Martial Law Easy To Be Declaired Now

[Dubh Aingeal]

An article on the meaning of a new law that President Bush signed on Oct. 17. It seems to allow the President to impose martial law on any state or territory, using federal troops and/or the state's own, or other states', National Guard troops.

From the article:

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. 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.

Here is a link to the bill in question. The relevant part is Sec. 1076 about 3/4 of the way down the page.

[Msterbeau]

I don't like it at all. The possibilities are scary.

What's worse though is that this is flying under the radar. So many people are disengaging themselves from the whole political process in this country and THAT's what's truly worrying.

[phee]

Yikes

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

um...

Wait a second... roll back the clock to last year. just after katrina wiped the gulf coast clean.... People were throwing fits, some of you included, because the Federal government didn't do enough to help people. People asked why the military didn't help more.

I also don't see anywhere in the whole document a place where it authorizes declaring Martial law. I only see where it authorizes the President to ask Congress if it ok to send in the Army if things are so bad in an area that the local/state government has collapsed.

[Homicidalheathen]

Yah my husband brought something home. The president signed something that gives him the right to arrest you without notifying any reletives and all that......we might move to Canada soon. Seriously.

[Homicidalheathen]

The recent historical precedent for U.S. citizens being charged under legislation originally passed in the name of combating non-US terrorists only, provides clear motivation for the Military Commissions Act to be used in the same way.

Since 9/11 the PATRIOT Act has been used in numerous cases involving American citizens, including strip club owners, toy store proprietors, the homeless, owners of websites, writers, artists, photographers, and common criminals.

Section 802 of the PATRIOT Act is specifically aimed at US citizens and announces any crime as "domestic terrorism". Citizens can be held without a trial as "Enemy Combatants". The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in January 2003 that U.S. citizens can be stripped of their citizenship and held as enemy combatants.

Therefore any legislation passed by Bush automatically applies to American citizens because, as the Washington Post reported, after 9/11 Bush announced his "parallel legal system" in which he could declare any individual on the planet an enemy combatant and order their summary execution.

"The Bush administration is developing a parallel legal system in which terrorism suspects -- U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike -- may be investigated, jailed, interrogated, tried and punished without legal protections guaranteed by the ordinary system, lawyers inside and outside the government say."

The trick being played on the American people in falsely assuring them that they are not the target is simple to decode. The Act states that it only applies to enemy combatants yet the President and his legal advisors like Alberto Gonzales have routinely announced that the President has the power to strip Americans of citizenship and declare them to be enemy combatants. The "enemy combatant designation" was ascribed to U.S. citizen Jose Padilla who was interned in a Navy brig for over three years with no charges against him.

Top legal experts and scholars are nearly unanimous that the Military Commissions Act does affect American citizens.

[ZhukovCodeslinger]

this part is serious jibberish: "in which he could declare any individual on the planet an enemy combatant and order their summary execution." Only the judicial branch can preside over a conviction and order that a sentence of execution be carried out....

Just because somthing is handed out at work does not mean that the author is sane. Anyone remember the New World Order crap that "appeared" after Waco? There were all sorts of "Revelations" about secret gov powers and all sorts of execution, prison camp and Nazi esque stuff being found by "scholars". It was all directed at the evil government... (which was run by Democrat Bill Clinton).... and all of it turned out to be bullshit.

The recent historical precedent for U.S. citizens being charged under legislation originally passed in the name of combating non-US terrorists only, provides clear motivation for the Military Commissions Act to be used in the same way.

Since 9/11 the PATRIOT Act has been used in numerous cases involving American citizens, including strip club owners, toy store proprietors, the homeless, owners of websites, writers, artists, photographers, and common criminals.

Section 802 of the PATRIOT Act is specifically aimed at US citizens and announces any crime as "domestic terrorism". Citizens can be held without a trial as "Enemy Combatants". The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in January 2003 that U.S. citizens can be stripped of their citizenship and held as enemy combatants.

Therefore any legislation passed by Bush automatically applies to American citizens because, as the Washington Post reported, after 9/11 Bush announced his "parallel legal system" in which he could declare any individual on the planet an enemy combatant and order their summary execution.

"The Bush administration is developing a parallel legal system in which terrorism suspects -- U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike -- may be investigated, jailed, interrogated, tried and punished without legal protections guaranteed by the ordinary system, lawyers inside and outside the government say."

The trick being played on the American people in falsely assuring them that they are not the target is simple to decode. The Act states that it only applies to enemy combatants yet the President and his legal advisors like Alberto Gonzales have routinely announced that the President has the power to strip Americans of citizenship and declare them to be enemy combatants. The "enemy combatant designation" was ascribed to U.S. citizen Jose Padilla who was interned in a Navy brig for over three years with no charges against him.

Top legal experts and scholars are nearly unanimous that the Military Commissions Act does affect American citizens.

[Msterbeau]

um...

Wait a second... roll back the clock to last year. just after katrina wiped the gulf coast clean.... People were throwing fits, some of you included, because the Federal government didn't do enough to help people. People asked why the military didn't help more.

I also don't see anywhere in the whole document a place where it authorizes declaring Martial law. I only see where it authorizes the President to ask Congress if it ok to send in the Army if things are so bad in an area that the local/state government has collapsed.

They could have done plenty for the Katrina victims without any new laws. They sat on their asses until it was way too late. Local governments included. A university was contracted to run simulations of that big a hurricane... The sims were remarkably accurate. They knew what was coming a year ahead of time and they still fucked up. The mess after katrina is a leadership failure, not a problem that needed new laws.

As for martial law... since when do they need to spell it out? The powers are so broad, they can call whatever they want an emergency and the result will be the same as martial law.

I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't like it.

[Msterbeau]

this part is serious jibberish: "in which he could declare any individual on the planet an enemy combatant and order their summary execution." Only the judicial branch can preside over a conviction and order that a sentence of execution be carried out....

Just because somthing is handed out at work does not mean that the author is sane. Anyone remember the New World Order crap that "appeared" after Waco? There were all sorts of "Revelations" about secret gov powers and all sorts of execution, prison camp and Nazi esque stuff being found by "scholars". It was all directed at the evil government... (which was run by Democrat Bill Clinton).... and all of it turned out to be bullshit.

Do you honestly think a US president has not had a person killed? I'd be VERY surprised if that were the case. I know you read a lot on the subject, but neither you nor I are remotely close to the security clearance that would allow us to truly know about this sort of stuff.

[ZhukovCodeslinger]

Do you honestly think a US president has not had a person killed? I'd be VERY surprised if that were the case. I know you read a lot on the subject, but neither you nor I are remotely close to the security clearance that would allow us to truly know about this sort of stuff.

The only presidents that I am quite sure of specifically having someone killed are as follows:

FDR: had Isoruko Yammomoto killed

George Bush the first was the director of the CIA for a while... (and signed off on some "work orders")

I am not aware of anyone else being in direct control of specific killings.

this is excluding war vetrerans of their activities and Teddy Roosevelt's prediliction for gunplay.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Marc, Our laws forbid the US army from taking any action on US Soil.

[Hellion]

Yeah and too many people ignore the bad things about this countries government,and when you least expect it.

what a shity surprise.this crap does not surprise me at all.

IMO I always got annoyed when people say there nothing wrong with the government,everything is fine.

[Dubh Aingeal]

Marc, Our laws forbid the US army from taking any action on US Soil.

Under normal circumstances you would be correct, but if Martial Law is declared then those laws go out the window.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

The executive branch has such a wide leeway in how it handles things , really no "new" legislation is needed if the president really wanted to declare martial law. The language in much of the executive branch power descriptions is so open ended as to be almost impossible to interpret. Even the interpretations need interpretations.

Declaring actual, Israel style martial law wouldn't cut it in the US. There would be far too much of an outcry up and down the isles of congress. Regardless of political party it would be very unpopular if it was more than a localized short term thing. Martial law would cut into the real puppetmasters (big business) pockets far to much for them to let it slide for long even if our American Idol watching public was too numb to notice.

Lincoln , considered to by many to be the best president we've had , totally ignored certain constitutional provisions prior to and during the civil war. Far more sweeping than any modern-day president could hope to get away with and lo and behold the country survived. =D

I do wonder, long term if we will end up with such a totally indifferent public that even the most obvious corruption will just be ignored. Not to say that it won't be reported somewhere by some media source. But, so few people might care, or just assume its "business as usual" that they would not bother to act.

The dancing bears of the Cult of the Entertainer are far more interesting to the average person than whats going on in the "real world". I see this problem (public indifference to reality/immersion in entertainment) only getting worse not better.

[Msterbeau]

Marc, Our laws forbid the US army from taking any action on US Soil.

I didn't mean specifically on our soil. Zhuk's comments seemed to be indicating that US presidents have never ordered someone's death... anywhere on earth.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

OH. I can venture that they have not in a few years. Not since Reagan. I don't remember if it's a Law or a Treaty... but we don't execute leaders of other countys anymore.

I can think of one failed attempt... BAy of Pigs...