DRANT #327: POSSE COMITATUS, CORPUS DELICTUS

The invasion has started, and the surge is growing. The US Army has invaded another country. US. Please read below. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The NEWS: Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security By Spencer S. Hsu and Ann Scott Tyson Washington Post Staff Writers Monday, December 1, 2008 The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials. The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said. There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement. But the Bush administration and some in Congress have pushed for a heightened homeland military role since the middle of this decade, saying the greatest domestic threat is terrorists exploiting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dedicating 20,000 troops to domestic response -- a nearly sevenfold increase in five years -- "would have been extraordinary to the point of unbelievable," Paul McHale, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, said in remarks last month at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But the realization that civilian authorities may be overwhelmed in a catastrophe prompted "a fundamental change in military culture," he said. The Pentagon's plan calls for three rapid-reaction forces to be ready for emergency response by September 2011. The first 4,700-person unit, built around an active-duty combat brigade based at Fort Stewart, Ga., was available as of Oct. 1, said Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., commander of the U.S. Northern Command.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/30/AR2008113002217_pf.html Posse Comitatus, RIP By John R Moffett The Posse Comitatus Act was passed in 1878 in response to the Union Army's occupation of the Confederate states following the Civil War, and prohibited the deployment of US troops within the borders of the United States. Having never met a law or constitutional stipulation that he liked, George Bush is working hard to deploy up to 20,000 US troops within the United States borders. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Posse-Comitatus-RIP-by-John-R-Moffett-081201-369.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DETAILED HISTORY: The erosion of the Posse Comitatus Act through Congressional legislation and executive policy has left a hollow shell in place of a law that formerly was a real limitation on the military's role in civilian law enforcement and security issues. The plethora of constitutional and statutory exceptions to the act provides the executive branch with a menu of options under which it can justify the use of military forces to combat domestic terrorism. Whether an act of terrorism is classified as a civil disturbance under 10 U.S.C., 331-334, or whether the president relies upon constitutional power to preserve federal functions, it is difficult to think of a domestic terrorism scenario of sizable scale under which the use of the military could not be lawfully justified in view of the act's erosion. The act is no longer a realistic bar to direct military involvement in counter terrorism planning and operations. It is a low legal hurdle that can be easily cleared through invocation of the appropriate legal justification, either before or after the fact. http://www.homelandsecurity.org/journal/articles/Trebilcock.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CURRENT HISTORY: For more than 100 years -- since the end of the Civil War -- deployment of the U.S. military inside the U.S. has been prohibited under The Posse Comitatus Act (the only exceptions being that the National Guard and Coast Guard are exempted, and use of the military on an emergency ad hoc basis is permitted, such as what happened after Hurricane Katrina). Though there have been some erosions of this prohibition over the last several decades (most perniciously to allow the use of the military to work with law enforcement agencies in the "War on Drugs"), the bright line ban on using the U.S. military as a standing law enforcement force inside the U.S. has been more or less honored -- until now. And as the Army Times notes, once this particular brigade completes its one-year assignment, "expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one." http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/09/24/army/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~