Exclusive: Operation Excalibur in Los Angeles Was Show of Force
Leaks from military's LA deployment reveal Coca Cola vs. Pepsi rivalry, sweaty guardsmen, and abject failure
Today’s homeland security operation at the 35-acre MacArthur Park in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles was a mere “show of presence,” internal Army documents I’ve obtained say. ICE and Customs agents, many dressed in military garb, assaulted the Park, which the documents describe as a hotbed of “historic lawlessness” and “the founding location of MS-13,” the Salvadoran gang.
The news media is describing the operation as an ominous crackdown, but National Guard sources tell me that it was a botched laughingstock. The military aspect of the operation, codenamed Operation Excalibur, has not been previously reported.
The documents reveal that the erstwhile justification for the operation was to try to shut down the distribution of fake IDs. The mission of the 1st Squadron, 18th Cavalry is described as protecting DHS [Department of Homeland Security] “security points and blocking positions” while they undertook their assault. The Squadron was ordered not to “restrict pedestrian movement” and not to “conduct law enforcement activities.”)
Per the briefing:
"On order, 1-18th Cavalry Squadron provides static interagency site protection, mounted mobile security, and Joint Force Land Component Command (JFLCC) Reserve support to Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and supporting federal agencies, whose intent at MacArthur Park is to demonstrate, through a show of presence, the capacity and freedom of maneuver of federal law enforcement within the Los Angeles Joint Operations Area (JOA)."
The operation was meticulously planned, the threat listed as “HIGH.”
“Criminal elements, likely including FTO [foreign terrorist organization] MS-13 consider the park their home ‘turf’ and could escalate to lethal violence,” a threat assessment warned.
Then all that planning went bust.
Because ICE and CBP apparently failed to communicate or coordinate effectively, the military showed up too late (and Los Angeles authorities weren’t notified until two hours prior.)
“We were on the objective for 24 minutes,” a National Guard member told me. “Many of the phase lines were not reported because they didn’t happen. So we parked and then left. Soldiers didn’t get out of trucks. [They] stayed in the back of the 5-tons [military trucks] sweating in the heat.”
This is just the latest operation that didn’t go off as planned, amplifying the sense amongst the California Guardsmen that the whole spectacle is idiotic and shameful. Part of the reason for the confusion is the sheer number of government agencies involved. In this operation, according to the documents, nine different federal agencies (including the IRS) were given radio code names based on soda brands (Pepsi, Coke, 7-UP, etc.) —that is, except for ICE, which was codenamed “Inca,” which may or may not be the Peruvian cola of the same name.
One Army source told me that it all felt like some joint military operation overseas, where soldiers need to identify themselves as “friendlies” on congested battlefields.
Treating Los Angeles as a foreign country with insurgents to be defeated, military and homeland security intelligence views MacArthur Park as a viper’s nest of illegality. An intelligence briefing produced by Army North, the task command overseeing military operation, says of the “symbolic significance” of the park:
“The founding location of MS-13, MacArthur park represents an area of historic lawlessness where criminal organizations openly defy local and federal law, including immigration law.”
The Park, the same briefing says, is also “the largest open-air market” of fake IDs facilitating human trafficking in the entire Southwest. Per the briefing:
“MacArthur park functions as the largest open-air market of fake identification to enable illegal immigration and human trafficking in the Southwest United States. Entire sections of the 35 square acre park host open buying and selling of fake identification and other illegal goods in broad daylight. Federal agents confirmed that these activities continued at MacArthur park within the last week.”
No word yet on the role of the junior varsity sodas — the Los Angeles Police Department or Pepsi and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department or R/C (Royal Crown) — in this chaotic operation, but members of the Los Angeles City Council have previously contacted me asking if I could explain to them what the federal government is up to in the park.
Many of the soldiers involved, I’m told, view their mission as unnecessary and even ridiculous, with the Trump administration ordering the spectacle and the Pentagon leadership and chain of command smartly saluting.
Leadership, soldiers say, have been talking about establishing some kind of command facility akin to a “forward operating base” in the Park, an idea so provocative that the proposal keeps getting kicked far down the road. Below is one of several Army briefings on MacArthur going back to June.
Similarly last month, when leadership discussed during a briefing the idea of having Guardsmen wear masks similar to ICE and CBP, rank-and-file members groaned at the stupidity and bad optics for the uniformed military. The Guard, they said, should be seen as members of the community, not shadowy interlopers.
Mayor Karen Bass, as if an interloper in her own city, rushed to MacArthur park in her own SUV motorcade and asked the feds to leave. Bass told the Los Angeles Times that the feds needed “to leave and they need to leave right now, they need to leave because this is unacceptable.”
The uniformed military I’ve spoken to seem to agree with her.
While military leadership is embracing the Washington-inspired mission, sources say, the rank-and-file see the California operation as more akin to Afghanistan: doomed to failure and ultimately withdrawal.
— Edited by William M. Arkin
Lol bro they make it sound like it's some kind of comic book gangster's hideout. It's just a park. There are a lot of street vendors and houseless folks, and ya some immigrants do go down there to try and get IDs so they can get a job and live their life. The fact that that seems to inspire the need for militaristic violence in the upper echelons of the Trump regime shows how deep the white supremacy is rooted. They are desperate to disrupt any ability for immigrants to live here. It is beyond reason. That is why so many of us in LA are not waiting for discourse to solve this and trying to actively resist. This was after all a show, not against MS-13, but the whole city and its immigrant population. They want us to be scared and submissive. We won't be.
https://bettergracesandliberations.substack.com/p/a-word-from-los-angeles
BTW, I would appreciate it if the community could like, subscribe, and share. Sorry to plug, but it's hard for writers to make a living and leftist writers are really getting pushed out of the big publications. Any help is appreciated.
Lightning fast response from Ken Klip! What a shitshow - I feel for the Guardsmen forced to participate in this total clownfuck.