26 December 2008
The Worsening Economic Crisis
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: Constitution in Peril; World Economy .
Guest Blog by Sharon Anderson
Even though this is similar to the article posted a few weeks ago about using troops in the US for environmental and other issues, this one focuses on using them and imposing martial law because of the economic crises. The last paragraph also mentions discarding the if a weapon of mass destruction is used. Do you think such statements are designed to get us mentally prepared so we will be less likely to resist?
In many parts of the US we have recently had some impressive winter storms and very low temperatures, but this article about suspending the Constitution is even more chilling. Here are some excerpts with emphasis added.
http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/military_domestic_use/2008/12/23/164765.html?s=al&promo_code=763E-1
U.S. Military Preparing for Domestic Disturbances
A new report from the U.S. Army War College discusses the use of American troops to quell civil unrest brought about by a worsening economic crisis.
The report from the War College’s Strategic Studies Institute warns that the U.S. military must prepare for a “violent, strategic dislocation inside the United States” that could be provoked by “unforeseen economic collapse” or “loss of functioning political and legal order.”
Entitled “Known Unknowns: Unconventional ‘Strategic Shocks’ in Defense Strategy Development,” the report was produced by Nathan Freier, a recently retired Army lieutenant colonel who is a professor at the college — the Army’s main training institute for prospective senior officers.
He writes: “To the extent events like this involve organized violence against local, state, and national authorities and exceed the capacity of the former two to restore public order and protect vulnerable populations, DoD [Department of Defense] would be required to fill the gap.”
Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Rep. Brad Sherman of California disclosed that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson discussed a worst-case scenario as he pushed the Wall Street bailout in September, and said that scenario might even require a declaration of martial law.
The Army College report states: “DoD might be forced by circumstances to put its broad resources at the disposal of civil authorities to contain and reverse violent threats to domestic tranquility. Under the most extreme circumstances, this might include use of military force against hostile groups inside the United States.
As Newsmax reported earlier, the Defense Department has made plans to deploy 20,000 troops nationwide by 2011 to help state and local officials respond to emergencies.
The 130-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military’s role in domestic law enforcement. But a 1994 Defense Department Directive allows military commanders to take emergency actions in domestic situations to save lives, prevent suffering or mitigate great property damage, . . .And Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the U.S. military operations to liberate Iraq, said in a 2003 interview that if the U.S. is attacked with a weapon of mass destruction, the Constitution will likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government.
More on the Posse Comitatus Act from Wikipedia:
The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. 1385) passed on June 16, 1878 after the end of Reconstruction, with the intention of substantially limiting the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement. The Act prohibits most members of the federal uniformed services (the Army, Air Force, and State National Guard forces when such are called into federal service) from exercising nominally state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain “law and order” on non-federal property (states and their counties and municipal divisions) in the former Confederate States.
The statute generally prohibits federal military personnel and units of the National Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress. The Coast Guard is exempt from the Act.
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2 Comments so far...
Joy Bischoff Says:
26 December 2008 at 4:17 pm.
I appreciate this article that Sharon brought to our attention. I feel that the same basic roadblock keeps some people from internalizing religion and also makes it difficult to envision the social structure changing. Was there ever a culture that could readily accept that a way of life that has gone on for generations could change in a short period of time? Yes for Ninevah, no for Sodom and Gomorrah. Yes for Egypt in Joseph’s time, no for Rome, and no for most civilizations. Rejection of warnings by prophets or political forecasters is so easy because the mental picture does not come easily.
Speaking of Joseph of Egypt, I want to throw out one more time (maybe 
) that in 1998, Gordon B. Hinckley talked of that story and suggested we prepare while times were good. Seven years later exactly, he again brought up the story and urged even more strongly to prepare. Some believed he was a fanatic. I don’t agree. I believe in taking the blinders off and taking in the whole landscape of history.
Matt Says:
26 December 2008 at 7:22 pm.
A year ago if you would have tried to tell me things would be like this so fast I would have thought you were nuts.
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