-->Martial Law and the advent of the Supreme Executive

By Mike Whitney

10/06/05

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Even before Katrina, Donald Rumsfeld had repeatedly expressed interest in
using the military domestically. According to many reports the delay in
getting relief to the victims of the hurricane was the result of a
power-struggle between the administration and local officials (Governor
Blanco and Mayor Nagin) over who would control the operation. The
administration was determined from the onset to federalize the effort and
put the Pentagon in charge. This caused a 3 day holdup in the federal
response to the tragedy. The choice was made to withhold aid until the
governor capitulated. It is impossible to calculate the number of lives that
may have been lost by this decision.

The main obstacle to Bush's militarization-scheme is the Posse Comitatus Act
of 1878. The Act bans the military from participating in policing activities
on US soil. It does not, however, prevent the military from helping out in
national disasters. This is what is so troubling about Bush's request to
change the law; it shows a clear intention to assert military authority
wherever the troops are deployed. It is clearly not an attempt simply to
help out.

A careful look at New Orleans shows the danger of this. The military
presence has been used to establish order and to set the precedent for
future deployments. Blackwater mercenaries are not really part of the relief
effort at all, but are employed to harass and intimidate the locals and to
protect private property. One of their many functions was to force the
evacuation of local homeowners and to strip them of their legally registered
firearms; a clear violation of the 2nd amendment. Their presence is intended
to soften the attitudes of citizens to seeing military personnel on their
streets and to help them adjust the effects of a transformed America.

[....]

The intention to use the military in a"policing role" creates a permanent
state of martial law that can't be fully grasped out of context. In the last
few months the administration has made a number of dramatic changes to the
system which have upset the critical balance between the co-equal parts of
government. Just three months ago, Bush issued an executive order that
created the National Security Service (NSS); a branch of the FBI that now
works entirely under his authority. It is America's first secret police; no
different than the East German Stasi or the Soviet Union's KGB. It operates
completely beyond congressional oversight and is answerable to the president
alone. It is Bush's personal Gestapo.

Also, less than a month ago the 4th Circuit Court ruled that the president
had the power to declare any American citizen an"enemy combatant" and
summarily rescind all of his human and civil rights; including even the
right to know the reason for which he is being he imprisoned. The ruling
confers absolute authority on the president and ends of any meaningful
notion of"inalienable rights".

Also, just last week the Senate Intelligence Committee"approved legislation
that allows Pentagon Intelligence operatives to collect information from US
citizens without revealing their status as government spies." The Pentagon
may now conduct clandestine investigations of American citizens without the
traditional safeguards that are applied to FBI. In effect, the legislation
revokes the fundamental guarantees of privacy under the 4th amendment and
"green-lights" the Pentagon to operate covertly against American citizens
whether they are legitimate terrorist suspects or simply political enemies.

In another shocking development, President Bush said he will veto the
upcoming Pentagon budget of $435 Billion if the bill contains any provision
that limits the"cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners". The
President's action implies that he has the right to torture and abuse
according to his own judgment, a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions,
the 1996 Treaty on Torture and the 8th amendment.

And, finally, the revised version of Patriot Act is quickly moving through
the Congress. The new edition eviscerates the last feeble strands of the 4th
amendment and paves the way for"administrative subpoenas", which allow law
enforcement to carry out searches without judicial oversight.

This is the context in which we should evaluate the push to use the military
in domestic affairs. Every change that has taken place within the government
has been designed for one purpose alone; to increase the power of the
president. If the congress chooses to overturn the Posse Comitatus Act, they
will have removed the last bit of rickety scaffolding that protects the
country from becoming a de facto military dictatorship. The power to deploy
troops within the nation is the power to use the military against American
citizens.

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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10543.htm
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