USA - Bush Signs Bill Enabling Martial Law

[Trebor]

Right. I'll let this speak for it's self.

Bush Signs Bill Enabling Martial Law

2006-10-28

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.

Right. I'll let this speak for it's self.

From towardfreedom.com

Reputation Comments on this post:

good find. started a nice discussion.

[Alfa]

Seems like the Americans are in deep shit now. I would say run for the hills, but you now need permission to leave the country.
Do I read this correctly and that all that Bush needs to do to take hold of the USA for ever, is to have a terrorist attack take place and then declare martial law? I suspect supplementary laws will be coming as well. Dubya has two more years, before he gets shitcanned, so he has time enough to come up with an alternative to him getting the boot.
I'll bet Bush is just jealous of Hu Jintao. And he should be cause China is going for the next superpower and the world market leader.

[old hippie 56]

For the ones that want to keep up with this issue, here is a good news link:
http://sianews.com/index.php

[GForce]

Honestly I just don't care about Bush's bullshit anymore. He has 2 more years to play his game of Risk and then its pretty much guaranteed we'll have someone more intelligent than him in office. Until then he's going to mess things up as much as he can but thankfully we won't have to endure it for too much longer.

[Each Hit]

Originally Posted by GForce

Honestly I just don't care about Bush's bullshit anymore. He has 2 more years to play his game of Risk and then its pretty much guaranteed we'll have someone more intelligent than him in office. Until then he's going to mess things up as much as he can but thankfully we won't have to endure it for too much longer.

well, if he declares a state of martial law, he could continue his term indefinitely. swim would join an armed insurrection if such were the case.

[Paracelsus]

Originally Posted by Each Hit

well, if he declares a state of martial law, he could continue his term indefinitely. swim would join an armed insurrection if such were the case.

Perfectly true. There is a book which discussed the political implications and backgrounds of 9/11. It's called "Mythos 9/11" by Gerhard Wisnewski. I found it only in german. There is a part that describes a scenario for the Bush vs. Kerry elections (it was written before that event). It sounded something like: "What if you go to vote and find a Humvee and several armed-to-the-teeth soldiers in front of the building? What would you think about your freedom of vote?"

What I can't understand about this whole thing is why didn't anything happen yet. I mean, it's over 5 years from 9/11 and the Patriot Act and Homeland Security Act, and still nothing real has happened. I can see that Bush is preparing every tiny bit of it, but at the moment he has enough power to, let's say, build extermination camps for muslim "extremists". But nothing has happened yet.

I support Alfa's "run for the hills".
"Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, then those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in the winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened." (Matthew 24:15-22)

I'm not trying to get prophetic But I remembered this text and had to look it up..

[Nagognog2]

I see the tailfin of a MIRV-tipped missile with a large yellow star and semi-circle of smaller yellow stars - cresting the horizon over Washington, DC...

[Micklemouse]

Time perhaps for Americans to remember why their gun-laws are as they are...

[Sky Walker]

Originally Posted by Alfa

Do I read this correctly and that all that Bush needs to do to take hold of the USA for ever, is to have a terrorist attack take place and then declare martial law?

Well, is this completely correct? If so it is truly horrifying, I have no doubt that that terrorist attack will happen. When exactly are you (the american citizenry) going to do something about this, is it even on the cards to make any kind of stand? Time is running out or maybe it has already, do you already feel defeated or do you think things will just straighten themselves out? "Baaaaaa-baahaaa-baaaa!!!", "hiya, ya, comby gettiup, go on lil biddy!" lambs to the slaughter

[old hippie 56]

Originally Posted by Micklemouse

Time perhaps for Americans to remember why their gun-laws are as they are...

We haven't forgotten, and swim would bet that the so-called leaders in Washington hasn't forgot either.

[Trebor]

Seems like some serious shit is brewing among the people. Can Bush actually stop and election if he imposes martial law? I say grab your guns and have Jefferson Airplane play on a flat bed to Washington! I'll even go to help.

[Kid A]

ugh...1984 anyone?

Reputation Comments on this post:

lol Nice.

[Nagognog2]

You want 1984? That's been going on for years:

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/sho...273#post208273

[old hippie 56]

Let us refresh our memories, Amendment II-A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

[zera]

I think it's a little simplistic to think that our freedom will be seized in one grand act, especially by a president with such little support as Bush. If history has taught us anything it's that freedom is usually lost (especially in liberal democracies) bit by bit as its chiseled away. Not that I think Bush wouldn't love to do this, but if he tried I'm pretty sure a combination of Congress, the Supreme Court and every general would just laugh in his face.

It's easy to say you'll stand up to a declared military junta in the United States, but I'm almost positive that that won't happen overnight, instead we need to be vigilant about all the little laws and court decisions overturning our Constitutional liberties. This militirazation of domestic law enforcement has been going on long before Bush. Clinton was a big fan himself and helped push a lot of it, remember the experimental army tanks used at Waco? Hell, the story itself even says that it's nothing but a rehashing of the pre-existing Insurrection Act (which I gurantee you long predates Bush).

Not that I don't think the law's horrible, even if it won't be employed by Bush that doesn't mean it won't be used as a legal ground for some asshole president in the future when our freedom is even more disintegrated. Republicans need to ask themselves before handing Bush powers "Sure I want Bush to have this power, but would I be comfortable with President Hilary Clinton (the arch-nemesis of most conservatives) having it"

[Allez]

Originally Posted by zera

.....instead we need to be vigilant about all the little laws and court decisions overturning our Constitutional liberties.

Have a read of the quote's I posted in "Bush Can Read Your Mail".

I remember back in ancient Rome, in times of emergency, something called a "dictator" could be appointed, who had absolute control for two months. The "dictator" had to answer to nobody and had total, individual control of the military and the state. So I guess in this sense, Bush can appoint himself "dictator". Dictator Bush, sounds promising.
Just a little history on the origin of the word.

By the by, is there any time limit set on this Martial Law? Because even the ancient Roman's thought of that.

[Riconoen {UGC}]

This is exactly what gun laws were made for micklemouse, I am going out on a limb here and saying that if this gets passed, shit is going to go down, I am tired of freedoms being sacrificed in the name of so called security, I hate what this country has become, from a beacon of freedom that the world followed to a quasi police state. I hate this place, I hope bush gets impeached for this, and if not, I am moving to canada. Or joining an armed rebellion.

[BeetleJuice]

Dont forget aswell that like a week after 9/11 the bush gov was already "preparing" the population for that inevitable nuke strike on American soil,that sounds like it would guarantee his dictatorship,especially since itle be said the democrats failed to protect the people since taking congress...

"its not a matter of if,but when" GWB

Evil bastards

(just a predication)