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Exclusive Interview with Col. Harry Riley (Ret.) on the “American Spring”

Posted By Sharon Rondeau On Wednesday, January 1, 2014 @ 6:21 PM In National | 1 Comment

“IT’S ALMOST AT THE VIRAL STAGE”

by Sharon Rondeau

(Jan. 1, 2014) — Within the last week, a posting at Patriots for America titled “Operation American Spring” went “viral” on the internet via email, blogs, Facebook and Twitter.

Patriots for America was founded by Col. Harry Riley (Ret.), who has been seeking redress of grievances from Washington, DC for the last several years for a variety of perceived constitutional violations.

Riley served in the U.S. Army for more than 34 years.  His official biography reads:

Name: Harry G. Riley, Colonel, U. S. Army

Official retirement date: 30 September 1992

Total years of federal service: 34 years, 5 months 20 days.

Military unit: HHC, 704th Military Intelligence Brigade, George G. Meade, Maryland 20755

Colonel Riley graduated from Capon Bridge High School, Capon Bridge, WV; received his BA in Political Science with a minor in Education (teaching certification) from Park College, Parkville, Missouri; and continued graduate work with the University of Oklahoma in International Relations.
Military service Biography: He is a graduate of the Department of Defense Junior Officer Cryptologic Career Program and the Army Command and General Staff College.

Colonel Riley was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, Military Intelligence, in 1966 through Infantry Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Fort Bennlng, Georgla. Prior to commissioning he served eight years as an enlisted soldier in various Military Intelligence assignments, entering OCS as a noncommissioned officer. He was promoted to Colonel on 01 May 1989.

His assignments include Executive Officer and Commander, Signals Research unit 2, Zweibruecken, Germany (1966-1968);  II Corps Military Intelligence Detachment Advisor, and Combat Assistance team Commander supporting Army of Vietnam 1st Battalion, 47th Infantry Regiment Vietnam (1969-1970); Staff Officer and Commander, 2d Operations Battalion, U. S. Army Field station Augsburg,  Germany (1976-1979); Staff Officer for the Assistant Chief of Staff Intelligence and Management Directorate, Office of the Chief of Staff Army, Pentagon (1979-1984); Division Chief, National Security Agency, Fort Meade Maryland (1984-1986); Commander, 712th Military Intelligence Battalion, Augsburg, Germany (1986-1988); Division Chief, National Security Agency, Fort Meade, Maryland (1988-1991); and Deputy Offlce Chief National Security Agency, Fort Meade 19Q1-1992). Colonel Riley also served additional tours ln Germany (1956-1959); Vietnam (1962); and Thailand (1962-1963) as an enlisted soldier.

He is the recipient of the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (3 awards), Air Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal; Army Achievement Medal{ Meritorious unit Award, Air Force Outstanding unit Award, Army Good Conduct Medal (2 Awards), National Defense Service Medal (2 awards), Vietnam Service Medal (5 Campaigns), Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon (5), the Army Staff Identification Badge, Parachute Badge, Combat Infantry Badge, and Republic of Vietnam awards to include the Cross or Gallantry with Silver Star.

As one of the organizers of Operation American Spring (OAS), Riley told The Post & Email that he “wasn’t the first person to talk about such an endeavor.  We had a piece that somebody wrote outlining all of the problems and issues that we were facing as a nation over the last four, five, six years.  I’ve been posting the question, “Does this justify an ‘American Spring?’”

The OAS announcement begins:

TO:  Patriots (black, white, male, female, civilian, military, truckers, bikers, militias, veterans, old, young, every American that loves freedom and liberty)

Mission:
Restoration of Constitutional government, rule of law, freedom, liberty “of the people, for the people, by the people” from despotic and tyrannical federal leadership.

and goes on to assert that “corrupt and criminal leadership must be removed.”

Riley and his team are seeking “millions” of people to gather in Washington, DC beginning on May 16, 2014 and to stay, or replace themselves, for as long as is required “to draw the line and bring to a conclusion a decision on the out of control government.” The declaration states that actions will be taken “Not with guns, but with millions of Americans demanding a return to constitutional government and the resignation of Obama, Biden, Reid, McConnell, Boehner, Pelosi, and Holder as a start…then the constitutional restoration process can begin. An AMERICAN SPRING can be avoided only if the above mentioned officials resign.”

In answer to his own question about whether or not an “American Spring” is warranted, Riley continued:

The more I thought about that, I said, “We have tried everything.  We have paper-shuffled the Congress for five years; we have paper-shuffled the media; we have faxed and phone-called and sent letters, and we just keep going backwards.  It keeps getting worse and worse.  Then the thought entered my mind about the Egyptian spring and how people finally said, “Enough is enough,” and they hit the streets by the millions and millions and millions and stayed there until there was some sort of a solution.  We are basically modeling what the people of Egypt did.  We’re not modeling their government; we’re not modeling their military; we’re modeling their action.

Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was deposed on July 3, 2013, after his seizure of new, unconstitutional powers drove thousands into the streets

The Post & Email asked Riley if he was referring to the “Arab Spring” of 2011 involving several Middle East nations or the uprising of this past summer which ousted former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, to which he responded:

Morsi.  They tried what was supposed to be a democratic movement in the Morsi regime, and it turned out to be worse than before.  So they went back to the streets, and they got rid of him.  We believe it’s relative to our nation in that we have elements in leadership, with Obama being the chief, that reflect an attitude of tyranny, betrayal, deception, and deceit.  We just decided that we’ve tried everything else.  We’ve tried to go from the bottom up; we’ve tried to get states to do something, to exercise Tenth Amendment responsibility; but when you have a lawless federal government which ignores the laws, writes its own laws, modifies existing laws; refuses to obey existing law; the attorney general refusing to enforce existing law, picking and choosing what they will and what they won’t enforce…when the leadership in a government becomes lawless, what are the people supposed to do?  Who can we turn to?  Who can we rely on to believe that anything will be favorable to We the People?

We’re not suggesting that our government structure is bad.  We’re not even suggesting that the principles which the Founding Fathers gave us are bad or wrong.  What we’re saying is that the people who now occupy positions of power have betrayed the Constitution, have betrayed the Founding Father principles, and have betrayed We the People in seeking power and greed in an incestuous operation in Washington.  They just feed one another, whether Democrat or Republican…they all put up a little show as if there’s some difference.  There really isn’t.  They’re all up there to stay, to eat at the trough of the American people and basically have their own world, and we’re down here wondering what’s going on.  We’ve had enough; we’ve just had enough.

How do you think we arrived at this point?

I think the American people were totally captured by a fraud.  We have an individual who spoke well and talked to people, particularly those who were seeking free stuff, had an emotion going, and everybody else saying, “Well, maybe this guy is on to something…he says he’s going to be transparent; he says he’s not going to be involved with lobbyists, and he’s going to put trust back in government…”  It all rings true; it reminds me of other dictators and tyrants around the world who took the same approach.

Remember all of those shovel-ready jobs?  None of these things that Obama promised ever came to fruition.  The people were just sucked in, and at this point, I think they have finally realized – even the most left of our nation – that this guy is a fraud.

I can think of one recently who testified to the House Judiciary Committee, an attorney over at Georgetown

Jonathan Turley?

Yes.  Jonathan Turley is a completely loyal Obama supporter.  He believes in Obamacare.  But he testified, “I really have great trepidation about where we are headed…” and he said, “We’re creating a new system here….the center of gravity is shifting, and that makes it unstable.”  I believe his final word was, “The situation was the most serious constitutional crisis in our lifetime.”

I recall that in 2008, he wrote an article asking if John McCain were constitutionally eligible to run for president, but he notably did not write the same kind of article about Obama.

He was almost a permanent fixture on MSNBC and the mainstream media during the Bush administration.  This is an example of how far this has gone, that even the left-leaning liberal minds are testifying in open Congress about their extreme concerns about the direction of the nation.

You were asking how we got here.  We had a pied piper who had a message to which he had no intention of adhering but knew that the people’s ears would be perked up, and they would be itching, and they were, and they sucked it up, and here we are.

For more than five years, many Americans have asked, “Who is this man?” because Obama’s history and documentation have been occluded from scrutiny. His long-form birth certificate and Selective Service registration form have been determined to be “computer-generated forgeries”

Something The Post & Email has focused on is the forgery posted on the White House website.  As you said, Obama deceived us about health care, the stimulus dollars, the shovel-ready jobs, transparency, “hope and change,” and a criminal investigator has said that the image was posted “with the intent to deceive.”  My readers wonder why a forgery needed to be created if Obama was born in Hawaii and is constitutionally eligible.

That is all part of it, because back in 2008, even before Obama was even a candidate, it didn’t take rocket science to understand what he was about.  Many of us, you included, were screaming to high heaven:  “Who is this guy?  What has he done?  Where did he come from? Are we going to entrust our national defense to a person we don’t even know?”  And we still don’t.

I remember people wrote to judges, attorneys general, congressmen, state legislators, governors, members of the Electoral College, and nothing was done.  And then he was allegedly elected a second time.  Would you say that everyone in Congress is criminally complicit at this point?

There are people in Congress who have principles we need in government and as leaders.  I outlined some of those on our page:  the Wests, the Dr. Ben Carsons, the Cruzes…they are standing up.  But for the most part, the leadership is clearly involved in it.  They’re part of it:  John Boehner, Pelosi, McConnell, Reid…even the Supreme Court: to come out and twist themselves into believing or making the case that Obamacare was constitutional.  John Roberts became part of the establishment and contorted himself.

John Boehner is the leader of the House.  He knows what’s right and he knows what’s wrong, or, God help me, I hope he does.  He has been taken in and is just part of the problem.  That’s why we say that all of those guys need to go.

Do you think blackmail could have been carried out against members of Congress?

Obviously, that is always a potential, but my gut feeling is that they’re just cowards, protecting their own positions.  I think they would rather be a congressman than serve the American people, go out on a limb, be truthful and say, “I’m opposing this because it’s wrong, and if I get defeated in an election, so be it.”  I’m positive that every single one of them is a millionaire; it’s not as if they would be paupers if they weren’t re-elected.

Most of them become very wealthy while in Congress.

Yes, and they stay there forever.  Look at this recent example of the National Defense Authorization Bill (NDAA) where they took away some compensation from disabled veterans and rewarded illegal aliens. Most of them followed the lead of the establishment, voted for that thing and passed it. Even my representative here in Florida voted for it.  Now he comes back home and tries to convince us that “We need to create legislation to reverse what we did to the veterans,” because they get back home and the veterans start stomping all over them.  Now they’re trying to say, “We’ll create legislation and reverse that.”  Well, they know very well in their heart that they’ll go up there, and they may create legislation, but it will go nowhere and die.

They can draft anything, but it might never get out of committee.

Yes.  These are just examples.  I have some examples of people who have joined our site.  As they come in, they said, “This is not the Constitution I fought for; it is changing.  I want to protect the Constitution of the United States as it was intended to be.  It’s hanging by a thread and we need to do something to save it.  I’m a military veteran who fought for my country who knows to protect the U.S. Constitution.”  It goes on and on.  “Because it is my responsibility and obligation as a citizen of this Republic to ensure the survival of our Republic, enforce constitutional law, restore our Bill of Rights, secure our borders, remove the illegals, arrest the traitors.”  “I don’t remember living under that; I want the role of the federal government back to 1791.”  There is a whole series of these short statements.  This is why I want to support this; I want to do whatever I can to bring my country back to the constitutional republic that our forefathers meant it to be.

Do you know of any specific groups which will be working with you, or would you rather not name them?

We’ve had some local-level Tea Party groups, but we’ve not had any national-level support that I’m aware of.  I know we’ve had some general officer support out there, and we’ll have to see in the days ahead who comes up and says what about what.  But every feedback I’m getting is that there’s a surge of energy behind this.

It’s been on blogs, distributed to email lists, and you have time to get the word out more widely before May.

If we last that long.  On Sunday, before I went to church, I typed “Operation American Spring” into a search, and the first thing that popped up was Erik Rush.  He took everything verbatim from our front page and put it on his website.  That was the only thing on his page!

I know he has been tweeting it quite a bit, as have others.

I’m not savvy to do Facebook or tweet it, but a lot of people are, and we’re encouraging all of our people to do it.

If people don’t do Facebook or Twitter, what else can they do to spread the word?

We’re putting out flyers right now, at least three or four versions, that we encourage everyone to attach as a jpeg and go on Facebook or wherever.  They can write letters to the editor and use their email list to copy off a portion or the whole thing of what our mission is about and send it out to their email lists.  Use social media as much as possible.  If anybody wants to talk to a member of our staff on any media, go do it.  We need innovation.  This is going to be an effort that is not going to be easy.  It’s going to take commitment because we’re going to DC, and we don’t intend to go up there for another one-day or two-day thing.

I noticed that you said you will stay for as long as it takes.

We’re going to come up with a system where we can keep the flow in there.  We’re going to have a rotating system; we’re going to hopefully have a program where people will be asked to take a week. For instance, we might use the alphabet:  people with a last name starting in “A” will take one week; with “B,” your week is “this.”  Once we get the initial millions there on the 16th and 17th of May, some people will have to go home, but then they can come back.

So people will be replacing themselves, so to speak.

Correct.

Rolling Thunder’s mission is to bring the attention of the public to the matter of MIAs and POWs

What made you choose the date of May 16?

For one thing, we felt we needed some time, even though we feel that the condition in the nation is critical. Congress is in session; it’s Armed Forces Day weekend, and the next weekend Rolling Thunder will be coming through, then Memorial Day.  We have a prayer warriors group on our site; we have a lot of people bathing this in prayer.  There is no agenda on the part of any of us; we simply are looking for one thing:  constitutional restoration, liberty, freedom, and leadership removed that is taking that away from us.

As you mentioned in your post, this would be a first of its kind:  unlike the American Revolution, but you want to get the point across.

Yes.  For those of us who have been in combat – I have been in a foxhole and in nations where we have been at war – we don’t want that in America if we can stop it.  It destroys everything:  the infrastructure, the carnage of people, and we don’t want that.  That’s why we’re going up there as non-violent, unarmed, except for our Constitution and biblical principles. We’re just going to stay there, and we will try to make our case.

We’re going to have to have another tier of leadership to conclude Phase 2 and Phase 3.  We will get up there; we will provide the million that we need up there; we’re going to have to have help to navigate through to help force the resignations that we’re asking for.  It’s in both parties. This is not just against Republicans or Democrats.  It’s against leadership that is corrupt, immoral, and feeding off of the American people for their own personal purpose.

Gen. [Paul E.] Vallely has called for resignations, including Obama’s.

Yes.  Obviously, Gen. Vallely is one of the very few general officers who is calling it what it is.  We wonder:  where are all of these officers that have been deposed by Obama?  Some say it’s upwards of 200.

The Post & Email has written about Adm. Charles Gaouette and Gen. Carter Ham.  Are you alarmed by what you see with the alleged 200 purged military officers?

Yes, I am.  If a leader has intentions that are less than honorable with regard to power grabs, he wants to eject the leadership that is driven by the Constitution.  He wants those who will say, “Maybe the Constitution is out-of-date, and we need to do other things…” …wishy-washy people.

Such as “follow Obama?”

Yes.  I feel bad for all these people [purged officers], but on the other hand, I wonder:  What more could they lose?  Couldn’t they stand up and say, “It was wrong what he did?”  I don’t know.  I don’t travel in admirals’ or generals’ channels.  They may be doing some wonderful things…

Many of The Post & Email’s readers have asked for the last five years why the generals are taking Obama’s orders when we don’t know if he’s constitutionally eligible to even give them.  Perhaps birthplace is only one consideration, but the Cold Case Posse has determined that a forgery has been created to deceive.  Perhaps one reason the generals are taking his orders is because of what happened to Lt. Col. Terry Lakin.

Sad.  John McCain, when he was running against Obama and people were questioning Obama’s legitimacy, said, “You’re all out to lunch; he’s a good man.”  He was feeding right into what the left and the media wanted to hear:  “A Republican says he’s legitimate…”  It’s been a terrible nightmare the last five or six years.

It seems as if everyone is pretending that Obama is legitimate when they know he most likely isn’t, but it’s the elephant in the room.  However, I understand that the gathering you are planning is about more than just that issue.

Oh, yes.  It’s about total destruction of the nation, the Constitution, and all of the elements of a government that we’ve had established for 237 years.  Obama is just totally ripping it apart.  You can’t have an executive who says, “I’m going to run around Congress” or “I’ll just take a piece of legislation I don’t like and modify it to suit what I want to do.” This is the worst example of a tyranny, a dictatorship.  There are no longer three branches of government with equal status.

What are some specific things driving you to Washington in May?

It’s all of the waste, supporting The Muslim Brotherhood.  It’s Holder and the Justice Department ignoring critical things such as Benghazi and Fast & Furious. The National Security Agency used to be  focused on the enemy; now’s it’s focused on the American people.  Our freedom is being absorbed by a tyrannical regime.  Almost everything that is happening in America now is no longer what the Constitution calls for.  No one can depend on anything, and anything could happen.

Saul Alinsky is author of Rules for Radicals, which teaches community organizers how to “freeze” and “polarize” their political enemies

We have fought Obamacare from the beginning because we don’t want a government-run system.  We want a system that is based on capitalist principles, but Obama is very focused on Saul Alinsky and communist underpinnings such that if you control the medical system of the country, you control the country.  That’s what Obama is doing.

It’s hard to actually list everything.

I have a list of all the things he’s promised and hasn’t kept.  It’s a philosophy of ignoring our basic constitutional rights and the Constitution itself.  He’s said that the Constitution is “flawed” because it constrains him.

The compelling thing is to restore the Constitution and our liberty and freedom, which we really don’t have.  You can’t do much now without worrying about somebody arresting you.  It’s getting worse and worse.  There’s just an intangible aspect to this that makes people say, “We’re going down the wrong road; I don’t want this anymore.” Jonathan Turley is a strong example.

It makes very little difference what states do these days, because they will not stand up for their position under the Tenth Amendment. If the federal government is going to say, “No, you can’t do that…”  That was demonstrated when the Arizona governor tried to do what the federal government wouldn’t do to protect her people and pass laws that said, “We will do this in regard to illegal immigration.”  The federal government, as you know, fought her and got her laws declared unconstitutional for the most part.  She couldn’t take care of her own people because the federal government said, “No, you can’t do that.”

The federal government also sued Alabama for passing an immigration law as well as Texas, South Carolina and North Carolina over their voter ID laws. South Carolina is now poised to be the first state in the nation to pass a law nullifying Obamacare, with Georgia and Missouri possibly following suit.

Some have said to me, “How about if we include in this Operation American Spring an effort that everybody goes to his or her state capitols all over the country?”  My position to them is that it’s a worthy effort, but it will strip off and detract from where the problem is.  The problem is the federal government, not the states.  We need everybody in Washington because we have to eliminate the leadership up there that is bringing all this pain down on the states.

One thing we’re not going to do, or at least I’m not proposing, is to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on stages or porta-potties. We’re going to Washington under the Constitution and freedom of assembly and freedom of speech.  We’re not going under any official organization. It’s going to be a backpack with food and water.  If somebody wants to buy porta-potties up there, that’s one thing, but we think that we just have to get people there.  They can go to the motel at night or wherever they’re going to stay, camp someplace…Everybody is ready to go.  As you say, it’s almost at the viral stage.

Is there any way to know how many might show up at this time?

Based on my observations, I was kind-of a key player in putting together a Gathering of Eagles of 2007 when we went up there and the anti-Vietnam folks were celebrating their 40th anniversary.  They were planning on setting it up at the Vietnam Memorial, and we said, “No, you’re not doing that.”  We put together about 30,000, and I didn’t see anything like what I’m seeing right now.  We did that in a couple of months.

Right now, what I’m seeing is we’re going to put millions up there; no doubt about it.  I feel confident about that.

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Replies

  • Almost comprehensive....... unbelievably good!

  • Great Interview ..... !!!
  •    Might as well give it a try.

  • LET'S ROLL.   I applaud Col. Riley, he is correct, we have done everything else.    We are left with no alternative, it is time ,for Americans to stand up for their Country, or frankly lose it.    This is being organized with plenty of time, for all Patriots to prepare, save, if necessary, make travel plans.    It is well thought out, and will be successful, if we get the News out.  We must each Pledge our Allegiance again, and work to make this happen.  Frankly, as I view it, it is our Last Hope. Start getting the News out, twitter it, place it on Facebook.  We have talked long enough, now it is time to ACT.  Thank you, Col. Riley, may God be at your side, and may many from the abused Military, join us.

  • Perfect. I'm proud and encouraged. Now everyone, get your flyers and get word of mouth going all across America.
  • Harry I may have said this several weeks when Twana emailed everyone that this was coming, and I think its worth repeating, " We as a society have allowed a fraud usurper carte blanche to destroy what God had anointed  ". We have turned our backs on God, and he is waiting for us to do what we know is right, we took him out of our schools, our work places, because somebody told us it was not politically correct, and we bought it hook line and sinker.

    I suggest parents start telling their school systems what it is we want our children to learn, as opposed to them shoving Islamic teachings down our children's throats, or allowing muslimes to live here under their own laws. We can not wait for the dictator and fraud, we must move as quickly as possible to support " Operation American Spring ".

  • Wonderful interview Harry. We may think about making it clear that all of the problems with the federal government started before the O administration so as to cut the racism mongers off at the knees. If we give the impression that we think that all this started when Obama was elected I would almost say for sure that it will be one of the most common memes out there. "They're just Obama haters and a bunch of racists!"

  • This may fit -- from the Glory of America -,1999 Desk calendar ,New Life Publications January 2 In 1773 the New Year was rung in by the Men of Marlborough,Massachusetts, wit a unanimous declaration:  "Death  is more eligible than slavery. A freeborn  people are not required by the religion of Jesus Christ to submit to tyranny,but may use such power as God has given them to recover and support their laws and liberties....We implore the Ruler above the skies, that He would make bare his arm in defense of His Church and people,and let Israel go."

    This fits concisely with the Sermon preached in Hartford Conn. in 1776 by Samuel West On the Right to Rebel --and everything else I have read of our Founding. OAS is NOT a new thing --but a very close reflection of what was once a self evident Truth.

  • We will find out how strongly determined the anti-Americans want destroy America.

  • Good, very accurate

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