Ash writes: "It's another flaming meltdown for the Los Angeles Police Department. One more in the proud history of America's most bizarre police force."
Navy service photo of Christopher Dorner. (photo: U.S. Navy)
The War Christopher Dorner Brought Home
17 February 13
Reader Supported News | Perspective
t's another flaming meltdown for the Los Angeles Police Department. One more in the proud history of America's most bizarre police force. Words fail.
It bears noting that Christopher Dorner's now hyper-analyzed manifesto makes perpetual use of military terminology. He makes it plain that he intends to use military tactics against LAPD personnel and their families. His use of the term "warfare" in the manifesto is ubiquitous.
"I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty. I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own, I'm terminating yours."
From where do such thoughts come? War, of course. Christopher Dorner was a Navy Reserve veteran. While not highly decorated, he did receive a number of citations, most notably for rifle marksmanship and pistol expertise, and he did serve in Iraq. His military experience and training were central to his manifesto and his war on the LAPD.
All men and women who are exposed to military training and combat are changed by the experience. Some more or differently than others, but everyone who lives through that horror is changed by it and they bring it home with them. PTSD affects people in different ways. The level of violence Christopher Dorner displayed was highly unusual for a U.S. civilian environment, but he was certainly not the first veteran to act out violently after returning from war.
Deborah Sontag and Lizette Alvarez, reporting for the New York Times in January of 2008, "found 121 cases in which veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after their return from war." Those statistics are now 5 years old. Today's figures would be significantly higher.
Flashback to 2003 and the Bush administration's frantic efforts to convince anyone, anywhere in the world, that there really was a need to for the U.S. to invade and occupy Iraq. Something about mushroom clouds and weapons of mass destruction. None of which ever materialized. What did materialize were unprecedented profits for military contracting firms and another American generation lost to a war without meaning.
Christopher Dorner earnestly felt that he had been defamed, railroaded and betrayed by the LAPD. The problem was his coping mechanism, or the lack thereof. He struggled throughout his life against the manifestations of an anti-African-American bias that was both overt and subtle. It was the militarism and the exposure to warfare that converted that sense of victimization into a heavily armed expression of rage.
A fully militarized police SWAT team goes door-to-door in Big Bear, Calif. searching for Christopher Dorner. (photo: AP)
America is trapped in a never ending cycle of enormously profitable warfare. The public relations packaging is always the same: "We are fighting for freedom and democracy." Who better to believe that than the idealistic and young? The truth however is cleverly hidden in plain sight: We are sending America's young men and women off to protect the global interests of wealthy and powerful mega-corporations based on US soil. The notion that this militarism somehow benefits the communities from which these newly adult soldiers come is flatly false. In fact American communities suffer great harm from these unnecessary military forays. The harm is both economic and social.
After Vietnam there was a sense that America had learned from what had occurred. Sadly that appears not to be that case. Those who profit from war will never learn. They can always find a rationale for conflict as long as lucrative government contracts are on the table. The larger and more important question is when will the American people learn? Without public support, the military profiteers will have to fight the wars themselves.
The Christopher Dorner saga is one more painful reminder that war must never be made without good cause and must never be supported by the country unless such cause exists. Beware: it's not a global force for good, it's a global force for profit.
Marc Ash was formerly the founder and Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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Comments
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But, the average 14 year old has never seen one casket of a veteran come home from a war on television.
On both counts, this a travesty for our children and our veterans.
"As a very proud Canadian, it warms my heart that so many other Canadians take time out of their busy lives to stand and salute as our fallen soldiers are taken to their final resting places. It is truly a show of appreciation and respect for those brave men and women. I salute all soldiers, present and past."- Chris Stevens, Toronto.
As a US citizen I believe it shames us all that we do not show this on TV; For myself, when I see those lovely faces of the young men and women killed in action every night, I stop everything, watch carefully and think about these heroes and their grieving families: but so much more is needed; we must be aware of these sacrifices, and consider; What is Really Going ON here? This is indeed a travesty for us all. And the real pain starts for the survivors when they come home to us in the US; we do as little as possible. I believe this is where the NRA should kick in and work hard to bring these youngsters some serious help.
Christopher Dorner was the worst kind of wrong. However, he brought to light the terrible possibilities of militarized police to a degree no one, to my knowledge, has before.
We need law enforcement, yes. We do not need commandos to enforce it. It is high time for a national dialogue on the process of restoring law enforcement to a position of respect, rather than a terrorist organization which for the moment is on the "right" side.
green beret Viet vet whose family I knew well- who lived with many youngsters in a small shack and only a dirt floor....but he ended life at 22 a suicide,
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/bizarre&id=8890041
http://www.copblock.org/tag/milwaukee-wi/
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/dahmer/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee_Police_Department
In order to get a due status on all the damages and casualties that the Iraq War produced and spawned, people like Christopher Dorner should be added to the list of Iraq War casualties - along with those persons he killed in his own country during his recent amok run.
These killings should not be attributed to normal everday life (as much as it seems so in modern America - from a European perspective), instead, they must be added to the long list of human (and material) desasters, atrocities and traumas brought forth by the lies and propaganda of the former Bush administration. Only this will lay open the dire price that some have paid and that some others have cashed in during that war.
Well said and to the point.
I saw a saying recently online that compliments your statement...
"If yo take a man's life, you owe it to him tolook into his eyes and hear his final words.
And if you can not do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die...
A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is."
-Ned Stark "A Game of Thornes"
I have long believed that the cops should not have those weapons, at all. It really creeps me out to see small town cops going around with AR-15s. It's dangerous and it's wrong. If the cops really need weapons like that, they should call the military for help. But cops don't need weapons like that any more than Wayne LaPierre does.
I am afraid that the LAPD will close ranks and cover up the reasons for this man's retaliation. There is a history of cover-ups in in the LA Police force going back over 100 years. A lot of these have been in my lifetime and therefore in the lifetimes of many others. My mother is 90 and she has a raft of stories to tell.
This was a bad situation all around. And you can rest assured that the orders from the top were to do bring Dorner in alive.
Perhaps it would be different if we had a universal draft where everyone had to serve in the military. No exemptions - not even for people who have more important things to do.
That would put an end to adventure style wars, immediately. A universal draft is the obvious right thing to do.
But then I realize that, if we did bring the draft back, the wealthy and well-connected would always find ways to avoid being placed in the most undesirable/dan gerous military jobs. The unfortunate truth is that, were the draft to come back, those with connections would find ways to avoid serving.
The US spends monstruous amounts of money
on unnecessary weapons and war technology.
Meanwhile we have a huge poverty problem at home and shortage of money for the things that make life worth living.
in High School. I was only exposed to it in college by a very enlightened history professor and we also had to write a critical essay as a starting point for classroom debate about this great book. What an eye opener!
There are plenty of things that could turn people against war, but the TV controls the consciousness of amricans and all it has is John Wayne bullshit.
after having read all of the various pro-Dorner statements on line I wanted to see if his claims(his manefesto) plus his biography were valid reason for his behavior. Everyone seemed to make excuses. Okay, he was not "in Iran" he was in the gulf in Bahrain on a naval ship. He got the marksmanship badge on a training field, like the NRA. To me he wasn't affected by his military experience except that it made him feel more important than he was. It was his conflated ego that made him feel he was allowed to prove his point was valid by killing others.Once he put down his pen and picked up his gun to prove his point he lost all my sympathy. I agree the cops in the LAPD have been corrupt for years and change is necessary so who did he take his anger out on? One LA cop died. Two civilians died. And a sheriff from San Bernadino died. He was so mad at the force that slighted him he took it out on people who had nothing to do with it.
I propose it had nothing to do with his service. This guy's ego wanted to be proven right. He could have been anywhere or anything but the gun laws in this country would have permitted this travesty anyway.
Now let the tigers begin tearing me apart, they've been doing it all week.
Rachel Maddow is having an MSNBC special tomorrow night at nine. It concerns the buildup to the Iraq War, and there's much new information that she says will cause a lot of backlash. It can be livestreamed on Democratic Underground if you don't get MSNBC.
Christopher Dorner was the wrong guy for the LAPD to disrespect, he was primed for violence, there's thousands more out there just like him. Karma's army, coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan to get revenge. What goes around, comes around.
To what extent do the negative vibrations of our country's collective minds acts, emotions and thoughts foul our mental, emotional and physical environments?
As far as I can see, this country is being controlled by madmen and most of the people are hypnotized and under illusion and propaganda. (Example: Rush Limbaugh, in the guise of the pied piper, leading his followers off a cliff)
Of course, now someone was shooting back.
I see a potential catalyst for social change. Less significant events have provoked social change in LA.
Ego may have played a part in Dorners actions, but I sense (from my arm chair) he was also feeling the lack of a fair resolution to his Police Brutality complaints and subsequent termination for filing false charges.
Dorner had different responses available to him then the typical worker who feels victimized by workplace injustice.
It is not suprising that neither the City Government, the LAPD Comand nor the Police Union are strong enough culturally and or lack the will to deal with a politically sensitive case like breaking ranks or whistle blowing. (read "Rat")
Workers in the real world are typically forced to walk away without recourse when they are treated unjustly. The discriminatory, self-protective , privlidged world of the Police & the Criminal Justice system compounds this.
Police are militarized yes. But they are also marginalized from society & the work force & ill equiped to handle this type situation. The same for the highly political & insular Police Union and the inbred LAPD comand structure
I still can't get over what happened November 30th. I was watching from work on the computer and the TV and could see the buses lining up outside Dodger stadium, and I couldn't send any tweets.
And I'm still angry about what happened to you guys. It was an eye-opener. Not just in L.A. but all over So Cal and the U.S.
If what happened to Occupy wasn't a wake up call then nothing is. But I don't see anyone awake.
Did the Navy or LAPD ever mentally evaluate Dorner?
When he applied to be a police officer, did LAPD conduct a mental health evaluation?
Excuse me but it seems that Dorner not the LAPD was the one who had the meltdown.
No one is excusing Dorner, no one.
But we all gathered round to watch the police murder a guy. We all knew they wouldn't let him get out alive.
I have a problem with the media response and the lies and the coverup in the aftermath "Stop tweeting" "We didn't intend to burn the guy to death"
"Burn that m-f-ing house down!"
I suspect that Dorner may have had other psychological issues that predated his military and law enforcement service. Mentally balanced people don't become shooters or killers. Maybe the Navy and the LAPD failed to pick up that Dorner might have had psychological issues. Maybe he was able to pass through their psychological evaluations that are intended to weed people out like him.
But let me be clear. There is no justification or excuse for what Dorner did. Having grievances and being unsatisfied with the final outcome of judicial proceedings aren't excuses to kill and hurt other people.
"The notion that this militarism somehow benefits the communities from which these newly adult soldiers come is flatly false. In fact American communities suffer great harm from these unnecessary military forays. The harm is both economic and social."
There is another dimension to this issue. The military is also a safety valve for our society and provides opportunities for those who can't afford college or who lack job skills. Many people enlist in the armed services, not necessarily to find combat, but to learn skills and be trained in specific jobs. Or they join to get the GI Bill and educational benefits. Without military service many of them wouldn't find good jobs or get any education. To that end the military provides a safety valve for our society. It's politically incorrect to say this; but, without the GI Bill and the military, we would have a significantly higher unemployment rate and more poverty.
A month ago I very much wished for everything Christopher Dorner wanted and still think everyone should push these reforms but delayed a year or enough for Dorner not to get the credit. I demand Dawn’s release immediately before anyone someone was pushed to do wrong for, can threaten to turn them in if they don’t cooperate further.
Anyone who joins me in urging not to immediately listen to Dorner, join me in seeing that past suicidal maniacs un-get what they wanted. Why should murderers get to decide if they should live and die and whether or not they get the insanity defense or not. The Norwegian madman wanted change in Norway but what he got was a discussion of his sanity instead ideal to prevent copy cats.
When I saw the title I feared another type of discussion. Lets continue the discussion in ways that will not inspire copy cats.
But has anyone studied what's known about Dorner's childhood? He probably had childhood trauma and no constructive ways of dealing with injustices.
Some people learn from grave injustices to work for justice because they've experienced in their own life what terrible things were lacking and the urgent need to build something better. I am one of them.
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