Police State vs. Posse Comitatus. (Insider Report).The Bush administration "has called on Congress to thoroughly review the law that bans the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines from participating in arrests, searches, seizure of evidence and other police-type activity on U.S. soil," reported the July 21st Washington Post. The law in question is the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act Posse Comitatus Act, 1878, U.S. federal law that makes it a crime to use the military as a domestic police force in the United States under most circumstances. , which ended the federal occupation and military dictatorships imposed on Southern states Southern States U.S. Confederacy government of 11 Southern states that left the Union in 1860. [Am. Hist.: EB, III: 73] Dixie popular name for Southern states in U.S. and for song. [Am. Hist. in the wake of the Civil War. The Act's intent was to defend Americans against the prospect of a standing army of occupation -- a concern frequently expressed by the framers of the Constitution. Ruling elites generally amass despotic powers amid agonies of professed reluctance, and homeland security Noun 1. Homeland Security - the federal department that administers all matters relating to homeland security Department of Homeland Security executive department - a federal department in the executive branch of the government of the United States adviser Tom Ridge Thomas Joseph Ridge (born August 27 1945 near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives (1983–1995), Governor of Pennsylvania (1995–2001), Assistant to the President for Homeland Security followed that tradition when addressing the posse comitatus issue in a July 21st television interview. According to Ridge "it goes against our instincts as a country to empower the military with the ability to arrest." Ah, but the Bush administration somehow overcame that instinctive aversion when it filed a legal brief claiming that the president and his military subordinates can designate any individual an "enemy combatant Captured fighter in a war who is not entitled to prisoner of war status because he or she does not meet the definition of a lawful combatant as established by the geneva convention; a saboteur. The U.S. " and detain him indefinitely -- and that such a designation cannot be challenged in court (see the article on page 29). Speaking to Fox News Sunday Fox News Sunday is a public affairs magazine on Fox, airing on Sunday mornings. The show, which began in 1996, is hosted by Chris Wallace. The show, which predates the launch of Fox News Channel, usually talks about items similar to Sunday-morning interview shows. on July 21st, Senator Joe Biden (D-Del.), Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, expressed approval for the Bush administration's plan, saying that the law "has to be amended, but we're not talking about general police power." This is true: The architects of the emerging garrison state are content, at present, to lay critical foundation stones one at a time. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion