(July 27 2002) Foundations are in place for martial law in the US

[Guest guest]

G

Fri, 8 Jul 2005 19:59:12 -0700

Foundations are in place for martial law in the US

 

 

 

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/27/1027497418339.html?oneclick=true

 

Foundations are in place for martial law in the US

 

By Ritt Goldstein

July 27 2002

 

Recent pronouncements from the Bush Administration and national

security initiatives put in place in the Reagan era could see

internment camps and martial law in the United States.

 

When president Ronald Reagan was considering invading Nicaragua he

issued a series of executive orders that provided the Federal

Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with broad powers in the event of a

" crisis " such as " violent and widespread internal dissent or national

opposition against a US military invasion abroad " . They were never used.

 

But with the looming possibility of a US invasion of Iraq, recent

pronouncements by President George Bush's domestic security chief, Tom

Ridge, and an official with the US Civil Rights Commission should fire

concerns that these powers could be employed or a de facto drift into

their deployment could occur.

 

On July 20 the Detroit Free Press ran a story entitled " Arabs in US

could be held, official warns " . The story referred to a member of the

US Civil Rights Commission who foresaw the possibility of internment

camps for Arab Americans. FEMA has practised for such an occasion.

 

FEMA, whose main role is disaster response, is also responsible for

handling US domestic unrest.

 

From 1982-84 Colonel Oliver North assisted FEMA in drafting its civil

defence preparations. Details of these plans emerged during the 1987

Iran-Contra scandal.

 

They included executive orders providing for suspension of the

constitution, the imposition of martial law, internment camps, and the

turning over of government to the president and FEMA.

 

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 " .

 

Today Mr Brinkerhoff is with the highly influential Anser Institute

for Homeland Security. Following a request by the Pentagon in January

that the US 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 Giuffrida, was " approved by

Reagan, and actions were taken to implement it " .

 

By April, the US military had created a Northern Command to aid

Homeland defence. 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 US law regarding the use of the military for law

enforcement duties.

 

Disturbingly, the full facts and final 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, 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 co-ordinating agency for emergency preparedness ... this

department and others have repeatedly raised serious policy and legal

objections to an 'emergency czar' role for FEMA. "

 

Criticism of the Bush Administration's response to September11 echoes

Mr Smith's warning. On June 7 the former presidential counsel John

Dean spoke of America's sliding into a " constitutional dictatorship "

and martial law.

 

Ritt Goldstein is an investigative journalist and a former leader in

the movement for US law enforcement accountability. He revealed

exclusively in the Herald last week the Bush Administration's plans

for a domestic spying system more pervasive than the Stasi network in

East Germany.