(no subject)
By Ted Rall
Tue Oct 11, 8:06 PM ET
Bush Asks Congress for Martial Law
NEW YORK--Soldiers brandishing automatic weapons, a defining
characteristic of life in Third World dictatorships, have become
commonplace at airports, bus and train stations, government offices and
highway checkpoints since 9/11. Now troops are becoming our first
responders to situations, such as natural disasters and flu outbreaks,
which normally fall under civilian jurisdiction.
Everything's gone topsy-turvy: The National Guard, charged with keeping
order here at home and legally under the control of state governors, has
been shipped off to Iraq and Afghanistan, shanghaied by the federal
government. Here in the U.S., whatever comes up, the Bush
Administration's first reaction is to send in the regular army troops
who are supposed to be in Iraq. Whether it's a sinister plot against
American democracy or the most sustained large-scale foolishness in
history, the Bush Administration is tearing down the traditional wall
between overseas military action and domestic law enforcement.
Creeping militarism leapt into full view with Bush's October 4 request
to Congress to repeal the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which prohibits
the use of the military in domestic policing except for the purpose of
quelling a revolution. Citing the theoretical possibility that Asian
avian flu, now only transmittable from bird to human, could mutate into
a human-to-human form, Bush said: "If we had an outbreak somewhere in
the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country?
And who best to be able to effect a quarantine? One option is the use of
a military that's able to plan and move. I think it's an important
debate for Congress to have."
Overturning Posse Comitatus would allow troops to break into houses and
apartments and sweep the streets for flu victims, and forcibly contain
them in Guant=E1namo-style camps. They could seal off cities or whole
states. These extreme measures could also be deployed against U.S.
citizens after hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, or even election
disputes--whenever and wherever a president decides they are necessary.
Bush laid the groundwork for his assault on Posse Comitatus on September
26, when he explained his decision to unleash the 82nd Airborne upon
Hurricane Katrina-devastated New Orleans: "I want there to be a robust
discussion about the best way for the federal government, in certain
extreme circumstances, to be able to rally assets for the good of the
people." The Louisiana National Guard, meanwhile, was stuck in Iraq.
"The translation of this is martial law in the United States," said Dr.
Irwin Redlener, associate dean of Columbia University's School of Public
Health and director of its National Center for Disaster Preparedness.
Redlener called Bush's proposal to deploy troops on American soil an
"extraordinarily Draconian measure." Even Gene Healy, senior editor at
the right-wing Cato Institute, said Bush's proposal would undermine "a
fundamental principle of American law" that "reflects America's
traditional distrust of using standing armies to enforce order at home,
a distrust that's well-justified."
All this over avian flu, which to date has killed fewer than 100 people
worldwide.
Travel to other countries and you'll find that a society's freedom is
inversely related to the number of guys wearing camouflage, brandishing
big guns and pulling people over at roadblocks. Blurring the distinction
between policing and soldiering, as do the military police in the former
Soviet republics of Central Asia and Middle Eastern countries like Syria
and Jordan, is a defining characteristic of repressive states.
Civilian cops may be rude or even abusive, but they're not supposed to
shoot you without a good reason. You're their boss, or at least they
work for the mayor you elected. Not so with soldiers. Military troops
are responsible only to their chain of command, which is likely to end
thousands of miles away in Washington. They shoot sooner and quicker
than cops, and they have much bigger guns. Regimes that use the military
to maintain order tell their citizens: do what we tell you, or else.
They rely upon violence rather than tacit consensus to stay in charge.
Rule under the point of a gun is not democracy.
James Pinkerton of the New America Foundation argues for efficiency over
freedom. "When you absolutely, positively, have to get something done
right away," he writes in USA Today, "you call in the military. By their
very nature, men and women in uniform are oriented toward getting things
done. They are trained to complete their mission, or die trying. And as
Hurricane Katrina made clear, the rest of the government doesn't hold to
such a high standard. So why not the best?"
Federal agencies muffed Katrina because of inadequate budgets and
mismanagement, not because they're intrinsically incompetent. Moreover,
there's little evidence that militarizing domestic functions makes the
trains run on time. The military controls everything from road
construction to trash collection, yet Pakistan remains a nation that
suffers from systemic corruption, a staggering drug problem and
crippling disparity of wealth--not to mention an endless low-intensity
civil war. Most European democracies, by contrast, enjoy a higher
standard of living--and more efficient government--than the U.S. And
they do it without pointing automatic rifles at flood victims lining up
for food and water.
But what if military dictatorship could be proven a more efficient form
of government than old-fashioned democracy? What if a standing army
could do what a bunch of namby-pamby bureaucrats can't? Would it be
worth it?
That's the choice George W. Bush is asking Congress, and thus us, to
make. The fact that he hasn't been impeached for daring to ask it
highlights the dictatorial tendencies of those who share his contempt
for personal liberty.