Katrina Covers Change Here is the classic operation Problem-Reaction-Solution, underway. The globalist police state machine has furthered its cause once again. Date:   9/26/2005 9:00:23 AM   ( 19 y ) ... viewed 1489 times Militarization of the US homeland: the more you ask, the more you shall receive by Larry Chin
September 24, 2005
GlobalResearch.ca
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Given the fact that the Bush administration is a criminal organization, it is naïve and ignorant to expect it to behave in a humanitarian fashion. For any reason. Ever. On the other hand, it is predictable that they would seize every opportunity, and take advantage of every moment of chaos, vulnerability and inattention, to sink its poisonous fangs deeper into the carcass of American democracy. To those who have complained about this administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina, here it is: Historic changes possible in military's role in domestic emergencies (AP report, see below). To those who "demanded" a greater federal role for Hurricane Rita and all subsequent "emergencies", here it is: US Northern Command and Hurricane Rita. If the post-Katrina militarization and pillage of New Orleans was not enough to demonstrate that this administration has in mind for the United States, consider what Bush was doing at Northcom, in Colorado. Ask yourselves why military operations, not "emergency relief", is always the first (and perhaps only) priority. To those Americans who have, for the past four years, demanded to be "made safe" from "terrorists", the administration that gave you 9/11 itself, has give you the "war on terrorism", the Patriot Act and a US police state, Afghanistan, Iraq and more "endless war", and more endless police state. As Michel Chossudovsky astutely notes, "we are not dealing with a situation of political inertia. Quite the opposite. The military has taken control of the emergency procedures." We are also not dealing with "incompetence".   Historic changes possible in military's role in domestic emergencies WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush's push to give the military a bigger role in responding to major disasters like Hurricane Katrina could lead to a loosening of legal limits on the use of federal troops on U.S. soil.
		A military truck moves along a street in the Ninth Ward area of New Orleans. Pentagon officials may loosen limits on the military's domestic role.
		By Ric Francis, AP

Pentagon officials are reviewing that possibility, and some in Congress agree it needs to be considered.

Bush did not define the wider
role he envisions for the military. But in his speech to the nation
from New Orleans on Thursday, he alluded to the unmatched ability of
federal troops to provide supplies, equipment, communications,
transportation and other assets the military lumps under the label of
"logistics."

The president called the
military "the institution of our government most capable of massive
logistical operations on a moment's notice."

At question, however, is how far
to push the military role, which by law may not include actions that
can be defined as law enforcement — stopping traffic, searching people,
seizing property or making arrests. That prohibition is spelled out in
the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, enacted after the Civil War mainly to
prevent federal troops from supervising elections in former Confederate
states.

Speaking on the Senate floor
Thursday, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services
Committee, said, "I believe the time has come that we reflect on the
Posse Comitatus Act." He advocated giving the president and the
secretary of defense "correct standby authorities" to manage disasters.

Presidents have long been
reluctant to deploy U.S. troops domestically, leery of the image of
federal troops patrolling in their own country or of embarrassing state
and local officials.

The active-duty elements that
Bush did send to Louisiana and Mississippi included some Army and
Marine Corps helicopters and their crews, plus Navy ships. The main
federal ground forces, led by troops of the 82nd Airborne Division from
Fort Bragg, N.C., arrived late Saturday, five days after Katrina
struck.

They helped with evacuations and
performed search-and-rescue missions in flooded portions of New Orleans
but did not join in law enforcement operations.

The federal troops were led by
Lt. Gen. Russel Honore. The governors commanded their National Guard
soldiers, sent from dozens of states.

Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld is reviewing a wide range of possible changes in the way the
military could be used in domestic emergencies, spokesman Lawrence Di
Rita said Friday. He said these included possible changes in the
relationship between federal and state military authorities.

Under the existing relationship, a state's governor is chiefly responsible for disaster preparedness and response.

Governors can request assistance
from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. If federal armed forces
are brought in to help, they do so in support of FEMA, through the U.S.
Northern Command, which was established in 2002 as part of a military
reorganization after the 9/11 attacks.

Di Rita said Rumsfeld has not
made recommendations to Bush, but among the issues he is examining is
the viability of the Posse Comitatus Act. Di Rita called it one of the
"very archaic laws" from a different era in U.S. history that limits
the Pentagon's flexibility in responding to 21st century domestic
crises.

Another such law, Di Rita said,
is the Civil War-era Insurrection Act, which Bush could have invoked to
waive the law enforcement restrictions of the Posse Comitatus Act. That
would have enabled him to use either National Guard soldiers or
active-duty troops — or both — to quell the looting and other
lawlessness that broke out in New Orleans.

The Insurrection Act lets the
president call troops into federal action inside the United States
whenever "unlawful obstructions, combinations or assemblages — or
rebellion against the authority of the United States — make it
impracticable to enforce the laws" in any state.

The political problem in Katrina
was that Bush would have had to impose federal command over the wishes
of two governors — Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana and Haley Barbour of
Mississippi — who made it clear they wanted to retain state control.

The last time the Insurrection
Act was invoked was in 1992 when it was requested by California Gov.
Pete Wilson after the outbreak of race riots in Los Angeles. President
George H.W. Bush dispatched about 4,000 soldiers and Marines.

Di Rita cautioned against
expecting quick answers to tough questions like whether Congress should
define when to trigger the president's authority to send federal troops
to take charge of an emergency, regardless of whether a governor
agreed.

"Is there a way to define a
threshold, or an anti--cipated threshold, above which a different set
of relationships would kick in?" Di Rita asked. "That's a good
question. It's only been two weeks, so don't expect us to have the
answers. But those are the kinds of questions we need to be asking."

Copyright AP 2005

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