Please send as far and wide as possible. Thanks, Robert Sterling Editor, The Konformist http://www.konformist.com If you are interested in a free subscription to The Konformist Newswire, please visit http://www.eGroups.com/list/konformist/ and sign up. Or, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject: "I NEED 2 KONFORM!!!" (Okay, you can use something else, but it's a kool catch phrase.) Visit the Klub Konformist at Yahoo!: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/klubkonformist Subj: Protesters vs Jerry Brown -- "Urban Warrior" From: Das GOAT "[Protestors] were videotaped by police officers toting shoulder-mounted cameras and clad in riot helmets. Along with the California Highway Patrol, police were paid overtime to monitor protesters and escort [the Marines] ..." War Games Come Ashore In East Bay Chanting protesters greet Marines and helicopters by Henry K. Lee and Laura Hamburg San Francisco Chronicle, March 16, 1999 Marines clad in combat fatigues and toting M-16 rifles came by the hundreds yesterday, landing on the shores of Alameda by helicopter and Hovercraft as the roar of the machines all but drowned out the chants of sign-waving protesters. The weeklong Urban Warrior combat simulation came to town, and the landing of 550 troops by sea and by air was as much a chance for the Marine Corps and Navy to showcase their technology as it was a platform for peaceniks and environmentalists to rally against the military might. The exercises, designed to test humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and urban combat readiness in a 21st century coastal environment, will begin today at the former Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland. Yesterday morning, all eyes were on the former Alameda Naval Air Station as the Marines alighted within view -- but out of earshot -- of more than 100 protesters. At 8:45 a.m. yesterday, several Navy Landing Craft Air Cushions, or Hovercraft, skipped across the water and roared toward the former military base, sending plumes of water 100 feet into the air. But the amphibious leviathans paused just before landing at Seaplane Lagoon to let two huge CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters land and deposit the troops riding inside. The choppers, each bearing two dozen Marines from the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard, sprayed a fine mist of water on the demonstrators lined up along another part of the lagoon. The sign-wavers were videotaped by Alameda police officers -- toting shoulder-mounted cameras and clad in riot helmets -- who, along with California Highway Patrol and Oakland police officers, were paid overtime to monitor protesters and escort troops to Oak Knoll. "You can't stop our spirit, it's strong like a mountain," protesters sang over the deafening roar of the Sea Stallions, which were later joined by CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters depositing more Marines. "It's like something out of 'Apocalypse Now,'" said Jeremy Ginzberg, an Oakland writer, as he watched Marines pour out of the helicopters a few hundred yards away. "It's a scam. This isn't about training to provide humanitarian relief. The Marines are about killing people and attacking innocent civilians." The gas-turbined, 88-foot-long Hovercraft then made their noisy entrance, one by one sliding up a seaplane ramp. After their giant propellers stopped turning, their air bladders deflated, allowing troops to unload trucks, Humvees and boom guns. The din created by the Hovercraft contrasted sharply with the silent passage at one point of the Navy's Sea Shadow, a 164-foot stealth ship designed to be invisible to enemy radar. "Absolutely flawless," Marine Colonel Mark Thiffault said of the deployment under overcast skies that quickly gave way to sunshine. "The helicopters came, the weather cooperated, we've got the Hovercraft. Precision timing -- you couldn't ask for anything better." An hour before the troops landed, members of religious, environmental and peace groups marched peacefully through the defunct air station. Chanting, "Child care, not warfare," they carried 12-foot-tall papier-mache puppets, drummed a funky beat on bongos and waved cardboard helicopters with signs reading, "How many school books could Urban Warrior buy?" Demonstrators said they were appalled by the "invasion" and said it was nothing more than a glitzy recruitment drive masquerading as a training exercise, a charge the Marines denied. The protesters were joined on the shores by a handful of spectators who cheered the Marine landing and sported thumbs-up signs as the helicopters thundered overhead. Wayne Morris of San Leandro said the Marines were training to "protect my rear end." The landing yesterday was relatively anticlimactic given the controversy that preceded Urban Warrior. Initial plans to use San Francisco's Presidio were nixed by the National Park Service, worried about the size of the operation. In Monterey, environmentalists successfully blocked the military from using Hovercraft in an amphibious landing during the weekend. And in the East Bay, protesters charged that the Hovercraft would stir up 40 years' worth of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, and solvents resting in the sediment of San Francisco Bay. Yesterday afternoon, about a dozen protesters picketed Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown's home near Jack London Square. Wearing Jerry Brown masks, they berated the mayor for inviting the Marines to come ashore with little input from the public and city leaders. Brown was not at home. "We want to show the multiple personalities of Jerry Brown -- the good, the bad and the ugly," said Ann Beier of Oakland. "The question is which Jerry Brown is in office now?'' 22 War Game Protesters Arrested at City Hall by Thaai Walker and Laura Hamburg San Francisco Chronicle, March 17, 1999 Twenty-two demonstrators were arrested at Oakland City Hall yesterday afternoon during a raucous protest of the military's Urban Warrior exercises in the city this week. The protesters, who police say stormed the mayor's office around 3:40 p.m. and demanded to see Mayor Jerry Brown, allegedly assaulted an office aide and barricaded themselves in Brown's office before police arrived. Brown was not in the office at the time. Two officers were doused with pepper spray and a police captain was slightly injured during a fracas that ensued when police pushed their way into the office, police said. The arrests were protested by about 100 demonstrators who packed last night's City Council meeting and demanded the protesters' release -- and the Marines' withdrawal from Oakland. Those demonstrators took their protest from the council meeting to the streets and staged another rally outside the Oakland city jail. The group that took over Brown's office was protesting the mayor's decision to allow the Marines to conduct urban military combat simulations, group organizers said. The group is "angry at the impact the Marines are having on the community -- the noise, the intimidation, the message it sends," said Gabriel Hernandez, a protest organizer who was among those arrested. "If the government is going to spend $4.5 million," he said, referring to the amount of money military officials say the operation will pump into the East Bay economy, "they should spend it on Oakland schools." ______________________________________________________________ URBAN WARFARE EXERCISES The East Bay portion of a simulated military combat operation began yesterday with the landing of troops in Alameda and continues this week in Oakland. The joint Marines' Urban Warrior and Navy's Fleet Battle Experiment Echo program is a large-scale test of 21st century warfare in a coastal urban environment. Oakland/Alameda: In Oakland, 700 troops conduct disaster relief, humanitarian assistance and urban combat exercises this week at the former Oak Knoll Naval Hospital and the former Alameda Naval Air Station. They are supported by 6,000 Marines and sailors aboard five ships offshore: the Coronado, the Bonhomme Richard, the Port Royal, the John Paul Jones and the Pearl Harbor. Hovercraft and CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters are used at the former Alameda NAS, now called Alameda Point. UH-1 Huey and CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters are flown to Oak Knoll. Concord: Reconnaissance operations take place at the Concord Naval Weapons Station, where Marines test a remote-controlled, four-wheel all-terrain vehicle called Flyer. Moffett Field: Teams test a precision intelligent targeting system called Viper, which uses binoculars fitted with global-positioning systems and a laser range-finder to mark enemy targets for later destruction by gunfire. Marines also test an unmanned aerial vehicle fitted with cameras and target recognition systems to enable it to hunt and destroy targets without risking friendly forces. Jack London Square: Following the military combat operation, the "Forward From the Sea" exposition will be held Friday through Sunday at Jack London Square in Oakland. It includes military bands, AV-8B Harrier and powered parafoil demonstrations and ship tours. --Source: U.S. Marine Corps The AP version, for national consumption: "[Protestors] in the mayor's office were not peaceful,'' said Brown's chief of staff. 22 Arrested at Jerry Brown's Office OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Twenty-two people protesting military exercises in the city were arrested when they stormed Mayor Jerry Brown's office and allegedly disconnected phones and computers. Two of the demonstrators were charged with felony robbery and the rest will face misdemeanor charges, said Van Jones, an attorney representing them. Brown would have been willing to meet with the demonstrators if they had behaved reasonably, said Gilda Gonzales, the mayor's chief of staff. ``These people who were in the mayor's office were not peaceful,'' said Gonzales. Jones said the protesters were sprayed with Mace and three were injured. The City Council split 4-4 last week in a vote expressing concern that it wasn't consulted when Brown welcomed the war games. Some 800 troops are involved in the $4.5 million Urban Warrior Advanced Warfighting Experiment in Oakland, part of a national program that included Marine landings in Monterey Bay. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ eGroups Spotlight: "The Skinny" - Skullyboy's Hollywood and Music World Gossip. http://offers.egroups.com/click/248/1 eGroup home: http://www.eGroups.com/list/konformist Free Web-based e-mail groups by eGroups.com
