As the New World Order, expanding U.S. imperialism, continues unabated and the country becomes more and more of a police state, many Americans begin to wonder about the laws that are supposed to protect them from their own military forces.
Sunday, July 21, 2002, the New York Times produced a 1271 word article titled “Wider Military Role in U.S. Is Urged” in which they laid out President Bush’s request that the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act be revisited. Most of this article deals with what Joe Baker says is a demand that people “sit down, shut up, and wave your flag.”.
Protect me has become the mantra of the citizen. Protect me from terrorists. Protect me from evil corporations and bad stock investments. Protect my 401(k). Protect my children at school and protect them from pedophile priests. Protect me from druggies. Protect me from drive-by shootings and children with guns. Protect Californians from sugar and laundry flying in the neighbor’s back yard. Do whatever is necessary. And the average person continues to believe that the nation’s military cannot be used against the people.
Americans are willing to give up liberties for protection and, in the end, they will have neither.
I’m sorry folks, but you had better start paying attention to laws that are already on the books. The United States Code contains one of those laws as follows:
41 USC Sec. 1989
(last updated January 26, 1998, under the Clinton Administration)
Paragraph 1989
United States magistrate judges; appointment of persons to execute warrants.
“The district courts of the United States and the district courts of the Territories, from time to time, shall increase the number of United States magistrate judges, so as to afford a speedy and convenient means for the arrest and examination of persons charged with the crimes referred to in section 1987 of this title, and such magistrate judges are authorized and required to exercise all the powers and duties conferred on them herein with regard to such offenses in like manner as they are authorized by law to exercise with regard to other offenses against the laws of the United States. Said magistrate judges are empowered, within their respective counties, to appoint, in writing, under their hands, one or more suitable persons, from time to time, who shall execute all such warrants or other process as the magistrate judges may issue in the lawful performance of their duties, and the persons so appointed shall have the authority to summon and call to their aid the bystanders or posse comitatus of the proper county, or such portion of the land or naval forces of the United States, or of the militia, as may be necessary to the performance of the duty with which they are charged, and such warrants shall run and be executed anywhere in the State or Territory within which they are issued.”
Do the troops and equipment from Fort Hood and the “advisory” Delta Forces from Fort Bragg deployed at WACO come to mind? Have you forgotten these events and how Janet Sterno rented tanks for the purpose of exterminating 72 religious off-beats?
The New York Times tells us that: “Military leaders have generally supported the restrictions because their troops were not specifically trained in those roles, and they worried that domestic tasks could lead to serious political problems.”
Do they think we’ve forgotten the night-time practice raids on cities in Southern Texas and Oakland, California dubbed “Operation Last Dance” where the objective was to give U.S. elite troops real-world experience in urban combat. In 1999, the Austin American-Statesman described this as “the last in a 10 year effort to train troops” and….
“In their wake, they left a trail of tales that will be told, retold and embellished for years—the soldiers repelling into cities, the explosions, the accidental fires, the satchel full of cash to pay for damages.”When asked about these operations, then governor George W. Bush said that “what the military does is none of my business.”
And don’t forget all those base closings under the Clinton Administration. Military bases that were refitted with turnstiles, new razor wire fences, and new heating/air equipment. Obviously, these facilities are not waiting for Al Quaida terrorists we lock up in “Git-Go” in the land of another of our enemies.
How do you suppose Americans would feel if China tried to set up a prison camp in Utah?
And please note that the above code gives authority not to the Governor but to a magistrate in any county of the country or whoever he appoints. Is this democracy?
Related articles:
Military training of civilian police steadily expands.
Can soldiers be peace officers?
“Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact.”