The
Army Times newspaper reported that the U.S. Army has a battle-hardened
"homeland" brigade that, having spent considerable time in Iraq,
is "going domestic" as "an on-call federal response force for
natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist
attacks."
The
Times added: "It is not the first time an active-duty unit has been
tapped to help at home. In August 2005, for example, when Hurricane Katrina
unleashed hell in Mississippi and Louisiana, several
active-duty units were pulled from various posts and mobilized to those
areas."
Considering
that some New Orleans
homeowners were disarmed and forced by soldiers to leave homes that they did
not want to abandon—because the floods did not submerge all areas—this is not a
comforting development. The Times attempts to make it sound noble while
ignoring whether this planned deployment of battle-ready soldiers violates the
Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C. § 1385), a federal law that celebrates its 130
birthday this year. Broadly speaking, it prohibits using federal soldiers for
domestic law enforcement.
This
1878 statute generally prohibits federal military personnel and federalized
units of the National Guard from acting in a law enforcement capacity within
the United States,
"except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress." The
U.S. Coast Guard is exempt from the Posse Comitatus Act. Posse Comitatus and
the Insurrection Act of 1807 both limit the powers of the federal government to
use the military for law enforcement.
The
Army unit is the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, which, said
the Times, "has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling
in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply
convoys." The paper added: "Now they’re training for the same mission—with
a twist—at home."
The
"same mission"? Well, as the Times put it: "Beginning
Oct. 1 [2008] for 12 months, this unit will be under the day-to-day control of
U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command. . . ."
A
quick reaction to a specific attack or actual disaster is not being mentioned
here. So, can these soldiers be legally "on call" for a whole year as
part of an ongoing mission? How does this mesh with the long-established laws
that draw a line between the military and domestic law enforcement? Many
analysts note that the intent of those laws has been blurred by presidential
directives and congressional meddling that have arisen during unusual events,
or due to certain realities of modern political life, such as the perceived,
and some say trumped up, threat of international terrorism.
Asked
whether the Army can legally carry out what the Times describes, Doug
Rokke, a retired U.S. Army major, bluntly told AFP: "They can't."
Presidential
candidate Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party just reacted to these
developments, saying in his column that this Army brigade "may be
called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control . . . it seems that the
Army's new domestic duties also include 'traffic control' as well as subduing 'unruly
or dangerous individuals.' "
Baldwin lamented that
Americans could someday have to endure the "heavy boot" of the
military as they did when British troops were quartered here in Colonial times,
not to mention the post-Civil War Reconstruction where Union troops occupied
and abused Southern populations, which sparked the passage of the Posse
Comitatus Act.
Rokke
added that given the huge stock market problems, shipments of American
munitions to Israel for possible conflict with Iran and rumors of another
"false flag" domestic operation (as many describe the events of 9/11),
he feels the Army may be making advance preparations to handle major civil
unrest, though it's tough to prove conclusively.
Rokke
also takes exception with the foundation of what's happening.
"When
is anybody going to wake up and start asking the questions about 9/11?" he
added, saying that the conventional 9/11 story is "pure lies" to fool
American youth into joining the armed forces to "combat terrorism."
In reality, the "19 Muslim terrorists" tale regarding 9/11—even
though mountains of evidence show that the conventional story is false—could
conceivably be used to justify a military crackdown on America, Rokke
noted.
"The
lies are staggering," Rokke continued, noting that military publications
still refer to the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon in accordance with the original
government account. They fail to explain that the Pentagon lawn was not at all
disturbed and no airliner parts were found, even though it's impossible for a
huge jetliner, especially its massive engines and tail section, to totally
vaporize, as the government's conspiracy theory claims.
In
June, a Marine landing in Indianapolis
involved a number of activities, including practicing firing weapons,
conducting patrols, running vehicle checkpoints, reacting to ambushes and
employing nonlethal weapons, according to a statement provided to area media at
the time. U.S. Marine helicopters landed at old Eastgate Consumer Mall,
Brookside Park and other Indianapolis locations,
involving about 2,300 Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at
Camp Lejeune, N.C., who were engaged in urban warfare
training.
Developing
the capability to deploy rapidly is a priority for the above-noted
"homeland" infantry unit (the one reported on by Army Times),
according to Army Maj. Marc Cloutier, who is the planner for the 1st Brigade
Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, as quoted by Patti Bielling of Army News
Service in a Sept. 30 press release.
"Military
leaders who recently trained for this response say they are now thinking
differently about how to move equipment, extract the injured and take care of
people," following some kind of serious attack, Bielling wrote.
"Their
insights came from 'Vibrant Response,' a week-long command post exercise
designed to train the commanders and staff of the nation's dedicated force for
responding to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield
explosive incidents, or CBRNE incidents," she added.
"The
units completed the exercise Sept. 18 at Fort
Stewart, Ga., just
two weeks before their force, the CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force,
or CCMRF (called ‘Smurf’), will be assigned to U.S. Northern Command to begin
its mission."
