First, they came for the mayors...

Well, actually, they came for the 92-year old grandmother first, but...

A Maryland mayor is asking the federal government to investigate why SWAT team members burst into his home without knocking and shot his two dogs to death in an investigation into a drug smuggling scheme.

Authorities say the package was part of a scheme in which drugs are mailed to unknowing recipients and then intercepted.

There is no excuse, no justification whatsoever for these deadly "no-knock" raids. Every American should read the Washington Post feature linked above... especially this part:

The scene at the house was so terrible and odd to Berwyn Heights officer Johnson that he planted himself in the living room. He couldn't see a search warrant posted anywhere. The mayor looked so vulnerable that Johnson wanted to make sure nothing even worse happened to him, such as getting shot. "Not that I didn't trust the police," Johnson would later say. "But I wanted to personally witness what is going to happen to my mayor, so if they try to say this guy went for a gun -- and he didn't -- it's not going to happen on my watch."

You want a war on terrorism? Then reign in the SWAT teams and private militias. The militarization of law enforcement and the rise of mercenary soldiers is a test tube for gestating fascism. If innocent Americans aren't secure against sudden violence from their own government, what point in fighting medieval barbarians half a world away?

(HT: Pro Libertate)