Critics: Iowa terror drill portrays immigration foes as killers

[justashooter 430]

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110324/NEWS/110324009/Critics-Iowa-terror-drill-portrays-immigration-foes-as-killers?odyssey=tab

Critics: Iowa terror drill portrays immigration foes as killers

1:05 PM, Mar. 24, 2011

Written by

William Petroski Filed Under

News

Foes of illegal immigration are up in arms over plans for a weekend disaster exercise in western Iowa with a fictitious scenario in which young white supremacists shoot dozens of people amid rising tensions involving racial minorities and illegal immigrants.

The exercise is planned for Saturday at Treynor High School in Pottawattamie County and will involve more than 300 people, confirmed Doug Reed, the lead exercise planner for the county's emergency management agency. Some 30 to 40 "victims" will be transported to area hospitals. He said a terrorism scenario is required by federal officials for the exercise to be eligible for funding.

The exercise scenario describes shootings occurring after rising tensions in the community because of an influx of minorities, Reed said. The newcomers, some who are American citizens and some who are illegal immigrants, were to have moved into a rural area from urban areas in search of more-affordable living. The newcomers are not welcomed by racial extremists, and controversy sweeps the community, he said.

One of the fictional suspects involved in the shootings is described an 18-year-old white male with a quick-tempered father who is a firearms enthusiast with ties to an underground white supremacy group. A second fictional suspect is described as an isolated 17-year-old white male student who was befriended by the older student and who mimics his new friend.

Craig Halverson of Griswold, national director of the Minuteman Patriots, an activist group that opposes illegal immigration, said today he is concerned that the exercise is intended to portray people who legally possess guns and who fight illegal immigration as extremists. Members of his organization, as well as members of the Tea Party Patriots and the 9/12 Project, are calling and emailing Iowa's elected officials to voice their objections, he said.

"We are trying to get this stopped because all it is doing is building up prejudices by calling people white supremacists and stuff like that," Halverson said. "We are mad at the government for ignoring illegal immigration, but nobody is going to run out there and start killing people in Iowa or anything like that."

Robert Ussery of Des Moines, state director of the Iowa Minutemen activist group, said he believes the exercise will defame patriot organization members by depicting t hem as criminals. Ussery is among many members of patriot groups who have read a copy of the exercise plan that has been circulating through email groups.

"Most of the people who break the law and are involved in school shootings don't quote the Constitution or love their country," Ussery said. "Most of the people who I am involved with feel that in order to fix the situation we need to change the laws and work lawfully within the system."

Tim Albrecht, a spokesman for Gov. Terry Branstad, said the plans for Saturday's event are a local decision using federal funds. "The governor's office is not involved with this exercise," he added. Officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C., didn't immediately respond today to a request for comment.

Treynor, population 919, is about 16 miles east of Council Bluffs on Iowa Highway 92.

Reed said the exercise is not intended to be political and shouldn't' be interpreted as criticizing gun owners or opponents of illegal immigration. The fictitious scenario will not be played out during the exercise and there will be no use of racial slurs, cursing or actual gunplay. Firearms will be used as props, but no ammunition will be used during the event.

"This is purely the backdrop and the setup, if you will, to help create a perception of reality for the responders," Reed said.

The exercise is intended to help improve the emergency response effort in Pottawattamie County to a crisis situation in the public schools, Reed said, noting that there have many incidents of school shootings nationwide, including the fatal shooting in January of an Omaha, Neb., high school administrator. But to qualify for federal homeland security grant money to help pay for some of the exercise's costs, a terrorism incident must be part of the exercise, he said.

Simply staging an incident in which a student would shoot someone because they are unhappy over a grade or have an altercation with a teacher doesn't meet the definition of a terrorism incident, Reed said.

About 42 agencies, including area hospitals, law enforcement, fire and emergency medical teams, government officials, private agencies and others, are scheduled to participate in the exercise.

Kevin Elwood, superintendent of Treynor Community Schools, said today he has received about 30 emails from people throughout the Midwest who have seen plans for the crisis drill and have asked, "What is your school district thinking?"

Elwood said he has been involved in the planning of the exercise for about two months, but the first he learned of the fictitious scenario was Wednesday when copies of the plans were circulated. He noted that a disclaimer on the plan says that details and circumstances of the scenario "reflect no actual conditions, attitudes or current threat assessments in or around Pottawattamie County, the City of Treynor, its citizens or the Treynor Community School District."

The Treynor public schools have 735 students and less than 1 percent are racial minorities, Elwood said. He added he isn't aware of any racial tensions or the existence of any local white supremacists.

"It is unfortunate the kind of black cloud that is hanging over this because of the misunderstanding of the scenario that was painted," Elwood said. "This is not applicable to anything we have intended to portray or utilize as part of the drill. We are not going to have crazy people running around the building shouting inappropriate things. There is no need for that. We wouldn't condone that."

Treynor Mayor Chuck Killion said the city's community center will serve as headquarters for the terror drill, but otherwise city officials will have minimal involvement. However, local residents have been alerted by county officials about Saturday's activities, he added.

"They mainly wanted to let our citizens know they shouldn't be alarmed when they see..... the sheriff and the fire department running all over," Killion said.

Two years ago, the Iowa National Guard canceled plans for an urban warfare exercise in the western Iowa community of Arcadia after the event became a hotly debated topic nationally on radio talk shows and the Internet. The four-day event would have involved between 90 and 100 combat troops arriving in a convoy with a Blackhawk military helicopter flying overhead. Troops would have gone door-to-door, asking about a suspected arms dealer and conducting searches of homes if property owners volunteered in advance to coopera

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Disgusting.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Disgusting.

Seconded!

[Harsh_77 718]

Disgusting.

Disgusting or not - chances of something like this happening in future are very high, with limited resources left and more and more ppl wanting to come to US. Existing individuals are going to fight for themself, its natures law of survival.

How many ppl today blame Asian countries for taking their jobs, taking away the way of life?

Will it happen is not the question, its more like when will it happen?

[justashooter 430]

couldn't be an arabic guy with a bomb or a gun, or a korean or chinese guy with a knife. that would be racist. couldn't be MS 13 gangs taking over the school. that would be insensitive to brown people. couldn't be mexican illegal child rapists. that would be too close to the truth.

[justashooter 430]

Disgusting or not - chances of something like this happening in future are very high, with limited resources left and more and more ppl wanting to come to US. Existing individuals are going to fight for themself, its natures law of survival.

How many ppl today blame Asian countries for taking their jobs, taking away the way of life?

Will it happen is not the question, its more like when will it happen?

might not at all if we sent home the 270,000 illegal visa overstay indians currently in USA.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I am white and own guns. I hate the exploitation of illegals by racists who think minimum wage and worker protections are only for white people. We need to protect humans from being trafficked and used in basically slave conditions to improve the bottom line of US business people.

[The_Dude 1,142]

couldn't be an arabic guy with a bomb or a gun, or a korean or chinese guy with a knife. that would be racist. couldn't be MS 13 gangs taking over the school. that would be insensitive to brown people. couldn't be mexican illegal child rapists. that would be too close to the truth.

Are you serious, or are you really that deluded to think that this is an unlikely situation to happen, in Iowa? Where were you when an unhinged, borderline racist 20 something shot a politician in the head over his insane political musings? I think it is far more likely that we'll see an unhinged middle aged man from Pennsyltucky go on a shooting rampage than it is to see some "arabic guy with a bomb or a gun, or a korean or chinese guy with a knife." You are only upset because the light is being shone down upon you and your ilk's blatant racism.

might not at all if we sent home the 270,000 illegal visa overstay indians currently in USA.

Nice show of character here!

I am white and own guns. I hate the exploitation of illegals by racists who think minimum wage and worker protections are only for white people. We need to protect humans from being trafficked and used in basically slave conditions to improve the bottom line of US business people.

I really can't tell if you really don't comprehend this, or you are just being willfuly blind to this. Either way, once again, you're wrong.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I am white and own guns. I hate the exploitation of illegals by racists who think minimum wage and worker protections are only for white people. We need to protect humans from being trafficked and used in basically slave conditions to improve the bottom line of US business people.

Then presumably you are in favour of giving illegal immigrants LPR or citizen status so that they can enjoy the minimum wage and worker protections?

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Are you serious, or are you really that deluded to think that this is an unlikely situation to happen, in Iowa? Where were you when an unhinged, borderline racist 20 something shot a politician in the head over his insane political musings? I think it is far more likely that we'll see an unhinged middle aged man from Pennsyltucky go on a shooting rampage than it is to see some "arabic guy with a bomb or a gun, or a korean or chinese guy with a knife." You are only upset because the light is being shone down upon you and your ilk's blatant racism.

where you you on this?

You do realize it had nothing to do with political musings, but more of an obsession with her, right?

Stop reading liberal blogs.

[The_Dude 1,142]

where you you on this?

You do realize it had nothing to do with political musings, but more of an obsession with her, right?

Stop reading liberal blogs.

English only outside of the regional forums please.

[Pooky 3,825]

Then presumably you are in favour of giving illegal immigrants LPR or citizen status so that they can enjoy the minimum wage and worker protections?

No, they should return to their country of citizenship and cease being in this country illegally.

[Danno 1,228]

Are you serious, or are you really that deluded to think that this is an unlikely situation to happen, in Iowa? Where were you when an unhinged, borderline racist 20 something shot a politician in the head over his insane political musings? I think it is far more likely that we'll see an unhinged middle aged man from Pennsyltucky go on a shooting rampage than it is to see some "arabic guy with a bomb or a gun, or a korean or chinese guy with a knife." You are only upset because the light is being shone down upon you and your ilk's blatant racism.

Rather than blow all that smoke why don't you just pick another part of the country in which this role playing would include -Other than white villains?

[Dakine10 5,452]

might not at all if we sent home the 270,000 illegal visa overstay indians currently in USA.

Why just overstays from India? Why not the 225,000 Chinese illegal aliens? Or the 2.5 million white illegal aliens?

[The_Dude 1,142]

Rather than blow all that smoke why don't you just pick another part of the country in which this role playing would include -Other than white villains?

Thats a particularly banal response Danno, even for you. It is far more likely that the next terrorist attack on this country will come from some wingnut with too many guns and a fundamental misconception of the constitution.....