peterklutz wrote:
> >From the International Herald Tribune:
> http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/19/opinion/edlaw.php
>
> Making martial law easier
>
> A disturbing recent phenomenon in Washington is that laws that strike
> to the heart of American democracy have been passed in the dead of
> night. So it was with a provision quietly tucked into the enormous
> defense budget bill at the Bush administration's behest that makes it
> easier for a president to override local control of law enforcement
> and declare martial law.
>
> The provision, signed into law in October, weakens two obscure but
> important bulwarks of liberty. One is the doctrine that bars military
> forces, including a federalized National Guard, from engaging in law
> enforcement. Called posse comitatus, it was enshrined in law after the
> Civil War to preserve the line between civil government and the
> military. The other is the Insurrection Act of 1807, which provides
> the major exemptions to posse comitatus. It essentially limits a
> president's use of the military in law enforcement to putting down
> lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion, where a state is violating
> federal law or depriving people of constitutional rights.
>
> The newly enacted provisions upset this careful balance. They shift
> the focus from making sure that federal laws are enforced to restoring
> public order.
>
> Beyond cases of actual insurrection, the president may now use
> military troops as a domestic police force in response to a natural
> disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist attack or to any "other
> condition."
>
> Changes of this magnitude should be made only after a thorough public
> airing. But these new presidential powers were slipped into the law
> without hearings or public debate. The president made no mention of
> the changes when he signed the measure, and neither the White House
> nor Congress consulted in advance with the country's governors.
> There is a bipartisan bill, introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy,
> Democrat of Vermont, and Christopher Bond, Republican of Missouri, and
> backed unanimously by the nation's governors, that would repeal the
> stealthy revisions. Congress should pass it. If changes of this kind
> are proposed in the future, they must get a full and open debate.
These days in the US cops look more like they are ready for action in
Baghdad than peace officers. Pretty soon they'll look like the
stormtroopers in Star Wars. It's all a bit silly I think.
