If its any comfort at all I know at the majority of
State National Guard troops would politely tell the
the Federal Government to piss off if they ever tried
to do any such thing. I for one along with many of my
brothers here in Iraq are so upset with the way this
war is fought and run that the only reason we continue
here is due to the men on your left and right.
Fortunately after this extension is over and our 22
month mobilization ends my part in this mess is over.
>
> I missed this POSSE COMITATUS development
> altogether. From today's New
> York Times Feb. 19/07-
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/19/opinion/19mon3.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=pri..
>
> "EDITORIAL
>
> MAKING MARTIAL LAW EASIER
>
> A disturbing recent phenomenon in Washington is that
> laws that strike
> to the heart of American democracy have been passed
> in the dead of
> night. So it was with a provision quietly tucked
> into the enormous
> defense budget bill at the Bush administration's
> behest that makes it
> easier for a president to override local control of
> law enforcement
> and declare martial law.
>
> The provision, signed into law in October, weakens
> two obscure but
> important bulwarks of national liberty. One is the
> doctrine that bars
> military forces, including a federalized National
> Guard, from engaging
> in law enforcement. Called posse comitatus, it was
> enshrined in law
> after the Civil War to preserve the line between
> civil government and
> the military. The other is the Insurrection Act of
> 1807, which
> provides the major exemptions to posse comitatus. It
> essentiallly
> limits a president's use of the military in law
> enforcement to putting
> down lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion, where
> a state is
> violating federal law or depriving people of
> constitutional rights.
>
> The newly enacted provisions upset this careful
> balance. They shift
> the focus from making sure that federal laws are
> enforced to restoring
> public order. Beyond cases of actual insurrection,
> the president may
> now use military troops as a domestic police force
> in response to a
> natural disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist
> attack or to any
> 'other condition.'
>
> Changes of this magnitude should be made only after
> a thorough public
> airing. But these new presidential powers were
> slipped into the law
> without hearings or public debate. The president
> made no mention of
> the changes when he signed the measure, and neither
> the White House
> nor Congress consulted in advance with the nation's
> governors.
>
> There is a bipartisan bill, introduced by Senators
> Patrick Leahy,
> Democrat of Vermont, and Christopher Bond,
> Republican of Missouri, and
> backed unanimously by the nation's governors, that
> would repeal the
> stealty provisions. Congress should pass it. If
> changes of this kind
> are proposed in the future, they must get a full and
> open debate."
>
> THE END
> Reg Curtis/VE9RWC
>
>
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Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:20 CST