---------- Forwarded message ----------
Newgroups: alt.conspiracy
Subject: (fwd) Black Helicopters & Pittsburgh "Invasion" Honest...
From: landlord@telerama.lm.com (Mayor Loz)

Army training wakes up, scares city

By Paul Muschick, Kris Mamula and Mary Anne Lewis
TRIBUNE-REVIEW June 4, 1996.

A noisy late night invasion of Pittsburgh by low-flying military helicopters was only an Army training exercise, but only a few people knew that.

Uninformed civilians awakened by the sound of chopper blades and explosions late Monday and early Tuesday called police, emergency operations officials, and radio talk shows, wondering if an
invasion or military coup were under way.

Because of concerns expressed by city residents, the Army canceled another training exercise that was scheduled for last night. "We're re-evaluating to see what can be done with as little disruption
as possible," U.S. Army Lt. Col. Pete Pierce said in a telephone interview from Fort Bragg, near Fayetteville, N.C.

Less fearful residents took Monday night's and Tuesday's unusual sights and sounds in stride. But when the facts emerged yesterday, outraged Pittsburgh Council members wondered why they weren't told of the Special Forces' first foray into Pittsburgh to practice what it called "urban infiltration." "We're not getting paranoid here, but there is a proper way to notify the city," said City Council President Jim Ferlo.

The maneuvers involved 200 troops from Fort Bragg who have been stationed in Pittsburgh since May 28. The troops, working in conjunction with Pittsburgh Police and Allegheny County SWAT teams, practiced dropping soldiers on a rope from a helicopter to buildings, Pierce said. "What we've found in the past is if we notify with a long lead time, we'll end up with spectators coming down trying to watch what's going on," Pierce said.

The choppers flew over the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, beginning about 10 p.m. Monday, disturbing residents from McKeesport to West Mifflin. Army and police officials said residents in
the immediate area were notified shortly before the exercises began, but there was no general announcement. "I was sitting here, watching TV," said an elderly bed-ridden woman who lives on the North Side. She watched the soldiers descend from a helicopter. "I was scared at first. They were low."

The soldiers also fired training ammunition and charges, as well as devices "used to make the training as realistic as possible," said a statement released yesterday by the U.S. Special Operations
Command in Pittsburgh.

Many were startled by all the noise. Mary Mondik, of the North Side, at first thought fireworks were going off at Three Rivers Stadium. "I just didn't know what it was all about," Mondik said,
adding residents should have been told what to expect beforehand. City Councilman Dan Cohen, who chairs the city's public safety committee, said he would ask army officials to explain why more people weren't informed of its plans. "I think the public needs some answers," Cohen said.

"There's no real danger to anyone," said Pittsburgh Police Chief Robert W. McNeilly Jr., who believes wider notification would have attracted too many bystanders. Police received numerous complaints around midnight from residents in a six-block area of McClure Avenue near Termon Avenue in Brighton Heights, McNeilly said.

Training in urban settings is as important as training in deserts or mountains because forces could be sent anywhere at a moment's notice, Pierce said. The training is being conducted in other cities
as well, and Pittsburgh was chosen for its unique geography. "Each area has its own characteristics and its own challenges in terms of training," Pierce said.

Radio talk show hosts, who often receive calls about UFOs and "black helicopter" sightings, were among the first in the media to hear reports of explosions and military aircraft over the city.
Chris Moore, who was filling in on the overnight shift at KDKA Radio early Tuesday, said he at first discounted the callers' claims until he heard the roar of the choppers through an open window in the station's Gateway Center studio Downtown.

Callers kept the lines lit until 4:30 with questions about the unusual sights and noise. "It's the kind of night you dream about on the overnight shift," Moore joked.

But the talk show host said he came away with a new awareness of just how frightened the public is about the possibility of a military takeover or revolution. "That's the word that kept coming up
repeatedly, revolution," he said. "I was making light of it, but I got serious later on as I recognized the depth of the concern." Fifty percent of the callers were genuinely convinced that some kind of military attack was under way, he said.

Councilman Sala Udin said he had just one question about the military exercises: "I would like to know who the enemy is."

---- Loz ---- Pittsburgh, PA * 72162.1174@compuserve.com

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The Washington Times ( A1, 6/6/96, http://www.washtimes.com ) reports:

Nine Army helicopters swooped into Pittsburgh in the middle of the night this week and turned parts of the city into war zones, complete with sounds of explosions and gunfire that frightened residents and sent one pregnant woman into labor.

One witnesses reported that the helicopters fired into a warehouse. He also observed a helicopter knocking over a large barrel with the backwash from the its propellers indicating that the helicopters went much lower than FAA regulations would permit. Real explosives were used to recreate war type conditions.

Over 100 people called the Pittsburgh Police Department soon after the siege began around 10 p.m last Monday. The operations, conducted by U.S. Army Special Operations Command, were to have continued all week but were called off due to the large number of angry citizens.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Ken McGraw said that similar urban warfare training has been conducted in other major cities including Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami and Detroit. He said "In the past we received complaints, but we received more complains on this one than for any other exercises we've conducted."

Col. McGraw also stated that the Army notified police and citizens in the "immediate vicinity" of the four training sites several HOURS before the pseudoassaults on those communities. Are you ever out of the house for several hours? I know I am, and obviously many people were out and did not get this warning in time to avoid being terrorized.

Can you imagine getting a message like this, "Do not panic; in a few hours your neighborhood will be turned into a urban warfare training zone for the U.S. Army. Please remain calm and try to avoid explosive devices." Something is very wrong here.

Not only is it outrageous to give only a few hours warning, the Army's actions give citizens no choice in the matter at all. It shows utter disregard for the sovereignty and dignity of the people and their communities. It turns the people and their properties into toys for those forces increasing aligned to wage war on the people through such pretexts as the "war on drugs."

We've heard a lot about "black helicopters" conducting operations around populated areas. We've also heard conspiracy theories that such operations are a preliminary feature of a conspiracy to subjugate the US population to control by the United Nations. While that seems to be a stretch of the imagination, it is indeed a fact that the US Army has been conducting urban warfare training in major cities across the nation.

Is this an act of intimidation? Is it an effort to teach people to tolerate military occupation? I don't know, but these seem to be questions that should be raised. Always question authority.

But you need not worry about black helicopters descending on your community, as Col. McGraw informs us, they are dark olive green helicopters not black.