Actor and karate king Chuck Norris is adding himself to the list of skeptics questioning whether a U.S. Special Forces exercise is a government ruse to impose martial law over several states including Texas.
"The U.S. government says, 'It's just a training exercise.' But I'm not sure the term 'just' has any reference to reality when the government uses it," said Norris, who said Texas Gov. Greg Abbot was right to order his Texas State Guard monitor the exercise in Texas to ensure civil rights are protected.
This is the second time Norris has weighed in on controversial national security debates. Norris threw his support behind the A-10 Thunderbolt and criticized the Air Force for pushing to retire the aircraft.
Norris gained his celebrity status after leveraging his championship karate skills into an acting career when Hollywood jumped into the Kung Fu craze of the 1970s and '80s. Norris had previously served in the Air Force. He took up martial arts as an airman stationed in South Korea.
He made numerous movies in which he played a soldier, including the "Missing in Action" trilogy, about an Army colonel who returns to Vietnam to rescue American prisoners of war who had been left behind.
In 2007, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway made Norris an honorary Marine. A few years later, after several seasons playing the lead role on the TV series, "Walker: Texas Ranger," Texas Gov. Rick Perry made Norris an Honorary Texas Ranger.
U.S. Army Special Operations Command said there is nothing unusual about Jade Helm, though the scope of the event sets it apart for skeptics.
"To stay ahead of the environmental challenges faced overseas, Jade Helm will take place across seven states," officials wrote on the exercise's website. "However, Army Special Operations Forces will only train in five states: Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. The diverse terrain in these states replicates areas Special Operations soldiers regularly find themselves operating in overseas."
Abbot's ordering the Guard to monitor the exercise has fanned the flames of citizens who believe the operation is part of a plan to impose martial law on the country.
Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, poked fun at the spreading rumor with quick TV clips of newscasters throwing about the term "Texas Takeover."
"You know who calls it a 'Texas Takeover?' Lone Star lunatics," he quipped.
Stewart also noted that when the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force held Operation Roaming Sands in Texas in 2005 -- at the time the largest exercise in the state's history -- there were no concerns about the event being a move to impose martial law.
"I don't' know what's changed since then," he said, as a picture of President Obama appeared on screen. "Oh, right…"
Norris, in his column for World Net Daily, said "Concerned Texans and Americans are in no way calling into question our brave and courageous men and women in uniform. They are merely following orders. What's under question are those who are pulling the strings at the top of Jade Helm 15 back in Washington.," he wrote.
On the eve of the November 2012 elections Norris and his wife, Gena, went on television to tell voters that "Our great country and freedom are under attack … [and] could be lost forever if we don't change the course our country is headed."
Obama's re-election, Gena Norris added, will be "the first step into 1,000 years of darkness."
-- Bryant Jordan can be reached at bryant.jordan@military.com.
