Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
by Frank Morales

Thursday, 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) https://leahy.senate.gov/press/200609/091906a.html and
https://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) https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bil...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.


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