U.S military manual, 2010, on internment camps: Fact or Fiction?

Manzanar Relocation Center, where Franklin D. Roosevelt held Japanese-Americans during WWII. Originally published in 1943, this photo is part of a collection by Ansel Adams. (U.S. Library of Congress)Plowing through currents on the Web today is a story sourced to Infowars about a specific U.S. military manual, FM 3-39.40: Internment and Resettlement Operations. Alex Jones, who hosts a radio show by the same name, said:

“The manual outlines policies for processing detainees in internment camps domestically and abroad and how to ‘re-educate’ unruly activists.”

U.S. media haven’t given the manual too much attention, although Russia Today did an interview with Jones and featured an online story about the manual as well.

Those “unruly activists” would be re-educated by PSYOP officers, said RT.

Is Jones’ claim fact or fiction? It’s impossible for me to verify it because the document is technically classified and an independent blog simply doesn’t have the resources. Jones does give a URL to the U.S. military website, but the public can’t access the documents.

The U.S. government has made mass arrests in the past. On May 3, 1971, thousands of youthful protesters inspired by cult activists, most of whom were well-heeled, attempted to shut down the government by disrupting traffic in Washington. Not all the protesters were peaceful. By that point Americans had become accustomed to such mass protests.

I’ve written about the spring of 1970 when the governor of the state where I attended college imposed a strict curfew because of antiwar protests. I still remember going to class on a campus dotted with young National Guard troops, weapons at the ready, standing on guard. I also remember the protesters trashing the administration building as well as personal property.

The 1971 arrests in Washington resulted in 7,000 people being sent to a nearby football field. The U.S. government also had 10,000 troops standing by. President Richard Nixon was at that point dealing with the legacy left by a man who, in my opinion, disgraced the office of president on a level no one else comes close to—Lyndon B. Johnson, the Democrat. Johnson didn’t start the Vietnam War, of course, but just as his big government domestic programs created so many of the ills we deal with today, so did his bungling foreign policy pave the way for the same.

Historians have been kind to Johnson for the most part because—you know the drill—he was a Democrat.

In 1971, Nixon was criticized for his actions towards those protesters, as he should have been. However, those of us who lived through the times knew the protests weren’t just about the war.

The seeds of those protests recur now in our country, fueled by some of the same people whose goal is a country where power rests in the hands of an all-controlling central government. For such a government, an internment camp is no big deal. After all, the Democrat quasi-socialist Franklin D. Roosevelt had the same approach. He used an executive order on Feb. 19, 1942 to intern innocent people—U.S. citizens—without benefit of trial. Their offense? They were Japanese.

How many reminders do you need? The keys to your freedom lie in a document called the U.S. Constitution and at present, your government routinely ignores the same.

I don’t know if the military manual Jones found is fact or fiction. I do know that what he alleges has happened before, more than once.

Related/Source

Collection of photographs of Manzanar War Relocation Center by Ansel Adams (U.S. LOC)

Economist’s views on ‘Great Depression’ at RLC raise questions about Obama’s plans (The US Report)

Gov't seeks more than 1,700 secret warrants (WTOP-Washington, D.C.)

Police repulse war protesters (The Daily Chronicle-Spokane, Wash.; May 3, 1971)

(Commentary by Kay B. Day/May 4, 2012)

Update on Saturday, May 5, 2012 at 6:35PM by Kay B. Day, Editor

Prison Planet followed up a story about the military manuel FM 3-39.40 Internment and Resettlement Operations. Paul Joseph Watson said the manual also applies to U.S. citizens. Based on the research I was able to do, I agree with his assessment. I'm still reminding readers I cannot confirm this story with the military, however.

I am seeing some search strings in our stats here at The US Report. Strange thing is, those searches are coming primarily from Mexico.

I have seen little or no interest from old media, a reminder that we cannot trust most branded media to keep us informed about our government. I'll continue to follow the story.