Wider Powers for U.S. Forces in Disasters Are Under Review

[bpilgrim]

September 11, 2005

The White House would like to dispatch troops faster and give them law enforcement duties.

By Peter Gosselin and Doyle McManus, Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — A senior White House official said Saturday that in the wake of the hurricane that demolished part of the nation's Gulf Coast, the Bush administration was studying whether to expand the president's powers to deploy the U.S. military in natural disasters.

Dan Bartlett, counselor to President Bush, said that the administration was reviewing whether to increase the president's power to dispatch troops at the outset of a disaster and to give them law enforcement duties.

"There's agreement that this is something that has to be studied," Bartlett said in an interview.

The administration's interest in expanding presidential powers to deploy the military on United States soil stems partly from its frustration over the inability to negotiate an agreement on chain of command with Louisiana's governor in the first days after Hurricane Katrina struck.

more...
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-posse11sep11,1,4531511.story?coll=la-news-politics-national

peace

[ret5hd]

1. ahhhh...now we're getting down to the REAL reasons for allowing...

this disaster to happen.

[bpilgrim]

3. welcome to the third world

more...
http://GlobalFreePress.com

peace

[sarcasmo]

16. Martial Law here we come. Dictator Bush in 08.

[iverglas]

27. well, Canada must be part of that third world

If our military wasn't dispatched immediately to conduct rescue and relief operations, and maintain order where necessary, in natural disaster areas within Canada, we'd be demanding the heads of whoever didn't send it.



That's during the 1998 ice storm in eastern Canada.



That's during the 1993 forest fires in western Canada.



And that's during the 1999 snowstorm in Toronto ... the army had to be called in to dig the limp-wristed urbanites out of the mess.


We train people to protect the population of the country, and maintain a force of people and a stock of equipment for that purpose. We bloody well expect them to do the job when we need 'em.

[leesa]

7. Yup. He wants a military dictatorship.

[Tellurian]

8. Exactly!

If the LA Governor had buckled under Fed pressure, Bush would have declared Martial Law in the state and eventually made the takeover permanent by Eminent Domain.

Most likely the reason for the slowdown of help to LA & MI citizens. Frustrate the governor to the point of subjugating her power to the Feds, who never planned to leave. The reason??? What else..OIL! The perfect segue to lining both coastlines w/oil and gas rigs...citing the devastation of Katrina as the reason.

Thanks, to both Governors-- Commendations all around for saving your citizens property rights!!!

[SpiralHawk]

21. You got it, ret5hd. Nothing happens by accident with this krooked kreWe

ding, ding, ding, ding -- you are ringing the Bell of Truth.



(the Bell of Freedom has already been impounded by the BushCo Feds for inciting Insurrection and Intelligent Thoughts)

[OneBlueSky]

2. wider powers not needed . . . that's what the National Guard is for . . .

oh, wait . . . the National Guard is in Iraq . . .

how con-veeeeen-ient . . .

[Coastie for Truth]

10. Let's toughen the law

make the President jump through a lot more hoops to use the Guard for foreign wars.

And - from personal experience - I would make the Guard train with local police, fire, and emergency medical service people -- and with the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Civil Air Patrol, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, etc.

[guruoo]

24. When the shit hits the fan they don't want

the NG here to defend us from their "christian soldier'
vigilante network they've embedded within
the FBI, Customs, FEMA, local law enforcement agencies,
and "neighborhood watch" groups.
.

[gratuitous]

4. Yeah, I suppose public education is out of the question

So much easier and less time critical to evacuate a corpse than to get a live person to leave a disaster area. Living people ask so many inconvenient questions, and after a lifetime of being taught to distrust the government and seeing it function for only the overrich, they're just so stubborn.

Now it'll be *blam blam* and two more evacuees ready for transport.

[Nancy Waterman]

6. WHY DO THEY ALWAYS THINK MILITARY IS THE ANSWER?

I have been really freaked by all these pictures of the military roaming the streets of NO. Now we have Blackwater killers there. What will happen when we all riot to get rid of Bush? Marshall Law with the military shooting US citizens?

[catnhatnh]

5. That's been the real victim the whole time....

....the one they left to die at the Superdome was "Posse Commitatus"...the rest were mere "collateral damage"....Welcome to the Brave New World of martial law....

[Coastie for Truth]

9. How about a NOAAization/USPHSization of FEMA

NOAA's Coast and Geodetic Survey and the US Public Health Service are run by commissioned officers of a "uniformed service" (that are not "armed services"). Why not extend this to a new, post-Brown FEMA?

Historically (before Witt) FEMA"s "Disaster" operation was a dumping ground for retired military officers who had not been promoted to General or Admiral. I am sure that General Honore and Admiral Allen have some very good O-5's and O-6's who will never be Admirals or Generals because "Disaster Services" is not "Career Enhancing."

I use "Disaster Operations" to distinguish the search and rescue operations from the loans and mobile homes operations.

It's certainly a better utilization of their experience then having them lobby for the munitions makers.

[TankLV]

11. God help us all. If it were a DEMOCRATIC president that wanted this, I

might considere it. The fact that a REPUKE criminal is suggesting it, it should be DOA - Dead on Arrival.

[guruoo]

12. Wider Powers for U.S. Forces (Using Katrina to undermine Posse Comitatus?)

KATRINA'S AFTERMATH
Wider Powers for U.S. Forces in Disasters Are Under Review
# The White House would like to dispatch troops faster and give them law enforcement duties.

By Peter Gosselin and Doyle McManus, Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — A senior White House official said Saturday that in the wake of the hurricane that demolished part of the nation's Gulf Coast, the Bush administration was studying whether to expand the president's powers to deploy the U.S. military in natural disasters.

Dan Bartlett, counselor to President Bush, said that the administration was reviewing whether to increase the president's power to dispatch troops at the outset of a disaster and to give them law enforcement duties.

"There's agreement that this is something that has to be studied," Bartlett said in an interview.

The administration's interest in expanding presidential powers to deploy the military on United States soil stems partly from its frustration over the inability to negotiate an agreement on chain of command with Louisiana's governor in the first days after Hurricane Katrina struck.
<snip>
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-posse11sep11,1,4531511.story

[LiberalFighter]

13. If troops should be dispatch...

it should be to remove gw*dipshit from office by any means necessary.

[LiberalFighter]

14. Would there be a discussion about this if LA NG were not deployed

out of state?

[DODI]

15. One issue the dems need to jump on and jump on now is

state's rights.

[Pathwalker]

26. Tweet was parroting this on his show this AM.

"We must DEMOLISH the quaint, outdated notion of Posse Commitatis"(sp).
Only expletives come to mind....

[natrat]

33. canary in a cole mine...or what

[kath]

17. SCAAAAAARRRRRYY

be afraid. be very afraid.

:scared: :scared: :scared:

[Kagemusha]

18. Oh grow up, people. Bush has plenty of "powers" already

He just didn't use them because the Pentagon (apparently today this was translated as meaning, Rumsfeld) was afraid of having American blood on its hands and maybe taking a financial hit over it. The President has LOTS of power to deploy the military if he declares it's important enough. He didn't.

[Enraged_Ape]

19. This is a combination of CYA and asking for MORE power

BushCo is pretending that their hands were tied in the Katrina incident (which they weren't), while at the same time they ask for MORE power in the event of a new emergency (which you can count on happening).

This is just disgusting.

[jsamuel]

20. Yikes to say the least... Why is their solution always to throw military

at the problem?

[jody]

22. No more power for the president but, congress can do its job under the

constitution, "To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;"

Each state has a militia consisting at least of all persons over 17 and up to 45. Louisiana's militia includes 17 to 64. That militia is under the command of a governor and only the "organized militia" can be easily called to active duty by a president.

The only part of the militia congress has organized, armed, and disciplined is the "organized militia", i.e. National Guard and reserves. As we now know, Louisiana's Guard has been deployed to Iraq, a job that is outside the Constitution's limit, "To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;"

Congress needs to debate the entire concept of the militia including the "unorganized militia" and the National Guard.

I oppose allowing any president authority to use DoD to enforce the laws of the land. That's what Bush wants and that's to much power to place in the hands of a loose cannon president.

[Rex]

23. More control over our rights and privileges under review

U.S. forces sit in Iraq while their homeland gets taken over by Boosh and crew!

[Cocoa]

25. the Katriot Act

[struggle4progress]

28. No -- we should limit federal use of National Guard troops as ..

.. military reinforcements when there is no national commitment to full scale war, including draft ...

[Lithos]

29. Pure BS - He already had the powers

The Stafford Act and the National Response Plan of 2003 gives the President all of the powers he needs. The problem is that Shrub didn't execute these powers.

No need to revamp the system to cover up for incompetence.

L-

[6000eliot]

30. Oh this is the lesson we need to learn from Katrina all right!

:sarcasm:

[jwirr]

31. If this is being drafted by bushie and his repug congress

then it is just another civilian patriot act to take rights from citizens.

[suffragette]

32. looks like they are seriously discussing giving him these powers

From later in the LA Times article:

Separately, congressional sources said that Sen. John W. Warner, a Virginia Republican and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, conducted a closed-door meeting with administration officials and military leaders Tuesday to discuss what must be changed to avoid repeating the fumbled response to Hurricane Katrina, and he has scheduled a second session for this Tuesday.

The sources said Warner thought some change might be needed in the 19th century law that restricted use of the military on U.S. soil, known as the Posse Comitatus Act, but they emphasized that there were no immediate plans to expand presidential powers to dispatch troops.

[screembloodymurder]

34. If they give him this ......it's revolution!

Power to the people.