New Orleans becomes a war zone: A dress rehearsal for martial law?

[Karmadillo]

This article seems somewhat extreme, but given the current administration and the passivity of the opposition, it's worth thinking about what the author has to say. Hard to imagine it coming true, but after the events of last week, we probably need to re-examine our preconceptions.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/nw-s08.shtml

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That the civilian agency which was created to deal with such disasters—FEMA—has been gutted, with an unemployed former horse show organizer, Michael Brown, placed at its head, has everything to do with such perceptions.

The most adamant proponent of the thesis that the military must take charge is the Wall Street Journal, whose editorial board enjoys the closest political relations with the Bush White House. In a Tuesday editorial titled “Bush and Katrina,” the Journal commented: “The New Orleans mess improved only after the Pentagon got involved. Though the military is normally barred from domestic law enforcement by the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, Defense officials have been doing a lot of creative thinking about what they can do and what the public now expects post-September 11.”

Washington’s response to the disaster in New Orleans is hardly a manifestation of “creative thinking,” much less “what the public now expects.”

In reality the US ruling elite and both major parties have used September 11 as the pretext for implementing far-reaching attacks on democratic rights and breaching legal barriers—such as Posse Comitatus—against the use of military force against the American people.

Just last month, the Washington Post published an article revealing that US military’s Northern Command had developed a series of “war plans” for the military “to take charge” in domestic crises. (See: “Pentagon devising scenarios for martial law in US”.)

While apparently these plans involved a response to supposed terrorist attacks, including the detonation of a nuclear device in a major American city, the catastrophe that struck New Orleans provided ideal conditions for testing the plans out.

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