Several of you have privately pointed me to this story from last week in Army Times, which reports on the new, permanent mission of the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat team. It's not Iraq; it's within the United States. Excerpts:
Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.It is not the first time an active-duty unit has been tapped to help at home. In August 2005, for example, when Hurricane Katrina unleashed hell in Mississippi and Louisiana, several active-duty units were pulled from various posts and mobilized to those areas.
But this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.
After 1st BCT finishes its dwell-time mission, expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one.
More:
They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.Training for homeland scenarios has already begun at Fort Stewart and includes specialty tasks such as knowing how to use the "jaws of life" to extract a person from a mangled vehicle; extra medical training for a CBRNE incident; and working with U.S. Forestry Service experts on how to go in with chainsaws and cut and clear trees to clear a road or area.
The 1st BCT's soldiers also will learn how to use "the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded," 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.
The package is for use only in war-zone operations, not for any domestic purpose.
Oh, of course not (he says, nervously). More:
"I can't think of a more noble mission than this," said Cloutier, who took command in July. "We've been all over the world during this time of conflict, but now our mission is to take care of citizens at home ... and depending on where an event occurred, you're going home to take care of your home town, your loved ones."
I mean to cast no aspersions on this commander, but that language is, frankly, Orwellian. The reader who first tipped me off to this story caught a reference to it in The American Conservative, which last year ran a remarkable piece about how the legal barriers preventing the deployment of US soldiers domestically was eroding. Excerpt:
How many pipe bombs might it take to end American democracy? Far fewer than it would have taken a year ago.The Defense Authorization Act of 2006, passed on Sept. 30, empowers President George W. Bush to impose martial law in the event of a terrorist "incident," if he or other federal officials perceive a shortfall of "public order," or even in response to antiwar protests that get unruly as a result of government provocations.
The media and most of Capitol Hill ignored or cheered on this grant of nearly boundless power. But now that the president's arsenal of authority is swollen and consecrated, a few voices of complaint are being heard. Even the New York Times recently condemned the new law for "making martial law easier."
It only took a few paragraphs in a $500 billion, 591-page bill to raze one of the most important limits on federal power. Congress passed the Insurrection Act in 1807 to severely restrict the president's ability to deploy the military within the United States. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 tightened these restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the military within the U.S. without the express permission of Congress. But there is a loophole: Posse Comitatus is waived if the president invokes the Insurrection Act.
Section 1076 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 changed the name of the key provision in the statute book from "Insurrection Act" to "Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act." The Insurrection Act of 1807 stated that the president could deploy troops within the United States only "to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy." The new law expands the list to include "natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition"--and such "condition" is not defined or limited.
How about a condition brought about by, say, an economic collapse and what follows? IJS.
The important point here is not that a single brigade is going to be in the position of enforcing emergency military rule, a physical impossibility. The important point is that a line has been crossed in the law. The redeployment of this BCT is an outward sign of a legal transformation that happened while few of us were paying attention. As someone said to me this morning, "The scary thing is not so much that they've done it, but that they felt the need to do it at all."
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Rod, Section 1076 was repealed in its entirety by HR 4986: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008.
That means that the Insurrection Act now stands in its 1807 form. So, while it's still possible for the President to declare martial law, he will have a slightly harder time doing it legally.
harder? apparently you havnt done much research. at this point, if theres any reason at all, natural disaster,terrorist act,civil unrest or whatever else may be covered under the "other" definition. the president has the power. he can enforce martial law quickly and legally. dont you people realize whats happening? the constitution is being warped and distorted to fit the needs of the money hungry controlling powers that be. this bailout will fail, simple as that. check the market, nothing has improved, in fact other countries are feeling it too. i just pray to god that nothing bad happens between now and the elections. if it does were all in trouble. we all sit back and do nothing as our dollar devalues around the world. why?...because were more concerned with american idol than the american constitution. where does it say ..we the eople should pay our taxes and in turn pay the rich to bring down our economy? will my debts to the bank be gone now?will i get stock in these "bad debt" companies? nope, cause im the little guy taking it up the a$$!!!
Being a unusually well-educated platoon, with those issues with authority typical (ironically) among people who choose to join the military, we've actually sat around and discussed this oath, on one of those long dark nighttimes waiting for our flight out of or into the desert or guarding some random icy ditch in the tundra north of Fort Drum, I can't recall. At any rate, we concluded that our first obligation was to the Constitution, and that its enemies could be foreign or domestic. Then we are answerable to the President, and so on down the long chain of command to us, at the very bottom. This sort of ensures, theoretically, that if one level of said Chain of Command goes Dr Strangelove, we don't.
Also, we are obligated to resist clearly illegal or immoral orders. If told to do something wrong, you ask for clarification. If the order stands, then you have to respectfully disobey. But you also have to face the consequences of this action. Thus, they system still stands, despite and individual breakdown. You could end up imprisoned, discharged without honor, or in extreme duress, executed on the spot (this hasn't happened since Korea at least, but immediate execution is still legally on the books.) But you are obligated to do the right thing. "I was just following orders," will not serve as justification. Not after Nuremburg.
i sure hope youre right. but honestly i think you are the exception to the rule. most active service members i know and have spoken to flat out said "i am a soldier , i just do what i'm told" it is not to question why but to do or die seems to be the concensus. my brother has served 2 tours in iraq and is based in georgia with the 3rd id. most training excercises that are being done in the 3rd id is nothing new to him. its not much different than the training for what they do in iraq. its just american soil now.and the difference being they will use non-lethal weapons. the training is for urban combat and search and seizures. they'll be going door to door confiscating our weapons in direct violation of our right to bear arms.all under the guise of martial law. but then what? they have our guns and were sheep easily controlled then. soon after the north american union will form and we will undeniably see a new world order. will amero's be something we can take home? can we put it in our piggy banks? probably not. maybe a id card? maybe a chip? either way its heading towards a "we the rulers" counrty instead of a "we the people". just food for thought. and just pray im dead wrong, i do!
Regarding latest manuerver from George Bush - can anyone further elaborate on why he just passed a bill that allows for unauthorized and unidentified so-called police officers or CIA agents to enter your home, arrest you without cause, and never have to identify themselves. Basically anyone claiming to belong to the authority of the US government (authentic or not-authentic) can do anything they want. What is this?
Advice for investing in your future - do not put your money in any stock exchange or financial markets. Hedge funds are NOT regulated and should be, no-one should be able to short-sell anything (THIS SHOULD BE ILLEGAL!), no bank bailouts or corporate bailouts either, bring jobs back to America - without jobs, what do you base the stock market on? We have not had real growth for over 15 years.
I used to be a financial advisor and I did not lose one penny to this financial market dump. Because I pulled my money out long ago when I could see the signs of US productivity erosion.
I look to China and India to rise up as global leaders real soon. They are productive and wise in their trade agreements. America has performed like idiots and that is why we are here today. We have failed to elect leaders (for any office) with intelligence and integrity for the past 30 years. This is what American's get for sticking their heads in the sand and only focusing on Abortion.
IT MAKES SENSE TO ME, THAT THEY ARE PREPARING FOR THE ELECTION, AND THE “PEOPLE” WHO FIGURE WE ALL GET FREE TV’S IF WE SMASH A STOREFRONT WINDOW. OBAMA, WIN OR LOSE, THE BLACKS ARE GONNA GO CRAZY! IT'S ALL ABOUT CROWD CONTROL.
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