Like everyone else I was delighted that the Boston bombers were caught and relief was brought back to the city and the nation. However, knowing the rapid growth of a police state mentality in the US and being very distrustful of Barack Obama given his intimate association with far left organizers, I found the massive use of police and military after the bombing to be alarming and excessive.
I mention this keeping in mind that US gov't reports under the Obama administration that we have reported, have alleged that pro-lifers and Christians are being lumped into categories that represent potential terrorist threats to the United States.
To me, It did not make sense that the entire city had to be shut down, roads cleared and all citizens told to stay in their homes. It did not make sense that thousands of police and special riot and military forces and military equipment had to be employed to find just two young criminal terrorists. To me, this had all the appearances of a possible excuse to practice for something far more sinister in the future.
Yes, some brave police officers deserve our gratitude, but the gratitude needed balance considering the circumstances. The public may have been too caught up in all the drama and news reporting to comprehend this other disturbing picture.
What I soon found was that others were sharing my concerns not only about the overwhelming police and military presence, but as well about the disturbing tendency to downplay and even deny the obvious Islamist motivation of the bombers.
Below are excerpts from a few articles:
Did Barack Obama turn Boston into a police state to make a point to the world? – Sandrarose.com
Some believe that the Boston lockdown was just a test run ordered by a power hungry president who has no intentions of giving up his presidency without a fight.
Boston residents were forced to remain inside their homes — or ordered to evacuate their homes at gunpoint. The cost to shut down the entire city of Boston, including buses, trains, schools, grocery stores, gas stations and shopping malls, will tally in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The massive military show of force failed to find Dzhokhar Tsarnaev by the time the day-long lockdown was lifted.
Boston Bombing Lessons: Martial Law Doesn't Work – New American
Only after the curfew in Watertown, Massachusetts, was lifted and alert resident David Hanberry went outside his home to get a smoke, according to news reports, did the case of the Boston Marathon bombing manhunt for suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev crack open.
In essence, the lessons from the Boston Marathon mean that the following procedures employed in the week-long manhunt proved to be completely ineffective in apprehending Tsarnaev:
• House-to-house searches in a dragnet-style;
• Use of military-style helicopters across the state;
• Use of tanks and armored vehicles on the streets of Boston, Cambridge, Watertown, and New Bedford;
• Shutting down the city, except for limited coffee shops;
• Stopping all public transportation;
• Banning taxi service across the city of Boston; and
• Abandoning the federal Posse Comitatus law banning the use of soldiers in law enforcement.
Moreover, the use of curfews in a number of towns actually likely delayed apprehension of the suspect, as the curfew essentially took more than a million pairs of eyes off possible getaway scenes.
Police perform house-to-house raids in Waterdown MA
While it was unclear initially if the home searches were voluntary, it is now crystal clear that they were absolutely NOT voluntary. Police were filmed ripping people from their homes at gunpoint, marching the residents out with their hands raised in submission, and then storming the homes to perform their illegal searches. This was part of a larger operation that involved total lockdown of the suburban neighbor to Boston. Roads were barricaded and vehicle traffic was prohibited. A No-Fly Zone was declared over the town. People were “ordered” to stay indoors. Businesses were told not to open. National Guard soldiers helped with the lockdown, and were photographed checking IDs of pedestrians on the streets. All the while, police were performing these disgusting house-to-house searches.
Has Watertown Made Warrantless Searches The 'New Normal'? – CNSNews.com
Seemingly, for the first time in the United States, we witnessed paramilitary-garbed law enforcement personnel forcing residents out of their homes at gunpoint. In some cases, the language used by law enforcement was menacing.
Because of the hysteria that comes after any terror event, the American people wanted the perpetrators caught and, in doing so, appeared to have allowed their rights against unlawful search and seizure to not be suspended, but removed.
The police came to people's homes, ordered them to leave immediately at the point of a gun in some cases, and then entered their place of residence. It's never “consensual” when the person asking you for something has a gun in his hand. “Probable cause” is convenient, but in this case, very arbitrary.
When citizens are searched by pat-down, rousted out of their homes, and we end up thanking the police with blind understanding, the government has essentially found an acceptable means to take more of our rights away without even one politician having to cast a vote.
These past events in Watertown have set a precedent.
The police can now enter our homes anytime they want. It just requires a verbal massaging of the circumstance. After all, who ever heard of “shelter-in-place” before Friday, April 19, 2013?
If the government can order us to stay in our homes, it looks like it can throw us out of them any time it wants… at the point of a gun.