Becuase Everything Else Sucks

Army Stationing Active Unit Within U.S. Beginning Oct. 1

By evmonk
Published Wednesday, September 24th, 2008, 8:46 am
Filed under: Videos: Political, Society/Culture: Civil Unrest, Terrorism, US Politics

WPvideo 1.10

Say what? Here’s the story, straight from the Army Times:

….It is not the first time an active-duty unit has been tapped to help at home…[but] this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities….

“Right now, the response force requirement will be an enduring mission. How the [Defense Department] chooses to source that and whether or not they continue to assign them to NorthCom, that could change in the future,” said Army Col. Louis Vogler, chief of NorthCom future operations. “Now, the plan is to assign a force every year.”

….They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack….

The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them….

“I don’t know what America’s overall plan is — I just know that 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that are standing by to come and help if they’re called,” Cloutier said. “It makes me feel good as an American to know that my country has dedicated a force to come in and help the people at home.”

Well that’s nice. The only problem is that I’m pretty sure deploying an active-duty military force within the United States without an extreme scenario that would necessitate it is illegal, and for good reason. It’s not clear what the army will be used for, if anything, but it puts us on a slippery slope, especially if the army is used to repress “civil unrest” and enforce domestic law in instances where state and local authorities are capable of doing so. As the Departments of Justice and Defense jointly stated in 1979:

“The [Posse Comitatus Act of 1878] expresses one of the clearest political traditions in Anglo-American history: that using military power to enforce the civilian law is harmful to both civilian and military interests. The authors of the [PCA] drew upon a melancholy history of military rule for evidence that even the best intentioned use of the Armed Forces to govern the civil population may lead to unfortunate consequences. They knew, moreover, that military involvement in civilian affairs consumed resources needed for national defense and drew the Armed Forces into political and legal quarrels that could only harm their ability to defend the country. Accordingly, they intended that the Armed Forces be used in law enforcement only in those serious cases to which the ordinary processes of civilian law were incapable of responding.”

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7 Responses to “Army Stationing Active Unit Within U.S. Beginning Oct. 1”

  1. Unfortunately they got rid of the Insurrection Act last year. Look it up. They’ve been planning martial law for years now. This latest move only validates those ‘conspiracy theory’ fears. Dark day.

    Duder
    09/24/08 at 7:26 pm

  2. If this article does not scare the bejesus out of you, then let me do what I can to wake you up.

    First, I am a US soldier. Afghanistan has been fun–a lot of people have filled their pockets, the herion crop is doing grand. Iraq– will be looked upon with nostalgia, those good ole days of hookers in Amsterdam and wads of cash, huge salaries, all in the spirit of democracy. All those contractors shooting people for fun and making at least $540 a day. Yeah, I am talking about you.

    Wait until Contractors start competing to develop and use non-lethal weapons for use inside the US. Oh, the Government will be bankrupt by then–the silver lining.

    Dave
    09/26/08 at 8:03 am

  3. […] Largest Minority points out that stationing active duty units on American soil might be a violation of the Posse […]

    Paul M Peterson » Blog Archive » The October Surprise?
    09/26/08 at 9:16 am

  4. Calm down. The military calls is civil support operations. It isn’t aimed at chasing civilians around. I will remind you of a few things 1) most active duty units are already in the USA so the wording of the article is misleading. 2) It was active duty units that supported school desegregation 3) It was active duty units employed in disaster relief / civil support operations that facilitated the clean up after disasters from the San Fransisco earthquake all the way through Hurricane Katrina…not to mention yearly wildfires. Much of the good and useful things the government does in response to emergencies would be impossible without the military. So please…calm down.

    will
    09/27/08 at 1:23 am

  5. Will: Thanks for the informative comment. I think you’re right that the wording of the title is misleading. (You meant the title, not the article, right? The article is from the Army Times.) I looked it up and there are nearly 900,000 troops stationed within the continental U.S. who are considered on “active duty.” (http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/MILITARY/history/hst0803.pdf). And I wouldn’t disagree that having troops at the ready in case of an emergency is a good thing, and has saved our ass a number of times in the past.

    But my understanding of the concern over this story, and correct me if I’m wrong, is that this is the first time a unit within the U.S. has been given a dedicated mission. This mission explicitly includes assisting in “civil unrest and crowd control,” and this particular unit has, for the first time, been equipped with nonlethal weapons solely for that purpose. So this is where people’s fear kicks in. Do you agree that having the military prepared and on the ready to respond to domestic protests, as this article indicates, produces a slippery slope? If that active unit is deployed against the American people in a case where state and local authorities could have responded effectively, would that not be a violation of Posse Comitatus?

    Finally, can you blame us for being skeptical of this administration’s intentions?

    evmonk
    09/27/08 at 7:58 am

  6. Will,
    Right, and Ignorance is Strength. Wake up fool.

    Duder
    09/27/08 at 6:22 pm

  7. Here’s an update from Amy Goodman: http://www.alternet.org/rights/102220/is_posse_comitatus_dead/

    evmonk
    10/14/08 at 10:00 am

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