The Nutty Side of Paranoia

Internment Camps

I do not know what exactly compels people to imagine conspiracy theories up, maybe it is a strong imagination mixed with paranoia, fear that someone or something is out to get them, but I think this one takes the cake. Recently I had an interesting conversation with my grandmother, who was insistent upon the idea that the "new world order" headed by the Rothschild family, who supposedly planted Obama and paid for him to become president, has created hundreds of "concentration camps" in the US on shut down military bases. Intrigued by this outburst of insanity I decided to look to my favorite resource, Google, to find out about this supposed set of internment camps. On the interwebs Google sprouted almost three million hits when I typed in "US bases turned into internment camps". And as expected none of these sources really corroborate the details of this conspiracy. One site said there were over 800 camps in the US, another only sixteen. Some refer to the Rothschild, while others just say "the new world order".

What is more disturbing is that my grandmother along with many others believe this is a sign of the end times, that somehow the book Revelation foretold this happening. The funny thing about end of times predictions, written or otherwise, is that every single one of them has completely been wrong. The Egyptians predicted we would all be gone by the fall of their empire and the father kings would rise again and take hold of the Earth and shake it. This never happened. Modern profits believed the world would come to an end dozens of times over, gathered followers, and waited for the big moment only for nothing to happen. (Seventh Day Advocates HA!) And now here we are again, another Armageddon end of days motif spurred on by religious rhetoric and misinformation. One of the sites in question cites "Oh, ALL OF US in the CIA know ALL ABOUT the concentration camps in America and their purpose! We ALL KNOW that their purpose is to TERMINATE 'RESISTERS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER' UNDER MARTIAL LAW!" - Michael Maholy, 20 years Naval Intelligence/CIA under BUSH SR)" and points its readers to "Army Regulation 210-35" stating that it is there to, as Michael Maholy supposedly says "to terminate resisters of the new world order." However, a detailed reading of the document (http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r210_35.pdf) clearly states "(2-1. Policy statement)

With a few exceptions, the Army's Civilian Inmate Labor Program is currently limited to using inmates from facilities under the control of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP). Section 4125(a), Title 18, United States Code allows the Attorney General to make available to other Federal agencies the services of Federal inmates and defines the types of services inmates can perform. The FBOP provides civilian inmate labor free of charge to the Army."

Further those exceptions are explained as "d. However, there are 3 exceptions to using State or local civilian inmate labor from off-post corrections facilities-

(1) Section 1065, PL 103-337, allows the Army to conduct a demonstration project. This demonstration project tests the feasibility of providing prerelease employment training to nonviolent offenders in a State corrections facility. The demonstration project is limited to 3 Army installations. The 3 Army installations participating in the demonstration project may use inmates from an off-post State corrections facility.

(2) Army National Guard units leasing facilities from the Army or occupying State-owned land or facilities may use inmates from an off-post State and/or local corrections facility.

(3) The prohibition against use of State and/or local civilian inmate labor from off-post corrections facilities does not apply to Civil Works projects where the Army has statutory authority to accept voluntary contributions in the form of services from State or local governments. If contributed, inmate services are combined with materials or services paid for with Federally appropriated funds; the use of civilian inmate labor must also comply with the provisions of EO

11755. The use of civilian inmate labor under these exceptions must still comply with the requirements of this regulation."

Now I am inclined to believe there are a few internment camps that exist on military bases, and the article which quoted sixteen total is probably correct in that number. However the conspiracy that these internment camps are for taking "resisters" into custody and dispatching them with "guillotines" is false. These camps are there to lessen the burden on over flowing correction facilities, to provide meaningful work for inmates who otherwise sit around in a cell all day, and to complete projects headed by the military and other civil service labor. This includes, as I would suspect, road and infrastructure maintenance, military base maintenance while over 2/3rds of the US military forces are abroad at war, and so on.

FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency

This one had me laughing, several of these same sites assert that FEMA has produced trained civilian soldiers to take over when the time is right. That laws made through executive order have given FEMA the right to close down and take over the entire US in the name of the New World Order. These sites point to specific Eos (10990, 10995, 10997, 10998, 11000, 11001, 11002, 11003, 11004, 11005, 11051, 11310, 11049, 11921; source http://www.freedomfiles.org/war/fema.htm). Now anyone with a brain knows two things about FEMA, one it is a government headed agency, and two volunteer workers help run and support the agency. Freedomfiles.org suggests that these EOs give the government the control they need to take over the country at any time to start this new world order. Ironically they are mistaken. The US government has for a long time the ability to issue martial law in the state of emergency, ever since the end of WWI, to be precise. What does martial law entail; well it means for a period of time, usually until the state of emergency is over, our rights go out the window and preservation of the Union is put first. Martial law has not once ever been issued in the US however, historically speaking, even in times of astringent stinging emergencies (Hurricane Katrina, Pearl Harbor, September 11, 2001) not once was the US put under martial law. Why, because it is damn near impossible. The emergency has to be so great, so devastating that the only way to ensure the safety of the people would be to create martial law, not only that but Martial Law cannot stand for more than six months, or until the end of the term of the president who ordered the martial law. With this said here is a review and actual meaning of the executive orders freedomfiles.org points to;

"10990: Allows the government to take control over all modes of transportation, highways, and seaports."

Not exactly, 10990 according to US.gov was an emergency state requirement for FEMA to regulate passage of civilians in an emergency zone. For example, after Hurricane Katrina this EO allowed military to keep civilians out of danger zones, where water was putrid and dirty, and unsafe to travel through. By no means does it actually grant the government any control over current transport methods it does not already have.

"10995: Allows the government to seize and control the communication media."

Another not exactly, EO 10995 grants the US emergency communications board (ECB) which is regulated state by state, to transmit emergency broadcasts over the airwaves on publically owned transponders. This EO granted them the ability to send on emergency bandwidths and on TV signals information about potential hazards. If you watch TV you will often see a band go across the screen that annoyingly interrupts your program with a preceding beep or tone. That is what this EO is all about.

"10997: Allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels, and minerals."

This one is head on, though very simplified. The EO actually is another emergency contingency order. It essentially gives the government the right to seize and control resources that are potentially hazardous in an emergency situation. Like turning off gas and electric grids in hurricane hit areas, where having the power on could create hazards for rescue workers, victims, and cause further damage all around.

"10998: Allows the government to take over all food resources and farms." Another spot on but drastically simplified explanation. It gives the government to take over food production and ration it in the case of a national disaster. Say a nuke goes off in Chicago, kills millions of people, the government would declare martial law and an emergency state, take over all resources and ration them out until the emergency concluded, which can be no more than six months.

"11000: Allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision" This one is correct; FEMA is over 2/3rds civilian volunteers. Prior to this EO civilians were not allowed to assist or interfere with military operations, however because FEMA was so low on resources an EO was passed that allowed military agencies to recruit civilians to help.

"11001: Allows the government to take over all health, education, and welfare functions." Not exactly; first bear in mind over 80% of schools in the US are run by the US government, nearly a quarter of US citizens are on medicare and other government run health benefit and welfare programs, in one way or another. However, this is another emergency contingency EO. It declares that in an emergency the government has the ability to take over public buildings, including schools, libraries, and other government own offices to run emergency programs (shelters, management, etc) it does not, however, grant the government control over education specifically under an emergency state, or the ability to take over all welfare and health programs nationally, only in local emergency areas.

"11002: Designates the Postmaster General to operate national registration of all persons." Correct, but this does not grant much more than for the PG to garner information it already had (as you have to register mailing addresses if you wish to receive mail) to the US Census Bureau.

"11003: Allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft." Sort of, it doesn't grant control so much as the ability to ground all aircraft. This EO came after 9/11 not before, and was a precautionary EO so that if ever a plane was hijacked again all aircraft could be removed to protect their passengers as well as remove targets for military aircraft, which would, at the time of a hijacking, have to scramble and find the hijacked plane. Yet it is another emergency EO, it only applies to states of emergency when air traffic can cause problems, like in the case of a hijacking.

"11004: Allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, and designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations." Correct, but this is not a bad thing. The HFA is local, not Federal. Each State has an offshoot of the authority. The HFA, which evaluates things like bedrock stability, flood plain problems, feasibility of market value, etc, does not have the ability to take away your home without reciprocity. A great example is a Wisconsin town Gays Mills, which is planned to be totally relocated a mile away and five hundred feet up in elevation away from the Wisconsin river to prevent further problems with flooding. This is after the HFA suggested to the town government after inspection that it needed either one of two things, to move the buildings and the town away from the flood plain, or they had to bring all buildings up to code to meet the demands of a flood plain area. Many of the houses in Gays Mills are old, 80+ years, it would have cost a fortune to bring the buildings up to a state where they met code and could handle being flooded. It would have been cheaper to move the entire town and rebuild.

"11005: Allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways, and public storage facilities." Another one of those "sort of but not quite" descriptions of the EO; in this case it is much like the transportation emergency EO. It gives the government the ability to use facilities to transport and store goods, like food, in case of an emergency. Of course, this is a bit outmoded and is not necessary any longer but it still exists.

"11051: Specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis." Another emergency contingency EO; essentially, this EO gives the OEP which is the Federal office that FEMA reports to, the ability to implement these EOs as they see fit to deal with a crisis or emergency. Great example of when this would happen, hypothetically if the White House was blown up, all of the major administrators are killed, this would create a panic, a financial ceasing, and the FEMA under the OEP would have the right to implement these EOs to help the emergency situation. Another example; let us say we go into another great depression, unemployment skyrockets to 30% stocks plummet, businesses die. FEMA and the OEP would have the ability to utilize the EOs to get food to people who have lost their jobs, to supplement education and other areas that depend heavily upon both state and citizen funding.

"11310: Grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President." This EO I could see easily being misconstrued in a number of ways, but here is what it actually means. The Department of Justice (IE the Judiciary third of the Federal Government) has the right to enforce EOs as they have been stated as a means to support failing industries in an emergency situation, to be able to establish (create) a liaison (ambassador, speaker, representative) for the legislation and judicial branch (meaning a person who does PR to explain situations) , to control aliens (in other words control inflow of immigrants), to relegate control over our jails and prisons (which it has done for some time now), and to give advice to the president during periods of crisis (as all of the EOs set forth are laws, and are laws that pertain to emergency situations.)

"11049: Assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period." Exactly as stated, this EO took all of the prior EOs listed here and others not listed and created a singular EO that could be referred to that encapsulated all of the EOs together.

"11921: Allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and flow of money in the U.S.A. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months."

Okay so this is the only one that really would concern me, and I could honestly see being used in a conspiracy way, though it would be a farfetched and rather dubious venture for such an agency to even consider such an "emergency plan" as genocide. However, I also see the reasoning and need for the FEPA. After Katrina, it was apparent that the US government was not prepared for emergencies like Katrina that were more devastating than previously thought possible. FEMA acted slowly because they did not have a plan of action, they did not have the resources, nor the man power to adequately respond. The FEPA was created to plan out emergencies like Katrina, exploring all avenues of how to respond. FEMA could act on FEPA plans to better respond to emergencies like Katrina or 9/11.

Being able to plan ahead for drops in financial systems (like the Stock Market) being able to stiffen wages and having plans to get power to people in emergency situations (from floods to blizzards) are all necessary parts of emergency management.

I'll conclude this piece by pointing out the idiocy of the Rothschild conspiracy which seems to hang out there in the distance. Far too often, these conspiratists work with little actual information. They select what they want to believe and take little heed towards establishing facts. They manipulate information into what they want it to say, using vague intonation and soliloquy designed to rationalize the irrational. These conspiratists rely on religious rhetoric to back their claims, and to assert their theory (which is closer to a poorly formed hypothesis) is correct.

Had the author of freedomfiles.org read through the sources he had dug up and presented as evidence for the use of internment camps to "silent the resisters" he would have found out that the support he thought he had was non-existent.