Cops? Or Soldiers?

Americans have always been wary of military units acting as police officers, so one of the first things they did was called “Posse Comitatus,” which BANNED the military from acting as police officers. Thus impeded from using the army, they created their own army:  military-style units in their police ranks, called “SWAT Teams.” (“Special Weapons and Tactics”) that were trained and USED much the same way the military is used in other countries to police their citizens. They couldn’t USE the military for police work, so they trained COPS the same way as the military and gave them a “military mind-set,” which is to “kill people and break things” (according to Rush Limbaugh). They’re not supposed to be “beat cops,” although they have sometimes been used that way. They typically “burst in” using “flash-bang grenades” to create what Bush called “shock and awe” on their victims. This is not to criticize cops. It is to criticize making soldiers of cops and using them as such on usually unarmed, and sometimes innocent citizens, killing them if they so much as SHOW a defensive weapon (which they have a right to do if the cops don’t loudly identify themselves, which they often do not do). This is “the rise of the hob-nailed boot thugs” in police garb. It is the HALLMARK of the “police state.” This is where we’re going, today. (Wall St. Journal)