.”
He may be reached through email and also maintains a website.