Thoughts On The Bundy Ranch Exercise

Maybe I am just a bit too cynical sometimes.  But this entire episode down in Bunkerville, NV has me wondering.  I know it was all "claimed" to be about protecting the endangered Desert Tortoise habitat.  But do you really protect the tortoises habitat by stampeding cattle over it with a helicopter?  In a round-up of cattle, I can see the government contracting cowboys, and putting them in BLM vests.  But the BLM 'Rangers' I saw in several videos were wearing body armour under their uniforms, and desert combat boots.

To me, it all appeared as if they were intentionally pushing to get a violent reaction.  Why else would you use what looked so much like former military personnel with dogs to escort a small convoy of dump trucks and a backhoe?  A dog wearing its harness, and being worked towards people who are being ordered to "Back up, or you will be bitten" in my mind is the same as someone approaching you with a drawn firearm.  Provocation, and possibly escalation would have played right into the hands of whoever was pulling the government strings.  What better excuse to call in troops, and possibly even declare Martial Law, than to claim there was an armed assault against  government agents 'performing their duties'?

I truly think that someone in a controlling position was truly hoping for some sort of confrontation bigger than what they received.  If thousands of civilians had arrived at the Bundy Ranch armed and ready to fight then almost any action against them could have been spun as some sort of 'domestic terrorist' organization that needed to be put down.  As it was, very little national mainstream media seemed to be covering the event.  A few hundred supporters did arrive on the scene but not enough to really fit the bill needed to create some major national wave of support for further erosions of our liberties.  So, the BLM backed down and returned the cattle they had already taken.

What bothers me  the most about this I think, is not the snipers perches around the property manned by government contractors, but the fact it had the feel more of a military exercise that had run its coarse.  The 'opposing force' had its organizational capabilities tested.  Drones were acquiring images of those on the ground, and no doubt facial recognition software was put to use to find any 'persons of interest'.  I would not doubt if at least one or two Stinger fake cell tower systems were used to pick-up and record any and all cell calls made in the area.  Phone numbers of the cell phones making the calls, the numbers receiving them, and any recorded conversations were no doubt analyzed.  This entire exercise provided the government with plenty of hard intel on a large number of people who were dedicated to freedom, and made then actually put themselves on a possible line of confrontation wiht the government.  Tell me Big Brother isn't interested in getting info on what they can now call 'dedicated' adversaries.  To me, BLM was just a pawn in a government exercise.

If only there had been a licensed Amateur Radio Operator there on the Bundy Ranch.  With only a Technician Class license (the most common entry level license class for Ham Radio operators) they could have mounted their own real time drone missions.  Flying relatively cheap radio controlled aircraft with amateur television broadcasting capabilities.  Can you imagine the effect of having actual real time images of what was going on just behind the ridge line behind those sniper perches?  It would have made things much more interesting for those on the ground, on both sides.  The video would have made for a much more difficult story to ignore for the national media.  But if they already had decided not to cover it, or only follow along with the governments story, it wouldn't have mattered.  But I am sure a relatively close-up shot of even one sniper perched above that ranch would have brought even more people in support of the Bundy family.  So maybe, in the long run it is a good thing that no one able to operate a remotely controlled aircraft camera was there.  Homeland Security might have gotten the clash they were exercising for.  Still, I think it might not be a bad investment for some liberty minded individual who can afford $1,000 or less for a small maneuverable drone surveillance system.

As I said, I truly think this was just an exercise.  Both in tactics, and disinformation, but also in reconnaisance of the possible enemy forces.  It could also just have been a feint, to get us all looking at Nevada over the past couple of weeks, and not elsewhere in the country.  Did we miss anything while our attention was focussed on Bunkerville?

Just some of the things buzzing through my head tonight.  I don't fear the government, just some of the bureaucrats in control of major portions of it.  What do you think?

Catch you on the road sometime...