Ever Heard Of The Posse Comitatus Act?
Read up on the Posse Comitatus Act here then read this article in the Army Times.
Our country has a professional full time military whose purpose it is to kill bad guys who threaten our nation from the outside. We have local law enforcement who are responsible for protecting citizens within our country. They are not to be mixed.
Does anyone find it creepy that the military now seems to be making it part of their full time mission to “help people at home”? I’d prefer not to have our full time military’s help here at home. If the governor wants to call out the guard in a local emergency that is one thing…but the army/airforce/marines? No thanks.
Maybe I deserve some mocking about my tin foil hat being too tight…but it is still very creepy to hear that our military is being prepared for use in American cities. That isn’t what it was meant for.
Hat Tip: The Agitator
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But it works so well in all the banana republics out there?
Comment by Obi wan liberali — September 24, 2008 @ 8:18 am
Not creepy at all. I remember being at a military facility in Key West (my old boss, Congressman Dornan was a chairman of a House military subcommittee and I got to travel around these places a bit)… and the base was primarily used for drug interdiction, although, I suppose, it’s bigger ultimate function was to provide FLIR radar down into Central and South America to make sure all was well south of us.
Anyway, I watched on big screens in their war room while they followed what they called a “Go-Fast” (those Miami Vice looking speed boats) that they were sure was muling narcotics from the Caribbean. Interesting thing happened…they notified US Customs agents. I asked them why they (the military) just didn’t intercede and was told that the Posse Comitatus law prohibited them from doing so…they could track the bad guys but not lay a hand on them if they were American (oh, I should of added that they were able to listen to their radio transmissions and heard “American” voices).
Another thought…from way back…in the “old days” some of those anti-tax protestors used the Posse Comitatus law to say that the feds (our own government) didn’t have the right to come after people who refused to pay taxes. Weird, huh?
Comment by Paul Mero — September 24, 2008 @ 1:08 pm
Maybe your right Paul. I do sometimes have an overactive imagination. I can think of all kinds of bad results from having the military more involved with domestic policing and “crowd control”.
Comment by Jeremy Manning — September 24, 2008 @ 2:44 pm
It all depends on how they are used. If they were to go to Texas and help out with Ike clean-up, I have not problem with that, but I don’t know what else I want the military to do inside the U.S. The police have already become more military-like and I don’t like the results of their no-knock raids.
Comment by Daniel — September 24, 2008 @ 4:00 pm
But maybe this is a way of helping these guys how by giving them a cushy job in the US after being deployed for so long. Maybe they receive better money. I don’t know, but maybe there’s something in it for the soldiers.
Comment by Daniel — September 24, 2008 @ 4:01 pm
I spent some time in Argentina a few years after their last military coup. I don’t think we’re anywhere near that problem. Our checks and balances are still in place as far as that goes.
What will do us in long before that will be our greed, voting ourselves more money from our children’s coffers.
Comment by cody — September 25, 2008 @ 12:16 pm
What commenter Dave Krueger said at the Agitator’s post.
BTW Paul that same military facility in Key West housed the 1st Battalion, 65th Air Defense Artillery (Improved HAWK) until 1978. I know, because I commanded Alpha Battery. We weren’t trained in non-lethal crowd control or drug interdiction, though. We were there to shoot down Cuban MIGs and Soviet Backfire bombers.
Comment by Sam — September 25, 2008 @ 12:54 pm
Sam,
Welcome back! It made my day to hear from you!
I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised that most Utahns don’t care when the army is stationed in the U.S and training for conflicts with Americans on American soil. We have such faith in authority in our state that we forget all the lessons we should have learned from history.
Comment by Jeremy Manning — September 25, 2008 @ 1:57 pm
Here’s an interesting thread on this same subject at my buddy Jason Sigger’s most excellent site:
http://armchairgeneralist.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/09/educating-the-b.html
Oh, and in this one, the mighty Glenn Greenwald gives Jason the heave-ho:
http://lefarkins.blogspot.com/2008/09/oh-noes-army-is-coming-to-take-our.html
As for me: I would say ho-hum about all this except for what’s happened the last eight years with this administration. I wouldn’t put anything, and I mean anything, past them. Including using the Army for their “October Surprise”.
Comment by Sam — September 25, 2008 @ 3:33 pm