Bush could seize absolute control of US governement

[ChairmanAgnostic]

President George W. Bush has signed executive orders giving him sole authority to impose martial law, suspend habeas corpus and ignore the Posse Comitatus Act that prohibits deployment of U.S. troops on American streets. This would give him absolute dictatorial power over the government with no checks and balances.

Bush discussed imposing martial law on American streets in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks by activating “national security initiatives” put in place by Ronald Reagan during the 1980s.

These “national security initiatives," hatched in 1982 by controversial Marine Colonel Oliver North, later one of the key players in the Iran-Contra Scandal, charged the Federal Emergency Management Agency with administering executive orders that allowed suspension of the Constitution, implementation of martial law, establishment of internment camps, and the turning the government over to the President.



http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7986.shtml

This just sounds too logical to ignore.

[in_cog_ni_to]

1. duplicate post....sorry.

:(

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x128243

[htuttle]

2. Most of those executive orders were actually written in the '60's...

...to deal with various thermonuclear war scenarios (or so they'd hoped...or rather feared).

However, they ARE still in place, and have been the whole time. During Reagan's time, the 'bar' for activating the 'COG' (continuity of government) apparatus WAS apparently lowered, with 'widespread civil disorder' being added to the list of conditions under which it would assume control, but in actuality, almost any president since Kennedy could have turned us into a dicatorship with a stroke of the pen.

However, the real question is: how long could they keep it that way? IIRC, they are theoretically required to consult with Congress within a short amount of time after activating the COG plans. If a president implemented 'martial law' under those plans and weren't justified in doing so, I'd hope they'd have a hell of a time keeping it that way....(or maybe they wouldn't ....who could tell nowdays...).

[dogday]

4. Not even Nixon was corrupt enough

to enforce this, but something tells me Bush would have no problems putting these orders into effect....

[Marie26]

8. Bush would do it, but would the military?

I've no doubt Bush would create martial law if he could - but how could he? I can't imagine the military & police forces all going along w/it. And I can't imagine the American people going along w/it. We can't even successfully occupy Iraq, how is the military going to occupy the USA? If Bush tried something like this, it seems more likely that the military would just turn on him (as they did Nixon).

[dogday]

10. The military has been and is still

training in suburban warfare. They are getting good at this and the ones that blindly follow the military orders will participate in this. Not all soldiers will be able to do it, no, but the ones following blindly will.....

[mopinko]

14. they are already fed up

john murtha speaks for them. that's why they refused to help smear him. i do not think they would do this, and i don't think they will invade iran, either.

[Marie26]

20. Seems like it

Yeah, Murtha seemed to be a way for the military to express their frustrations w/o directly disobeying the President. These people have fought wars, sacrificed for their country - only to see their viewpoint sidelined by a bunch of neocons. I doubt they've got a whole lot of respect for this Administration. I think of men like Wesley Clark, Norman Schwarzkopf, or Gen. Shesinski - and can't imagine them firing on Americans; they'd be more likely to fire Bush first. You can almost tell that an invisible line has been drawn in the sand here - there are some orders the military simply will not follow. Without the support of the military, there's no way to impose martial law, or start another war (no matter what Bush may want).

[mopinko]

24. we can hope. nt

[PassingFair]

3. "Could"? ..... n/t

[mopaul]

23. "Could"? ..... n/t

[Loonman]

5. Fascist freepers would be pleased immensely

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/poll?poll=133;results=1

[Inland]

6. Pfft. Why bother? he has control over everything he wants anyway.

All he has to do is cover up what he does, and when caught, claim national security and dare Congress to do something about it, which he won't.

The point of Bushism is to avoid letting us know the extent of the power grab. Why declare anything formally when he can do it secretly? Until the next terror attack, anyway.

[watrwefitinfor]

7. This have anything to do with why Brownie was doing a heckuva job?

"...charged the Federal Emergency Management Agency with administering executive orders that allowed suspension of the Constitution, implementation of martial law, establishment of internment camps, and the turning the government over to the President."

Wat

[Kansas Wyatt]

9. Freepers were unusually evasive about "martial law"

Before the 2004 Presidential Election, with it becoming more clear that there was no way Shrub could win. I would ask them if Shrub planned on implementing "martial law" right before or after the election to stay in power, since he could not win the election*. The Freepers would scatter like cockroaches and avoid "martial law" as if were a light being shined on cockroaches.

* I mistakenly believed that the Democrats and the government would make sure that the 2000 cheating would be stopped. Never occurred to me that the Republicans would implement it on a national scale.

If this is true, the Freepers have ratted themselves out, because their guns will be the first to go. :rofl:

[tjwash]

11. Please don't give links to "capitol hill blue". They are not the least...

...bit credible. You might as well post something from wikipedia.

[truth2power]

12. Hmm...I seem to remember

something on NPR about how some scientists had looked at the content of Wikipedia and determined that overall it was about as accurate as the Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Sorry, this is from the cluttered attic of my brain. Can't provide a link. It was fairly recently, tho'. In the past couple of months. Just throwing it out there. :)

[Pryderi]

18. It's our Drudge Report/ newsmax... :(

[confuddled]

22. Thank goodness.

I feel so much better now that I know that this site lacks all credibility and none of this can possibly be true.

[Lerkfish]

26. its an opinion piece, but yet I don't find anything wrong with the

content.
Even the town drunk is right once in a while.

do you have a criticism of the CONTENT of the piece?

[Coastie for Truth]

13. ONE GOOD THING ABOUT CONSCRIPTION

Some Background about Conscript (and Conscription Motivated) Junior Officers and NCO's.
ARTICLE 138 TRUMPS ARTICLES 88 AND 89 - EVERY TIME - FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

ARTICLE 138

Article 138-
Any member of the armed forces who believes himself wronged by his commanding officer, and who, upon due application to that commanding officer, is refused redress, may complain to any superior commissioned officer, who shall foreword the complaint to the office exercising court-martial jurisdiction over the officer against whom it is made. The officer exercising general court-martial jurisdiction shall examine into the complaint and take proper measures for redressing the wrong complained of; and he shall, as soon as possible, send to the Secretary concerned a true statement of that complaint, with the proceedings thereon.

TRUMPS ARTICLE 88 AND 89 - been there, done that, survived :toast:

Article 88
Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

Article 89
Any person subject to this chapter who behaves with disrespect toward his superior commissioned officer shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

When you get a critical mass of conscripts/conscription motivated volunteers - you've got the whistle blowers, nd the guys who will say "The Rummie isn't wearing any clothes" and that "critical mass" provides support for each other.

And in the junior officer corps it was a joke about the critical mass of conscripts/conscription motivated volunteers. Psychologically - that was AN issue for the "Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth" - they really didn't like the conscript/conscription motivated volunteer junior officers - cause we threw bureaucratic monkey wrenches into the rail roading of the enlisted conscripts/conscription motivated volunteers, and we did criticize the command structure, and we did question - right up to the line of "direct disobedience".

An army of a critical mass of conscripts/conscription motivated volunteers is not dangerous as an all volunteer army.

:hi: "conscription motivated volunteer officer/ Article 88/138 victor" :hi:

[OneBlueSky]

15. existing Executive Orders and Patriot Act II give Bush all he needs . . .

without having to sign anything . . .

Created Chaos, The Shadow Government and the Coming American Coup
http://gemefx.tripod.com/theamericanchronicle/fema.html
(scroll down for existing Executive Orders)

TOTAL POLICE STATE TAKEOVER: The Secret Patriot Act II Destroys What Is Left of American Liberty
http://www.prisonplanet.com/secret_patriot_act_2_destroys_what_is_left_of_american_liberty.html
(scroll down for provisions of Patriot Act II)

[converted_democrat]

16. I really do believe this is true, and this is why...

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0509/S00172.htm
snip-
MINDFULLY, 2004 - There over 800 prison camps in the United States, all fully operational and ready to receive prisoners. They are all staffed and even surrounded by full-time guards, but they are all empty. These camps are to be operated by FEMA should martial law need to be implemented in the United States and all it would take is a presidential signature on a proclamation and the attorney general's signature on a warrant to which a list of names is attached. . . The Rex 84 Program was established on the reasoning that if a "mass exodus" of illegal aliens crossed the Mexican/US border, they would be quickly rounded up and detained in detention centers by FEMA. Rex 84 allowed many military bases to be closed down and to be turned into prisons.
snip-
A Miami Herald article on July 5, 1987, reported that the former FEMA director Louis Guiffrida's deputy, John Brinkerhoff, handled the martial law portion of the planning. The plan was said to be similar to one Mr Giuffrida had developed earlier to combat "a national uprising by black militants". It provided for the detention "of at least 21million American Negroes"' in "assembly centres or relocation camps".

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=364&topic_id=128661&mesg_id=128661
snip- halfway down the page-
A Miami Herald article on July 5, 1987, reported that former FEMA director Louis Guiffida's deputy, John Brinkerhoff, handled the martial law planning of FEMA and that it was similar to a plan Guiffida had developed earlier at the Army War College to confine "at least 21 million American negroes (in) assembly centers or relocation camps." FEMA has built and staffs such camps spread out all over the U.S., and it is now part of the Department of Homeland Security.

From the moment FEMA appeared on the scene in New Orleans, it made matters worse not better. FEMA cut civilian communication lines to the outside, flew in the infamous Blackwater mercenaries from Iraq, blocked and delayed assistance coming from other cities and countries - including Cuba - from reaching the hurricane victims, and it channeled massive amounts of funding donated to help the Katrina victims to right-wing Christian groups like Pat Robertson's Operation Second Blessing, to mention just a few of the outrageous things it did.

[no_hypocrisy]

17. This would be like the movie "Gabriel Over The White House" (1934?)

with Walter Huston. He's the President and either suspends or abolishes Congress in order to get his emergency program implemented. Pure fascism in the cloak of democracy.

[TygrBright]

19. Bush HAS seized absolute control....

....well, to be fair, probably not *, personally, since I doubt he's smart enough to develop and execute such a plan, no matter how much he wants to benefit from it. But it's already accomplished on his behalf, certainly, so long as he continues to rule for the benefit of the Upper One Percent.

Which he is patently delighted to do.

dismissively,
Bright

[donsu]

21. agree, the bushmilhousegang's coup is over and done with

they absolutely control the govt. including military

[Pryderi]

25. Congressman McDermott wrote about this 2 years ago:

http://www.house.gov/mcdermott/sp030311.shtml

A Miami Herald article on the 5th of July, 1987, reported that the former FEMA director's, Louis Guiffrida's, deputy, John Brinkerhoff, handled the martial law portion of the planning. The planning was said to be similar to one Mr. Guiffrida had developed earlier to combat a national uprising by black militants. It provided for the detention of at least 21 million American Negroes in assembly centers or relocation camps. Today, Mr. Brinkerhoff is with the highly influential Anser Institute for Homeland Security. Following a request by the Pentagon in January that the U.S. military be allowed the option of deploying troops on American streets, the institute in February published a paper by Mr. Brinkerhoff arguing the legality of this. He alleged that the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which has long been accepted as prohibiting such deployments, had simply been misunderstood and misapplied. The preface to the article also provided the revelation that the national plan he had worked on under Mr. Guiffrida was approved by Reagan and actions were taken to implement it.

By April, the U.S. military had created a Northern Command to aid homeland security. Reuters reported that the command is mainly expected to play a supporting role to local authorities. However, Mr. Ridge, the Director of Homeland Security, has just advocated a review of U.S. law regarding the use of military for law enforcement duties.

Disturbingly, and it just really should disturb people, the full facts and contents of Mr. Reagan's national plan remain uncertain. This is in part because President Bush took the unusual step of sealing the Reagan Presidential papers last November. However, many of the key figures of the Reagan era are part of the present administration, including John Poindexter, to whom Oliver North later reported.

At the time of the Reagan initiatives, the then-Attorney General, William French Smith, a Republican, wrote to the National Security Adviser, Robert McFarlane: ``I believe that the role assigned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the revised executive order exceeds its proper function as a coordinating agency for emergency preparedness. This department and others have repeatedly raised serious policy and legal objections to an emergency czar role for FEMA.''

[greiner3]

27. Who's to stop him?

He already has control of the Legislative, soon to be Judical not to mention Executine. He controls the military and has 50 million RW'ers who carry shotguns and would be deputized as needed. Hell, I would resist martial law and that would get me shot down like a dog outside my apt. RIP America.