Once again, the details of (1988 - 1992) remain to be worked out...
June, 1992…
A shoulder-launched missile sent the helicopter carrying President Michael S. Dukakis back to the grounds of the White House in a fiery ball. All aboard were killed, including the President and his wife. The assassin was never apprehended, despite the fact that DC police quickly cordoned off the downtown area. Vice President Lloyd Bentsen was sworn in just hours after the assassination.
Within two weeks of President Dukakis’s murder, President Bentsen appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court William Rehnquist chairman of a Commission to investigate Dukakis’s death. Bentsen wanted the Commission’s findings before the Democratic National Convention, which was to be held in early August in New York City.
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July, 1992…
The Rehnquist Commission, unsurprisingly, was unable to determine who committed the murder of the President, or even whether it was a single person or a group. When pressed by the new President for results, however, the Commission fingered several militia groups of the Northwest suspected of violating weapons laws. The Commission suggested that a Federal Task Force be sent into Idaho to conduct further investigations.
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August, 1992…
The Federal Task Force, composed mainly of FBI and ATF Agents, descended upon Idaho. They soon found that the area was extremely hostile to the federal government and most of the citizens were well armed. Too well armed, in fact. Many possessed weapons which violate the Gun Control Acts of the past four years. The Task Force found that the state governments of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming had allocated almost nothing to the enforcement of federal gun laws. The Task Force soon received permission from President Bentsen to enforce those gun laws, since the local law enforcement seemed unwilling to do so. In Idaho, the head of the Task Force began preparing for a series of searches and seizures, even before he’d obtained the appropriate warrants.
Meanwhile, the federal siege of Ruby Ridge began with the death of Sammy Weaver and his dog. The federal forces encircled the Weaver family compound, and began what was to become a five day siege. The Governor of Idaho, Ellison Rhodes, called up A Company, 2/116 Armored Cavalry Regiment as a show of support for the federal agents. The commander of the Company, however, was secretly under strict orders to not intervene, no matter what occurred. Upon arriving at Ruby Ridge, the commander set up camp less than half a mile away from the federal lines.
In western Montana, a Northwest Defense Front unit heard of what was going on at Ruby Ridge. Less than three hours later, twelve men, heavily armed with machine guns, assault rifles, and sniper rifles, were on their way to the isolated location in northern Idaho. In the early morning hours of the fifth day, the twelve Defense Front “Patriots†broke the siege of Ruby Ridge long enough to rescue Randall Weaver, Kevin Harris, and two of Weaver’s children. Federal forces took heavy losses, with almost twenty-five men killed. The FBI, however, managed to capture four of the “Patriots†driving away from the location of Ruby Ridge. The Idaho National Guardsmen, as per orders, did not react.
In late August, the Task Force received nearly one hundred warrants for suspected militia leaders from the Federal District Court in San Francisco. Governor Rhodes announced that these warrants were illegal: the Federal Task Force had gone around the local court system when the local judges refused to issue warrants. The U.S. Justice Department announced that they planned on requesting a change in venue for the “Idaho Four.†Governor Rhodes announced that he will fight tooth and nail against the change in venue, stating that the four men would not be able to receive a fair trial in San Francisco. They also announced their plans to prosecute the Captain in command of A Company for negligence during the Ruby Ridge siege.
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September, 1992…
A four-week process of seizing illegal weapons from militia leaders began. The Task Force soon found several huge weapons caches of assault rifles and machine guns. The change in venue for the Idaho Four was granted. Governor Rhodes was livid. With complaints coming in from citizens concerned over the Federal seizures of weapons and now the movement of four Idaho citizens to a court where they would not have a jury of their peers, Rhodes and his new Attorney General, James Roberts, decided that it had become time to act. Like the Idaho Four, the National Guardsman in charge of A Company in August was to go to trial – in California. This was the final straw for Governor Rhodes.
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October, 1992…
The Federal Task Force, while searching a ranch, was surrounded and ordered to halt by Idaho State Police. The nearly sixty agents of the Task Force were escorted to the Federal Court in Boise, where they were to be detained indefinitely. With the round up of federal agents in Idaho, President Bentsen ordered Governor Rhodes arrested. FBI Agents started massing in Salt Lake City for the drive to Boise.
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November, 1992…
Elections in Oregon and Washington saw two members of the Constitutional Republican Party elected Governor. Since the seizure of weapons in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, public support for the three states in Oregon and Washington had skyrocketed, even in the previously liberal western halves of the states. Both states pledged to back the three “besieged†states. Meanwhile, Lloyd Bentsen won reelection over the Republican candidate simply because the nation did not wish to have three different Presidents in six months.
After two weeks of massing, the federal convoy left Salt Lake City for Boise. Idaho State Police spotted the convoy of federal vehicles on Interstate 84, just east of Malta, Idaho. They followed the convoy but did not pull it over. Governor Rhodes gave orders to ignore the convoy. The State Policemen, puzzled by the Governor’s orders, were forced to drop back and allowed the convoy to proceed, uninhibited by Idaho law enforcement.
At the urging of Attorney General Roberts, Governor Rhodes left the Governor’s Mansion in Boise, heading to the National Guard Base at Gowen Field on the outskirts of town. Arriving at the National Guard Base, Rhodes issued the appropriate orders to initiate a call up of National Guardsmen and State Police around Idaho and began making phone calls to his fellow Governors in Oregon, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming.
The Governors of the four states, woken by Rhodes’s call, also initiated a call up of all National Guardsmen and an activation of all State Police. The convoy of federal agents arrived in Boise and entered the Governor’s Mansion, intent on arresting Rhodes. Little did they know, however, that Rhodes had already evacuated. The Governor’s Mansion was then surrounded by Idaho State Police, who quickly rounded up any and all federal agents in the vicinity.
All federal agents were ordered to leave the states of Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming, citing their unlawful searches, seizures, and arrests, as well as their infringement on individual and states’ rights. The call-up of the National Guardsmen was first broadcast on television and over the radio. The preliminary expulsions of the most troublesome federal agents were practically over. Nearly half of the National Guard troops were reporting as ordered. President Bentsen called for calm and declared a state of emergency existing in the Northwest. Other than that, however, Bentsen fails to make any other decisions, just after his reelection.
Still no word came out of the White House. Meanwhile, the National Guards of the five states were all in place and organizing their forces. The Governors of the five states met in Spokane, Washington. The five Governors soon released a statement, passed by emergency bodies of their five legislatures, creating the Coalition of Northwestern States (CNS). They repeatedly reminded the public that it was not an independent nation, but rather an emergency council, designed to efficiently run the day-to-day affairs of the Northwest during this time of crisis.
The National Guards of each individual state were disbanded by the state legislatures. They were then merged together to form the Unified Coalition Regional Guard (UCRG), a single military body composed of the five former bodies. The emergency sessions of the five individual legislatures make the UCRG immune to any federalization orders. The five Governors announced that Ellison Rhodes was the provisional Governor-General of the CNS, and that he would make his decisions from Spokane, while the other four Governors would return to their home states.
President Bentsen finally reacted by calling the CNS an illegal body, in clear violation of the Constitution. He, feebly, attempted to federalize the UCRG. The federalization order was rejected by General Douglas Latham, Adjutant General of the UCRG. The process of integration was, thus far, barely noticed as the units remained in place. The expulsions of federal agents finally came to an end.
National Guardsmen and State Police surrounded and stormed military bases across the CNS, taking the sleeping Regular soldiers by surprise. Most importantly, all the equipment stored across the five states by the army, including the massive stockpiles at Fort Lewis, the Naval stockpiles on Puget Sound, and the Air Force stockpiles at AF Bases across the five states, were seized. By mid-morning, November 21, with less than one-hundred dead on either side, all federal power within the CNS has ceased to be.
The first bus, truck, and trainloads of captured federal soldiers crossed the borders of the CNS into California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and the Plains states. By the end of the day, almost 50,000 US airmen, seamen, and soldiers were across the border and into friendly territory once again. President Bentsen had had enough, especially when he heard reports of soldiers of the UCRG sealing all the access points into the heart of the rebellion. He ordered a brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division to retake Spokane, thus hoping to capture Governor-General Rhodes and end the rebellion once and for all.
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December, 1992…
On December 4, the 1st Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division landed in the outskirts of Spokane, Washington, around the International Airport. The US government, however, severely underestimated the UCRG. They met with the men of the 81st Infantry Brigade, which was dug in around Spokane. Although told to hold their fire until fired upon, the federal soldiers began firing. From their entrenched positions, the UCRG inflicted heavy casualties upon the paratroopers. A counterattack later broke the back of the Airborne Brigade, which surrendered on December 6.
The next day, at a Coalition Security meeting held at Fairchild AFB, outside of Spokane, the Coalition ceremonially renamed its military arm the United Coalition Armed Forces (UCAF). Rhodes ordered the UCAF doubled, to contain six Infantry Brigades, and four Armored Cavalry Brigades. Within the day, recruiting offices were opened across the Northwest and young men poured in. At a televised conference, Governor-General Rhodes outlined his argument against the federal government and accused President Bentsen of war-mongering. He suggested that the President be impeached. Unfortunately, while the speech played well in the West, it did not play as well in the East.
Following the speech, President Bentsen ordered a bombing raid conducted on Fairchild AFB to eliminate Rhodes and his staff. Unfortunately, one of the bombers missed its target and the bomb landed on a nearby elementary school, killing nearly 400 children and enraging much of the Northwest, especially when Bentsen attempted to place blame on the CNS itself.
Two days later, with all their weapons and gear confiscated, the United States populace is greeted by pictures of beleaguered paratroopers being led across the border into California. The United Coalition Armed Forces, had proved themselves in combat, and had bought time for the CNS, causing the President to rethink his position on the rebellion. A Christmas truce was negotiated later in the week, effective from December 20, to January 2.