NATO TAKES OVER AMERICAN CITY

Reports have been streaming into infowars.com and the Alex Jones Show about this massive NATO exercise, which was nothing more than a giant war game on US soil. Reports include troops in Colorado Springs, multiple checkpoints and bizarre electrical airwave problems. Here's a collection of articles on the event.

NATO in secret crisis exercise

AFP

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (AFP) - NATO defense chiefs took part in an unprecedented secret exercise here Wednesday that dramatised the need for agile decision making and more deployable forces to deal with fast moving crises, officials said. "The blunt message from Colorado is going to be this: We need real deployable soldiers, not paper armies," Secretary General George Robertson said.
NATO defense ministers and their top brass gathered at Schriever Air Force Base outside Colorado Springs where they were confronted with a fictional scenario in which the alliance new NATO Response Force is deployed. Details of the scenario were kept secret, but officials here said it begins with a NATO intervention in a friendly fictional island nation in the Red Sea to rescue civilians trapped by a crisis.

But it quickly turns sour and the alliance soon finds itself facing a threat to Europe in the form of terrorists on freighters off the coast with missiles possibly armed with chemical or biological warheads, according to the officials. "It was hypothetical, but it was designed to deal with real world threats and capabilities," US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.

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(note the checkpoints mentioned in this article, as if that were a normal acceptable thing):

NATO LEADERS ARRIVE IN COLORADO SPRINGS

KRDO 10-05-03

WITH NEARLY A THOUSAND DELEGATES FROM MORE THAN 20 COUNTRIES COMING TO COLORADO SPRINGS THIS WEEK FOR THE NATO CONFERENCE.

ON LAKE AVENUE IN FRONT OF THE HOTEL IS WHERE ONE OF FIVE SECURITY CHECKPOINTS FOR THE NATO EVENT WILL BE.

BUT IT MAY SURPRISE YOU TO KNOW THAT ON THE DAY BEFORE PARTICIPANTS ARRIVE, THE ACTUAL SET-UP HASN'T STARTED YET.

SECURITY EXPERTS SAY THERE'S A GOOD REASON FOR THAT.
ULYSESS MIDDLETON IS THE HEAD OF SECURITY."This is low-level. The threat is low."

BUT MIDDLETON SAYS THAT WHILE THE THREAT IS LOW SECURITY NEEDS TO BE HIGH."If left up to security, we would have had it up a week ago. But we're working with the Broadmoor, and they still have customers inside."

THE COLONEL SAYS CHECKPOINTS WILL GO UP EARLY MONDAY MORNING,BE OPERATIONAL BY NOON IN A TWO BLOCK AREA AROUND THE BROADMOOR.

THEY'LL GENERALLY AFFECT PEOPLE WHO LIVE AROUND THE BROADMOOR OR TRAVEL THROUGH ON BUSINESS. EVERYONE ELSE WILL HAVE TO DETOUR.PART OF THE REASON FOR THE NATO CONFERENCE BEING HERE, IS FOR DELEGATES TO TAKE IN THE SIGHTS.
SO WHAT IF THEY PLAN TO VISIT GARDEN OF THE GODS OR THE ZOO, THE SAME DAY THAT YOU DO?
DON'T WORRY.YOU WON'T HAVE TO LEAVE OR WAIT.

YOU CAN ENJOY THE ATTRACTIONS WITH THE DELEGATES AND YOU MAY EVEN GET TO MEET THEM.

CHECKPOINTS SHOULD AFFECT ONLY PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN THE AREA, OR WHO TRAVEL THROUGH ON BUSINESS.

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Denver Post 10/13/03

COLORADO SPRINGS - Next time NATO officials say they're doing a lockdown, the folks in the luxury Broadmoor neighborhood will take them seriously.
Very seriously.

Last week, NATO workers erected security and communications towers in the area in advance of this week's defense ministers' conference.

By 9 a.m. Friday morning, all 10 lines at Overhead Door Company of Colorado Springs were lit up with calls from the Broadmoor and the nearby town of Security complaining that their garage- door openers had jammed.

More than 400 calls from frantic, frustrated and flustered residents came on that day alone. They haven't stopped since, said the company's receptionist, Tina Oetken.

Coincidence?

Oetken and her bosses don't think so.

"With over 600-plus calls, it's hard to believe that it can be anything but" NATO, Oetken said Wednesday.

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Garage-door transmitters work on radio frequencies. NATO also needs radio frequencies but insists it isn't poaching off the frequencies that signal remote-controlled garage-door openers.

"We've double-checked our system, and there's no technical reason that we should be causing the problem," said Army Lt. Col. Gary Keck, a Pentagon spokesman.

Keck apologized if anyone was inconvenienced but said the additional security is for everyone in the Broadmoor and not just those attending the meeting.

Oetken said some of her customers were even locked out of their houses because their computer keypads jammed.

Other residents, like Debbie DeYoung, have suffered only intermittent problems.

"Oh, I thought maybe it was the battery," DeYoung said when she learned that many of her neighbors were struggling with their garage-door openers. "My garage door has been wild."

DeYoung isn't alone. A nearby Radio Shack sold out of 12-volt batteries, which are often used for garage-door openers, Friday morning. A new shipment sold out in 90 minutes.

"It was one customer after another asking if we had batteries for garage-door openers," Radio Shack sales associate Janell Fowler said.

Store workers quickly figured out there couldn't possibly be that many dead batteries at once, so they began running tests. With very few exceptions, the batteries were good.

People were still coming in for batteries Wednesday, Fowler said. But now she is ready.

"Now when people come and say, 'I need a battery for my garage-door opener' I say, 'No, you don't.' It has been pretty crazy around here."

Crazy is exactly how Cameron Hayton describes the month of September, but now he's cashing in.

Hayton, the owner of the 3-month-old luxury taxi service Town Cars of Colorado, got a call last month asking him to track down 30 identical Cadillacs for the visiting NATO ministers and deliver them to the Broadmoor within 30 days.

Officials told him they wanted the identical cars to avoid any squabbling, Hayton said. Government officials told him at least one diplomat left a previous conference when he didn't get the color car he wanted, he added.

Hayton tried numerous car dealers and rental car agencies and, like the government, had no luck finding identical cars.

Finally, Hayton called Red Noland Cadillac, which called General Motors. Thirty $46,000 Cadillac DeVilles were made in Michigan specifically to cart the NATO dignitaries around. After the conference winds up today, the bronze- colored cars with chrome wheels will be offered for sale across the Front Range.

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Security tight around Broadmoor
Local authorities have been planning for months

AP 10/07/03

COLORADO SPRINGS - Concrete barriers, bomb-sniffing dogs and soldiers with M-16 rifles were among the security measures at the luxurious Broadmoor Hotel in preparation for a NATO conference.

The first of 700 delegates and their staffs from 19 countries began arriving Monday in Colorado Springs for the two-day meeting that starts Wednesday.

The Broadmoor is closed to the public and a two-block radius around the hotel is sealed, forcing area residents to pass through checkpoints. Also, air space over the resort is closed during the NATO gathering.

The Pentagon chose Colorado Springs for the meeting because of its military bases, natural beauty and Western flavor.

The Pentagon will spend $7 million on the conference and another $7 million for the event at Schriever. The economic impact on Colorado Springs is expected to be about $10 million.

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Because of security concerns, all the receptions and dinners will be held in the hotel. The group will venture out only on Thursday night, for a barbecue and rodeo at the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame.

After eight months of preparation, Colorado Springs authorities say they are ready for protests or any other problems atthe NATO meeting.

"We have enough resources in place to provide the necessary security to make sure they have a safe conference," Colorado Springs police commander Steve Liebowitz said. "Of course, you always plan for the worst and hope for the best."

Liebowitz said state, federal and military authorities are helping with security for the meeting of 26 defense ministers. He declined to discuss details, but said approximately 200 Colorado Springs residents will have to go through checkpoints.

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