2 posts tagged “constitution”
TPMMuckraker has an analysis of the new report on the White House involvement in the firing of the U.S. Attorneys. Here's a sample:
The White House's active involvement in the firings, as depicted in the report, can be divided into two broad categories: First, its role in initiating and promoting the overall plan to remove an unspecified number of U.S. attorneys -- traditionally treated as apolitical prosecutors who operate independently from the political agenda of the administration -- deemed insufficiently committed to the Bush agenda. And second, its apparent work in pushing specifically for several of the most high-profile dismissals.
This story got lost in all the bad economic news and the presidential campaign. The politicization and perversion of the Justice Department that has taken place under the Bush/Cheney administration must be reversed. And that's going to involve some prosecutions.
This is the kind of thing that gets you labeled a "conspiracy nut" if you even mention it. Still, it's very disturbing to me. via Glenn Greenwald:
Several bloggers today have pointed to this obviously disturbing article from Army Times, which announces that "beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st [Brigade Combat Team] will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North" -- "the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities."
Why is that a big deal, you say?
For more than 100 years -- since the end of the Civil War -- deployment of the U.S. military inside the U.S. has been prohibited under The Posse Comitatus Act (the only exceptions being that the National Guard and Coast Guard are exempted, and use of the military on an emergency ad hoc basis is permitted, such as what happened after Hurricane Katrina).
Greenwald quotes James Bovard, writing in The American Conservative about Section 1076 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 the legislation that made this move possible:
"Martial law" is a euphemism for military dictatorship. When foreign democracies are overthrown and a junta establishes martial law, Americans usually recognize that a fundamental change has occurred. . . . Section 1076 is Enabling Act-type legislation—something that purports to preserve law-and-order while formally empowering the president to rule by decree.
I've not taken seriously suggestions that the Bush administration might do something like "allow" some kind of terrorist attack to happen and use it as an excuse to declare martial law. I couldn't believe even they would do something so heinous. This story is very disquieting.
