On Accountability - why law enforcement and the military need budget cuts and civilian oversight

I have written on modern special operations for nearly two decades. I know spec ops personnel including some high-speed Canadians. I also know a bunch of cops in the US and Canada. Most of them are prior-service. A few are my friends, others – I would not want them watering my plants, never mind having a dog. A weapon? Fuggedaboutit! Are you even serious?

There is an ever-increasing number of shitbags in spec ops (I cannot speak for the regular services) - I forget now who, but some SEAL’s book (Watson’s Point Man?) mentioned that elite units have the 10% shit factor – people who should not have made it, but somehow did.  I think that number has grown, notably because of the toxicity brought about by far-right extremists in politics and media (I am looking at you Fox Fake News). And Republicans and Libertarians (the latter isn’t even a proper political philosophy). It doesn’t help that Democrats are almost as bad, but at least they don’t tell women to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen and they don’t leave nooses hanging around or fly the traitor’s flag – the Stars and Bars.

Whatever happened to those SEALs flying a Trump flag on their Humvee? What about the murders committed by SEALs in the Forever Wars (The Intercept reported on this)? Or the murder of Green Beret SSG (Staff Sergeant) Logan Melgarby members of SEAL TEAM 6 and marines? Or the SEALs busted on drug trafficking and so on – just do some research and you will be shocked. 

This is not isolated to the US – Germany recently disbanded an entire company of its Navy SEALs (Kampfschwimmer) because of links to right wing extremism as well as the theft of war materiel. But the US has these problems on a far greater scale because we spent fortunes funding the the Pentagon, and with SOCOM (notably NAVSPECWAR) seemingly going rogue, and cops thinking they are warriors, it has become an overwhelming problem.... What must it be like in the regular services or police departments, given what we are seeing in SOCOM? White domestic terrorists are a real danger - not protesters. And no, ANTIFA is not a terrorist organization or even an organization. I am happy we have ANTIFA youth that is willing to take on shitbags on the streets. But I digress.

The Pentagon cannot account for 25% of its budget. And Congress is a willing accomplice in this – no doubt their buddies and families make fortunes off us taxpayers (Feinstein is just one of the many). And then there are the mercs – I cannot think of too many worse things that have happened in our military than the move to privatization.  I know a bunch of mercs as well – some I even like. Erik Prince, a former SEAL, is just one of many making fortunes and increasing his reach and power. All of it stinks of corruption and a complete loss of a moral compass. But that’s what you get without accountability. The budgets of police are astronomical. Cops committing with egregious conduct are suspended with pay – are you kidding me?

We have a problem.

The more you know about special ops, the more you see a lack of accountability because of weak leadership and a total lack of respect for legal and civilian authority. This has clearly been brought forward and enflamed by Trump. He is not a ‘law and order’ president - he is not presidential by any measure. Of course, not everything is his fault - his predecessors also allowed for the degeneration of the moral and ethical core of our fighting forces - extra-judicial murders of American citizens and suspected enemy personnel leading to innocent civilian deaths are part of this shocking decline of morality. Drone warfare leads to even greater moral decay and adds allies to the enemy. Never mind that Big Brother is actually watching us (thank you congress) and genuine patriots like Snowden get slammed.

And now we have militarized police, in camouflage uniforms and hiding their identities like cowards, abducting civilians clandestinely on the streets of Portland and who knows where else. You are not waging Hybrid Warfare on American streets – get a grip – you can and must disobey illegal orders. Are we in Russia or China? I know Trump loves Putin. There are a great many loud-mouths in his administration screeching all sorts of paeans – war songs about crushing, destroying, annihilating the evil leftist-socialist-seniors-communist-foreign-democrat-hippie-poor-minority destroyers of wonderful Rockwellian America as long as the Rockwellians make money for the few on top – I am reminded of the great Belgian artist Ensor work called Doctrinal Nourishment.

The murder of citizens by law enforcement is now being well documented. It too is the outcome of an underlying lack of respect certain police give to civilians. The entire “I am the law” bullshit (you are not Judge Dredd) and the false warrior ethos amongst cops is pathetic. You are not a warrior, you are there to protect and serve your fellow citizens – your neighbors. If you want to be a warrior, join the military – you can legally murder brown and black people overseas. Stop living in white enclaves like Simi Valley, CA, making 200K annually with OT, and then go to work elsewhere where people eke out a living at $10-15 an hour - if that - and you harass them because they are poor. Live in the neighborhoods you patrol – see what it is like to be poor. Over 100 million Americans do not have clean water and children are food insecure – think about that. Are you even serious? Police unions have contributed to the divide between the citizens and law enforcement by closing ranks against any kind of accountability or attempts at reform. As such they must be dismantled. Standards in recruitment, training and leadership must be low because of the way law enforcement conducts itself on our streets. What are they being taught? That we are the enemy – “us” versus “them”? Better to be tried by 12 than carried by six – and don’t worry, cops are never prosecuted anyway? 

As long as the military and law enforcement do not “police” themselves with proper accountability, civilians must step up by any means necessary? to redress the imbalance. Change comes from non-violent direct action they say, but what they forget is that change requires the threat of violence to move meaningful legislation ahead. The civil rights marches also featured the Black Panthers. Peace demonstrations during Vietnam also included violence – the National Guard infamously murdered students at Kent State. LGTBQ+ changes came about because of violence. Injustice means no peace. A lack of justice is moral bankruptcy. You know, like all the felons from the Trump administration, to name but a few crooks – the Democrats have theirs too.

Eventually it will be the civilians who will impose draconian changes that are necessary because neither law enforcement nor the military seeks to hold itself to a proper standard and accountability to the citizens they are supposed to serve. The military/law enforcement, the people and the government are intertwined – there is an interplay between the three components and you don’t need to know your Clausewitz to understand that. When the police and military or Congress become so corrupted by power that they threaten to destroy society, then society will inevitably destroy the military/police and the government. Read some history - and don’t buy it from Amazon if you don’t have to…

So clean your houses before it is done for you through the very painful way of cutting your budgets and firing and charging the worst offenders. Some of you soldiers, sailors, airmen and women, marines, and guards as well as law enforcement are contributing to the decline of America by your illegal and immoral actions. You are ruining it all, including for the men and women in uniform who actually do good work for us – it’s our society. 

Most of the people I know are good humans and professionals but there is an ever increasing number of shitbags. But I think that number has grown, notably so because of the toxic far right extremists in politics and media. The more you know about special ops the more you see a lack of accountability and a total lack of respect for legal authority. This has clearly been supported by Trump. He is not a law and order president - he is not presidential by any measure. Of course not everything is his fault - his predecessors also allowed for the degeneration of the moral and ethical core of our fighting forces - extra-judical murders of American citizens and SUSPECTED enemy personnel leading to innocent civilian deaths are part of this shocking decline of morality.