Tanks at Anti-war protest in LA

Whayt was this???
WAs this the real Army?
or was it some hollywood props rolling by. Who sent them?
The video was good, but give us more info!

bringing freedom one tank at a time.

Presumably.. actual LAPD tanks?

and not a bradley?

It does look like a bradley to the untrained eye. Does a bradley not count as a tank?

just the new hummer?

Why are some people surprised that the pigs would roll out the heavy armored equipment? During the 1992 LA riot/rebellion, there were National Guard tanks in LA and Long Beach.

They had those during the agriculture conference in Sacramento last year, and had armored vehicles during protests last year.

The democrats at Daily kos were looking at that, and a lot of them are outraged. I think some of the earlier protests weren't reported well enough, so they aren't familiar with this or think its totally new.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/11/10/124929/83

During most riot like situations (like Miami during the FTAA) they have special police tanks, but these pictures show a Bradley Fighting Vehicle with a solider in military combat gear not a police officer in SWAT gear.

http://www.impeachbush.org

A call to action, put the neo-con fascist dictator under house arrest

"squig [at] iinet.net.au"

Hey squig...arrest your own fascists...

His Unholiness George Warmonger Bush to the USSA:

"Sorry to Oil the Bill of Rights but Oil comes first."

If you've never seen a real M1A1 tank or Bradley fighting vehicle you might not realize how big they are. Those pictures do not show either of those vehicles. Most large police forces have armored vehicles, but they are generally wheeled vehicles.

OK, after a look at the video, those are military vehicles. Retired Military vehicles. 1960s era wheeled landing vehicles. And they don't apear to be doing anything to the protestors. In fact, they look lost. Most likely have something to do with USMC birthday today, or a vetrans day parade. Of course that could be part of Bush's devious plan.

Bradley's are 10'6" wide (see http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m2.htm ) so dont go on about how they are larger than what is in that pic.
Bradleys are not as curved in the front as that vehicle though. The vehicle should be listed on
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/index.html

So far the Singray looks like the best match:
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/stingray-lt.htm

Going on about the size and scope of the vehicle is great and all (I guess), but what about running two Bradleys (or whatever it is) down a public street and parking them in front of a protest? Imagine the blowback if the military parked them in front of an abortion clinic while the anti-choice folks were having one of their fetus-waving shindigs.

It doesn't matter what they are really ... Bradley's, Tanks ... looking at the picture on the anti-war page, that is definitely a tank ... but, anyway, bringing out this kind of thing to a protest is definitely a psychological thing, designed to scare some protesters, maybe to provoke others ... and to send a message to viewers at home, that the protesters really need to be contained - "look, we had to bring out tanks for cryin out loud" ... So, for sure, this is done to send meta-messages to the public and to psyche out protesters ...

POLICING/MILITARY COLLUSION ... and what to do with all those older military vehicles ... also, this kind of thing reflects the growing cooperation and interdependence of police agencies and the military. So, like way back in Seattle 1999 - they brought these light-armored vehicles that they called "peacekeepers." Apparently the Seattle police dept. acquired them after the first advertised Gulf War ... and decided to roll them out for the intimidation and/or inciting qualities that the appearance of amored vehicles have ... OK, peace out ...

the boyos used to sneak up behind them and cram a potato up the exhaust pipe. It stalls the motor. The guys inside have to get out to deal with it. Then they're vulnerable.

indeed, don't matter what they are.. but it's really one of the modifications of LAV: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/lav-25.htm

oh, and they have they have two exhaust pipes, and they are on the sides ; )

The way I see it Brad has a good grip on reality.

Zhibongo apsolutly.

And to Michael Collins I would love to see You shove potatoes in the exhaust pipe of an M1A1 M.B.T

You guys are way to smart for me..a little old Marine deployed as part of OEF. The vehicles are LAV-25's. That's Light Amoured Vehicle (LAV). It's Marine...probably 4th, 3rd or 2nd LAR Bn.. That's Light Amourmed Reconnaissance Battalion (LAR Bn.) They don't respond to protestors at home, only bad guys like the ones we are fighting now. Why they are on a pubilic street, who knows, but it's not uncommon. They are street legal and they do train in, and around, LA.
Maybe you hate the policies, but don't hate the troops. Their sacrifices are for you, not a sitting President. They don't choose when and where to fight; they only choose to serve their country.

Any time, boyo. You draw their fire. I'll sneak up behind while they're distracted.

I certainly agree with you when you say, " Maybe you hate the policies, but don't hate the troops." However, it is wishful thinking to believe that "Their sacrifices are for you, not a sitting President."

All of us who've been in the Armed Forces would like very much to believe that we did something meaningful. Unfortunately, only corporations such as Halliburton have anything to gain from the war in Iraq, and our troops are fighting to advance the Bush/Neocon agenda.

Thank you for explaining to these morons what an LAV is, SMLong. I am a member of an LAR unit and we drive down civilian streets all the time when we are training. However, we usually get a much friendlier reception. The US military is not used against civilian protestors, only foreign enemies. As far as I can tell, the "peaceful" protestors are the aggressors, not us Marines. I find the claims that you make on this website hilarious. Once again, for peaceful protestors looking for ways to avoid violence, you seem over eager to use it against your own countrymen.

Marines are such nice people
http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/02/1721561.php

I can not explain the actions of a few severely misguided individuals. During the eight months that I spent in Iraq during and shortly after the invasion, I never saw a Marine or soldier abuse a prisoner or Iraqi citizen. We pride ourselves on being better than the other side. After all, we don't behead prisoners on national tv. We are above that. Since you obviously have never served your country, you have never been in combat and known the horrifying reality of war. It is nasty and disgusting, but it has to be done sometimes. Talking with people will only go so far, remember Hitler? He sure listened to the Brits pleas to not invade Poland or Belgium or France, didn't he? If the allied nations had not taken action, you'd probably be speaking German today. We may know now that Saddam did not have WMD, but we had evidence that he had possessed it before and was working to acquire it again. We had evidence that he was murdering hundreds of thousands of his own people in a nightmare of a police state. Where do we draw the line at what is too much? When do we stop talking and start fighting? So, just to clear things up, we are not warm and cuddly. We are supposed to kill people and break things until we defeat our enemies. When that occurs, we stabilize the area and then go back to training for the next war and hoping and praying that it doesn't come.

Of course not, you have the internet so you can post he pictures of the poeple who you behead when you get home.

More warm and cuddly US marines
http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/02/1719969.php#1720493

Curtis Greene was angry about the war and frustrated with Lisset for not understanding what it had been like there. They argued, so fiercely that twice the police had to break it up.

Gone was the man smiling with her and the kids in family photos. "He was not the person I knew when he came back from Iraq."

One night he disappeared from their home outside Fort Riley, Kan. Lisset and the kids went to stay at her father's house in Hernando County. When he called her to apologize for running out, he promised he would come home to Fort Riley. But he wasn't about to return to Iraq.

"Over my dead body are they going to make me go back."

"I knew he was having dreams, nightmares," Lisset said. "He would wake up at night really sweaty."

On Dec. 6, he showed up for work, his uniform pressed, his boots polished. He sang cadence.

That night, he was found hanging in his barracks. Sgt. Curtis Greene, 331st Signal Company, was 25.
...

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/02/13/Hernando/_Over_my_dead_body_.shtml

[IT'S THE THREAT OF FREEDOM AND OUR WAY OF LIFE THAT THEY HATE< NOT TRIVIAL FOREIGN POLICIES. IF YOU SPENT A DAY IN MY SHOES, ON THE BATTLEFRONT YOU'D MIGHT ACTUALLY GET IT. LUCKY FOR YOU SERVICEMEN LIKE MYSELF ARE WILLING TO DIE FOR ALL AMERICANS.]


Iraq is an offensive war from resources and military power, launched against people that presented no threat to the US, and they want us out. 103 Iraqi legislators, up from the low 80s, announced this week that they want a time table for withdrawal.

Iraqis are violently resisting a country that illegally invaded it, and continue to illegally occupy it to exploit its resources, and they have every to do so. The war there is already lost, and the only question is how many more Iraqis do we have to kill to cover our eventual withdrawal so that it can be declared a "victory".

I don't see myself as "lucky" that people are willing to fight for this atrocity. And, just look over at the people in London. They certainly are "lucky" that Blair made the decison to participate in it. As Tariq Ali said on "Flashpoints" yesterday, you don't see them bombing Berlin or Paris, do you?



--Richard

The Marines were headed to what we affectionately call a 'Dog & Pony' show. They simply made a wrong term on the way to their destination and unfortunately arrived at the destination. They actually got a real kick out of it and the resulting furor it created.

those 'tanks' are LAV-25's we use them to defend your freedom to protest in LA

so the whole point here is that some protesters tried to stop our LAV's while protesting the war in iraq? Well, your welcome for the right to protest and also the right to compare this incident to the Tianamen Square massacre. however, before you compare us to the commies, think about this. The protest in Tianamen Square was FOR democracy. It was an illegal protest by China's laws. The Chinnese People want the same rights you have and that what we've done in Iraq and in Afganastan.

The Marines recently abbreviated their motto to "The Few, The Marines."

<<<those 'tanks' are LAV-25's we use them to defend your freedom to protest in LA>>>

Tanks like these are used to massacre undefended civilian populations in Iraq.

In Falluja I, 4 blackwater consulting mercenaries were beaten and shot to death, their bodies burned and vivisected, then hung over a bridge. Our "fighters for freedom" then invaded the city killing 900-1000 people, almost all innocent civilians including women and children.

Geneva calls this collective punishment on an occupied population for the actions of others.

This of course is a crime punishable by death for the American solidiers who willingly participated in the senseless slaughter.

Perhaps I shouldn't say "American." Let's substitute the word "Nazi" because our invasion of Iraq is no different than Hitler's annexation of Checkoslovakia.

So don't kid yourself, you're doing no one any favors, in fact your making things even worse for yourself and certainly worse for us as well.

So just go away. It hurts to know that there are people like you out there.