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You don't have to live in a cave to have missed the news about the official arming of NorthCom, because it has really been a back burner of a story. Don't know why though, because this is like a HUGE deal. In America, we have no standing army of combat ready troops, prepared to be deployed within our borders. It's not how we roll, so the fact that we just got one...it's alarming to say the least. I went to their site to check it out and found this tidbit:
USNORTHCOM’s civil support mission includes domestic disaster relief
operations that occur during fires, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes.
Support also includes counter-drug operations and managing the
consequences of a terrorist event employing a weapon of mass
destruction. The command provides assistance to a Lead Agency when
tasked by DoD. Per the Posse Comitatus Act, military forces can provide civil support, but cannot become directly involved in law enforcement.
Did you notice that "counter-drug operations" were listed before "terrorist event"? Then they say that per Posse Comitatus they cannot provide direct law enforcement support. Are drugs anything but a law enforcement issue? Are they going to have military types breaking in doors with tanks and humvees, and then letting Roscoe and Enis come in and slap on the cuffs?
More disturbing is this report from Progressive.org which outlines concerns of the senate about Bush, or any president having a standing army at his disposal. Section 2(b) and section 12 of National Security Presidential Directive 51 outline what a catastrophy is, and how the Executive branch leads the show in the event of a triggering episode, as interpreted by the Executive.
From the Progressive.org article, and verified in NSPD51:
NSPD 51 defines a catastrophic emergency as “any incident,
regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass
casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S.
population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government
function.”
Notice the use of the word “or” above. In our current circumstances,
it might be more relevant to read the definition this way: “any
incident . . . that results in extraordinary levels of . . . disruption
severely affecting the U.S. . . . economy.”
I don't really trust politicians, and Bush/Chaney didn't help that trust, maybe even pushed distrust to weariness. This election cycle has also shown how dirty and nasty things can get, and how little gov't really is involved with helping the little guy have a better day to day life. The Bailout demonstrated again that it's all about the guys at the top, raining down a little sustanance to the masses while we fill our head with nonsense from the TV and the Internets....this site included.
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By Hank on 10. October 2008 05:37 | Comments (0)
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