[PAA-Discuss] BUSH MOVES TOWARD MARTIAL LAW

[robert]

Title: Bush Moves Toward Martial Law

Source: uruknet.info


URL Source: http://www.uruknet.biz/? p=m27769&hd=0&size=1&l=e


Published: Oct 26, 2006
Author: Frank Morales
Post Date: 2006-10-27 17:11:31 by Original_Intent


Bush Moves Toward Martial Law 

Frank Morales 

October 26, 2006 

In a stealth maneuver, President Bush has signed into law a provision 
which, according to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually 
encourage the President to declare federal martial law (1). It does so 
by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of laws that limits the 
President's ability to deploy troops within the United States. The 
Insurrection Act (10 U.S.C.331 -335) has historically, along with the 
Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C.1385), helped to enforce strict 
prohibitions on military involvement in domestic law enforcement. With 
one cloaked swipe of his pen, Bush is seeking to undo those 
prohibitions. 

Public Law 109-364, or the "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 
2007" (H.R.5122) (2), which was signed by the commander in chief on 
October 17th, 2006, in a private Oval Office ceremony, allows the 
President to declare a "public emergency" and station troops anywhere 
in America and take control of state-based National Guard units 
without the consent of the governor or local authorities, in order 
to "suppress public disorder." 

President Bush seized this unprecedented power on the very same day 
that he signed the equally odious Military Commissions Act of 2006. In 
a sense, the two laws complement one another. One allows for torture 
and detention abroad, while the other seeks to enforce acquiescence at 
home, preparing to order the military onto the streets of America. 
Remember, the term for putting an area under military law enforcement 
control is precise; the term is "martial law." 

Section 1076 of the massive Authorization Act, which grants the 
Pentagon another $500-plus-billion for its ill-advised adventures, is 
entitled, "Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies." 
Section 333, "Major public emergencies; interference with State and 
Federal law" states that "the President may employ the armed forces, 
including the National Guard in Federal service, to restore public 
order and enforce the laws of the United States when, as a result of a 
natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, 
terrorist attack or incident, or other condition in any State or 
possession of the United States, the President determines that 
domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted 
authorities of the State or possession are incapable of ("refuse" 
or "fail" in) maintaining public order, "in order to suppress, in any 
State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or 
conspiracy." 

For the current President, "enforcement of the laws to restore public 
order" means to commandeer guardsmen from any state, over the 
objections of local governmental, military and local police entities; 
ship them off to another state; conscript them in a law enforcement 
mode; and set them loose against "disorderly" citizenry - protesters, 
possibly, or those who object to forced vaccinations and quarantines 
in the event of a bio-terror event. 

The law also facilitates militarized police round-ups and detention of 
protesters, so called "illegal aliens," "potential terrorists" and 
other "undesirables" for detention in facilities already contracted 
for and under construction by Halliburton. That's right. Under the 
cover of a trumped-up "immigration emergency" and the frenzied 
militarization of the southern border, detention camps are being 
constructed right under our noses, camps designed for anyone who 
resists the foreign and domestic agenda of the Bush administration. 

An article on "recent contract awards" in a recent issue of the slick, 
insider "Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security 
International" reported that "global engineering and technical 
services powerhouse KBR [Kellog, Brown & Root] announced in January 
2006 that its Government and Infrastructure division was awarded an 
Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to support 
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in the event 
of an emergency." "With a maximum total value of $385 million over a 
five year term," the report notes, "the contract is to be executed by 
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers," "for establishing temporary 
detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE 
Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) - in the event of an emergency 
influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid 
development of new programs." The report points out that "KBR is the 
engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton." (3) So, in 
addition to authorizing another $532.8 billion for the Pentagon, 
including a $70-billion "supplemental provision" which covers the cost 
of the ongoing, mad military maneuvers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other 
places, the new law, signed by the president in a private White House 
ceremony, further collapses the historic divide between the police and 
the military: a tell-tale sign of a rapidly consolidating police state 
in America, all accomplished amidst ongoing U.S. imperial pretensions 
of global domination, sold to an "emergency managed" and seemingly 
willfully gullible public as a "global war on terrorism." 

Make no mistake about it: the de-facto repeal of the Posse Comitatus 
Act (PCA) is an ominous assault on American democratic tradition and 
jurisprudence. The 1878 Act, which reads, "Whoever, except in cases 
and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or 
Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or Air Force as a 
posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under 
this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both," is the 
only U.S. criminal statute that outlaws military operations directed 
against the American people under the cover of 'law enforcement.' As 
such, it has been the best protection we've had against the power-
hungry intentions of an unscrupulous and reckless executive, an 
executive intent on using force to enforce its will. 

Unfortunately, this past week, the president dealt posse comitatus, 
along with American democracy, a near fatal blow. Consequently, it 
will take an aroused citizenry to undo the damage wrought by this 
horrendous act, part and parcel, as we have seen, of a long train of 
abuses and outrages perpetrated by this authoritarian administration. 

Despite the unprecedented and shocking nature of this act, there has 
been no outcry in the American media, and little reaction from our 
elected officials in Congress. On September 19th, a lone Senator 
Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) noted that 2007's Defense Authorization Act 
contained a "widely opposed provision to allow the President more 
control over the National Guard [adopting] changes to the Insurrection 
Act, which will make it easier for this or any future President to use 
the military to restore domestic order WITHOUT the consent of the 
nation's governors." 

Senator Leahy went on to stress that, "we certainly do not need to 
make it easier for Presidents to declare martial law. Invoking the 
Insurrection Act and using the military for law enforcement activities 
goes against some of the central tenets of our democracy. One can 
easily envision governors and mayors in charge of an emergency having 
to constantly look over their shoulders while someone who has never 
visited their communities gives the orders." 

A few weeks later, on the 29th of September, Leahy entered into the 
Congressional Record that he had "grave reservations about certain 
provisions of the fiscal Year 2007 Defense Authorization Bill 
Conference Report," the language of which, he said, "subverts solid, 
longstanding posse comitatus statutes that limit the military's 
involvement in law enforcement, thereby making it easier for the 
President to declare martial law." This had been "slipped in," Leahy 
said, "as a rider with little study," while "other congressional 
committees with jurisdiction over these matters had no chance to 
comment, let alone hold hearings on, these proposals." 

In a telling bit of understatement, the Senator from Vermont noted 
that "the implications of changing the (Posse Comitatus) Act are 
enormous". "There is good reason," he said, "for the constructive 
friction in existing law when it comes to martial law declarations. 
Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of the 
founding tenets of our democracy. We fail our Constitution, neglecting 
the rights of the States, when we make it easier for the President to 
declare martial law and trample on local and state sovereignty." 

Senator Leahy's final ruminations: "Since hearing word a couple of 
weeks ago that this outcome was likely, I have wondered how Congress 
could have gotten to this point. It seems the changes to the 
Insurrection Act have survived the Conference because the Pentagon and 
the White House want it." 

The historic and ominous re-writing of the Insurrection Act, 
accomplished in the dead of night, which gives Bush the legal 
authority to declare martial law, is now an accomplished fact. 

The Pentagon, as one might expect, plays an even more direct role in 
martial law operations. Title XIV of the new law, entitled, "Homeland 
Defense Technology Transfer Legislative Provisions," authorizes "the 
Secretary of Defense to create a Homeland Defense Technology Transfer 
Consortium to improve the effectiveness of the Department of Defense 
(DOD) processes for identifying and deploying relevant DOD technology 
to federal, State, and local first responders." 

In other words, the law facilitates the "transfer" of the newest in so-
called "crowd control" technology and other weaponry designed to 
suppress dissent from the Pentagon to local militarized police units. 
The new law builds on and further codifies earlier "technology 
transfer" agreements, specifically the 1995 DOD-Justice Department 
memorandum of agreement achieved back during the Clinton-Reno regime.
(4) 

It has become clear in recent months that a critical mass of the 
American people have seen through the lies of the Bush administration; 
with the president's polls at an historic low, growing resistance to 
the war Iraq, and the Democrats likely to take back the Congress in 
mid-term elections, the Bush administration is on the ropes. And so it 
is particularly worrying that President Bush has seen fit, at this 
juncture to, in effect, declare himself dictator. 

Source: 

(1) http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200609/091906a.html and 
http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200609/092906b.html See also, 
Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, "The Use of 
Federal Troops for Disaster Assistance: Legal Issues," by Jennifer K. 
Elsea, Legislative Attorney, August 14, 2006 

(2) http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill+h109-5122 

(3) Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security 
International, "Recent Contract Awards", Summer 2006, Vol.12, No.2, 
pg.8; See also, Peter Dale Scott, "Homeland Security Contracts for 
Vast New Detention Camps," New American Media, January 31, 2006. 

(4) "Technology Transfer from defense: Concealed Weapons Detection", 
National Institute of Justice Journal, No 229, August, 1995, pp.42-43. 

:: Article nr. 27769 sent on 27-oct-2006 03:18 ECT 



Skip Wigmore
Light of Life Ministries
Smithfield, NC
lolministries at netzero.net
Rev. 18:4



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