Tanks for the memories...
 

A friend of Mine was talking about this and I couldn't believe that it was true. He said he heard it on "America Air" on XM radio and he said he saw a video. I looked up and am Now terrified. Check this

http://www.la.indymedia.org/news/2004/11/118865.php

And this:

http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/la_tanks.htm

And this

http://www.alternet.org/election04/2004/11/002663.html

and here

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/002703.html

*Insert tianemen square comments here*

*insert 1984 comments here*

*insert that could never happen because it would get on the news and why would the news ignore it comments here*

The Patriot Act, the Prisoner Abuses, and now Tanks "accidently" show up at a anti war rally...

In the words of a brilliant mind "You're not fucking panicked? Well I'm fucking Panicked!"

Be afraid.

Two drivers going to a parade get lost and get stuck at a red light next to the protestors...

HOLY FUCKING SHIT BIG BROTHER IS.. er... took a wrong turn...

Hmm...I tend to believe the fact that the tanks got lost. Do you really think the military is twitchy enough that they send APCs to break up protests? Not to mention the fact if they did show up to break up the protest, they would of hung around until the protest broke up?

Still...I have to admit that it's really, really bad timing. The tanks commanders were probably like "What the **** do I do now?!"

Generally, there are two mistakes I see here. 1) The tanks making what was probably the worst wrong turn possible, and 2) Protesters "surrounding" the tanks. What the heck were they thinking?

You know, you can tell the Indy Media story is alarmist bullshit form the get go anyway. Those aren't tanks. They don't even bother to get those annoying "facts" right.

The only way it could have been the MILITARY was if the protestors were on military property, since use of military personnel or equipment for Law Enforcement Purposes (other then drug interdiction) is strictly forbidden. And even then, the MPs wouldn't need tanks (don't have 'em anyway), and any encounter with a military tank would have been accidental.

The other possibility is that some PDs own armored vehicles. But when you look at the pictures, its the brand spanking new Stryker, which is a strictly military vehicle.

But, nope, it was Indy Media bullshit hype. Acting as if the military is sooo concerned about protestors that they "deploy" "tanks". that go home in 2 minutes? Yeah, protestors aren’t a target. The military isn’t trying to run over your freedom of speech with thanks like the Red Chinese.

Seriously, how many hundreds died in Tiananmen Square in the 80s? and you draw connections between a lost tank and the murder of students by the Red Chinese? hell, if you want a good photo of military being used against Americans, try this
http://www.armthepeople.com/tanks20.jpg

DarthZeth is right, those aren't real tanks. Knowing as much about tanks as I do, I can say for certain that real tanks aren't equipped with headlights; they don't need them. The question is: who would drive a pair of fake tanks through a street full of protestors?

*cough* this here M1 Abrams tank looks like its got headlights.

Actually, someone pointed out that that might not even be a US Vehicle in the video at all. it might be one of these Canadian vehicles http://www.sfu.ca/casr/101-vehcoyo2.htm

I thought it was a Stryker, though, and one of the articles says its a Marine Stryker. That’s not a "fake" tank, its just not a tank at all. its a wheeled armored vehicle. Its got think armor, and doesn't have nearly the firepower of a tank (although I did read about some preproduction Strykers that were mounted with a 105mm gun, same as the gun on the original M1 [now the M1s have a 120mm smoothbore]. But I think it only held, like, 18 rounds for the gun.) The Stryker is usually classified as an Infantry Carrier Vehicle, although it's got variants that carry mortars or anti-tank rockets, and set ups as medical transports, recon, and other crap. Still not tanks, though.

Although this does raise the question of why this isn’t being reported by mainstream media. Even if there’s no reason to be alarmed an all is well, this is still news.

Kind of reminds me, WTO riots the indi news reported use of crowd control measures, mainstream waited for an odd amount of time to report that and instead spent there time denying it.

why isn't a wrong turn being reported? gee, i can't iamgine.

I mean, seriously. This isn't some government conspiracy...why the hell would the U.S. send tanks to an ANTI-WAR RALLY? Doesn't that seem a little counter-productive? These guys probably took a right instead of a left while looking for the local McDonalds. Not every coincidence is some conspiracy of "the system": You must always keep in mind that life is always ironic, given enough time, by process of elimination....

Edit: in response to Darth Zeth, you'd be surprised at what the media considers "news" these days...

A deeply ironic wrong turn that would make interesting news, I can’t imagine.

If there had been some sort on mention of it on anything but the indi news there would be no suspicion.