I think its time that we as a people take back our freedoms and get government were it belongs, protecting us and making our lives better.
This is a quote.
Boy Killed in Drug War That Is Not A War
U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey insists that the Drug War
really isn't a War at all. "Wars are waged with weapons and
soldiers," he has said. "Furthermore, we do not wage battles
against our own children, spouses, colleagues, and
neighbors."
Yet somehow children, spouses, colleagues, and neighbors
persist in getting themselves shot and killed in this
non-War.
One of the latest is 11-year-old Alberto Sepulveda, shot to
death by a California SWAT team one minute after an
early-morning raid on his family's Modesto home, September
13.
The SWAT team was serving a federal arrest warrant for
Alberto's father, on drug charges. The "serving" began with
police smashing the front door down and hurling a smoke bomb
into the home. Eleven-year-old Alberto was shot in the back
of the head by a police shotgun while he lay face-down on his
bedroom floor, as police commanded him to do. Police say the
shooting was an accident.
The Orange County Register described the raid as a
"military-style assault on citizens." Yet such paramilitary
Drug War raids are remarkably common -- there have been
thousands during the past few years. And, according to law
professor Peter Kraska of Eastern Kentucky University, there
have been at least 230 incidents nationwide during the past
five years in which someone was injured or killed during
military-style SWAT team assaults on private residences.
Sharon Dolovich of UCLA's School of Law told about some of
these victims in the Los Angeles Times after Alberto's
killing.
Mario Paz was asleep with her husband in their Compton,
California home at 11 pm in August 1999 when 20 SWAT team
members blasted the locks off the front and back doors and
raided the home. Paz was shot twice in the back. There was no
warrant, no drugs were found, no drug charges were made.
Ismael Mena, a 45-year-old Denver father of nine, was shot
and killed September 1999 in his bedroom by SWAT team raiders
assaulting the wrong home.
Ramon Gallardo of Dinuba, Calif., was shot 15 times in 1997
by a SWAT team searching for his son.
Rev. Accelyne Williams of Boston, 75, was so terrified by a
Boston SWAT team raid on his home in 1994 that he died of a
heart attack. Oops, sorry -- the SWAT team had raided the
wrong apartment.
Texas police during a no-knock raid in December 1999 smashed
down the door of Troy Davis. He had a gun in his hand, and
police immediately shot him in the chest. (His gun was
legal.)
There are many similar stories. And of course, families and
individuals who are not shot on such raids are often severely
terrified and traumatized -- even though, under U.S. law,
they are presumed innocent.
There are about 30,000 SWAT teams nationwide. SWAT teams,
says Dolovich, "were originally intended for use in emergency
situations, hostage-takings, bomb threats and the like.
Trained for combat, their arsenals (often provided cut rate
or free of charge by the Pentagon) resemble those of small
armies: automatic weapons, armored personnel carriers and
even grenade launchers.
"Today, however, SWAT units are most commonly used to execute
drug warrants, frequently of the 'no-knock' variety, which
are issued by judges and magistrates when there is reason to
suspect that the 4th Amendment's 'knock and announce'
requirement, already perfunctorily applied, would be
dangerous or futile, or would give residents time to destroy
incriminating evidence.
"The state's interest in protecting evidence of drug crimes
from destruction, or even in preventing the escape of
suspected drug felons, does not justify the threat to
individual safety, security and peace of mind that the use of
these tactics represents. On this, the now-famous image of a
terrified Elian facing an armed INS agent speaks volumes.
Even when no shot is fired, these raids leave in their wake
families traumatized by memories of an armed invasion by
government agents.
"Such raids are the hallmark of police states, not free
societies."
"The real tragedy here is the fact that deaths like Alberto's
will occur again," said Libertarian Party of California
spokesman Juan Ros. "The Drug War has turned local police
into dangerous paramilitary forces with autonomous,
centralized bureaucracies and military-style armaments."
(Sources: Libertarian Party of California; Orange County
Register; Denver Rocky Mountain News; Los Angeles Times;
Sacramento Bee; Media Awareness Project)
This is a quote.
Boy Killed in Drug War That Is Not A War
U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey insists that the Drug War
really isn't a War at all. "Wars are waged with weapons and
soldiers," he has said. "Furthermore, we do not wage battles
against our own children, spouses, colleagues, and
neighbors."
Yet somehow children, spouses, colleagues, and neighbors
persist in getting themselves shot and killed in this
non-War.
One of the latest is 11-year-old Alberto Sepulveda, shot to
death by a California SWAT team one minute after an
early-morning raid on his family's Modesto home, September
13.
The SWAT team was serving a federal arrest warrant for
Alberto's father, on drug charges. The "serving" began with
police smashing the front door down and hurling a smoke bomb
into the home. Eleven-year-old Alberto was shot in the back
of the head by a police shotgun while he lay face-down on his
bedroom floor, as police commanded him to do. Police say the
shooting was an accident.
The Orange County Register described the raid as a
"military-style assault on citizens." Yet such paramilitary
Drug War raids are remarkably common -- there have been
thousands during the past few years. And, according to law
professor Peter Kraska of Eastern Kentucky University, there
have been at least 230 incidents nationwide during the past
five years in which someone was injured or killed during
military-style SWAT team assaults on private residences.
Sharon Dolovich of UCLA's School of Law told about some of
these victims in the Los Angeles Times after Alberto's
killing.
Mario Paz was asleep with her husband in their Compton,
California home at 11 pm in August 1999 when 20 SWAT team
members blasted the locks off the front and back doors and
raided the home. Paz was shot twice in the back. There was no
warrant, no drugs were found, no drug charges were made.
Ismael Mena, a 45-year-old Denver father of nine, was shot
and killed September 1999 in his bedroom by SWAT team raiders
assaulting the wrong home.
Ramon Gallardo of Dinuba, Calif., was shot 15 times in 1997
by a SWAT team searching for his son.
Rev. Accelyne Williams of Boston, 75, was so terrified by a
Boston SWAT team raid on his home in 1994 that he died of a
heart attack. Oops, sorry -- the SWAT team had raided the
wrong apartment.
Texas police during a no-knock raid in December 1999 smashed
down the door of Troy Davis. He had a gun in his hand, and
police immediately shot him in the chest. (His gun was
legal.)
There are many similar stories. And of course, families and
individuals who are not shot on such raids are often severely
terrified and traumatized -- even though, under U.S. law,
they are presumed innocent.
There are about 30,000 SWAT teams nationwide. SWAT teams,
says Dolovich, "were originally intended for use in emergency
situations, hostage-takings, bomb threats and the like.
Trained for combat, their arsenals (often provided cut rate
or free of charge by the Pentagon) resemble those of small
armies: automatic weapons, armored personnel carriers and
even grenade launchers.
"Today, however, SWAT units are most commonly used to execute
drug warrants, frequently of the 'no-knock' variety, which
are issued by judges and magistrates when there is reason to
suspect that the 4th Amendment's 'knock and announce'
requirement, already perfunctorily applied, would be
dangerous or futile, or would give residents time to destroy
incriminating evidence.
"The state's interest in protecting evidence of drug crimes
from destruction, or even in preventing the escape of
suspected drug felons, does not justify the threat to
individual safety, security and peace of mind that the use of
these tactics represents. On this, the now-famous image of a
terrified Elian facing an armed INS agent speaks volumes.
Even when no shot is fired, these raids leave in their wake
families traumatized by memories of an armed invasion by
government agents.
"Such raids are the hallmark of police states, not free
societies."
"The real tragedy here is the fact that deaths like Alberto's
will occur again," said Libertarian Party of California
spokesman Juan Ros. "The Drug War has turned local police
into dangerous paramilitary forces with autonomous,
centralized bureaucracies and military-style armaments."
(Sources: Libertarian Party of California; Orange County
Register; Denver Rocky Mountain News; Los Angeles Times;
Sacramento Bee; Media Awareness Project)
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