Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Domestic Occupation, by Stephen Hershey
On October 1st, the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division began training in NorthCom, a domestic federal defense command that encourages the support of "civil authorities." Troops will actively serve as an on-call response team, thereby breaking restraints that have been in place for over 100 years.
Army Times reports that soldiers "may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios," and test out the Army's first nonlethal weapons package designed to "subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them." The assignment is expected to become permanent within a year.
The federal government's ability to exercise military force within the United States has been largely prohibited by both the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 and the Insurrection Act of 1807, the latter having since been amended to authorize the depletion of troops during a "natural disaster, epidemic, orther serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition." Additionally, the Defense Authorization Act of 2006 has amended the President's ability to declare martial law, allowing him or her to take control of the National Guard without any state authorization.
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and the pieces are moving.
This story just makes this even more obvious. Where is the mainstream press coverage of this? Too tied up with the current political drama and economic woes to pay attention to these subliminal actions made by our corrupt and power-hungry government that compromise the American populous' well being and ability to evoke change.
Continuity of Government Bill ring any bells?
Also, love the governmental usage of exquisitely vague statements such as "or other conditions" that qualify for domestic troop deployment. What could these other conditions be perhaps? Popular uprising against the evil powers that be? Peaceful protest against a fascist regime? Riots and civil unrest concerning the manipulated and false outcome of the upcoming election?
Take your pick.
Knight to D5...