Okay, where to begin? It seems that various American counties have been given federal funds to conduct emergency exercises, the idea that a bunch of community members and first responders should all practice how to respond a fictional “disaster,” specifically some kind of terrorist attack. (Before anyone starts swearing at the Obama administration, please know that this is not a new program. It has been going on for a while.)
So anyway, the emergency management agency of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, was one of those that elected to take the federal bucks to participate. Thus they have dutifully planned a nifty exercise that will involve more than 300 people and will launch this coming Saturday at a local high school.
I’ll let the Des Moines Register take it from here:
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…..
And so on.
Various local “patriot” organizations who have learned of the planned scenario are mighty pissed off, as are some national spokespeople like Craig Halverson, the national director of the Minuteman Patriots.
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.”
In this instance, I’m with Mr. Halverson. One would hope the idea would be to bring local people together for the common good, not to be divisive.
The beleaguered lead exercise writer and planner, a fellow named Doug Reed, assured the grumpy Minute Persons and Tea Partyists that “….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.”
Oh, well. It’s all okay then.
Just to be clear: of course these exercises, in general, are a good idea, and this one, which involves an “active shooter”—more specifically, a student shooter at a high school—is one that likely ought to be practiced, even if the dramatic back story is—shall we say—something less than helpful.
Now the only question that remains is how long it will take Mr. Reed, the writer of all this exercise nonsense, to begin peddling his screenplay to Hollywood.