Preparing For Martial Law?

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Wed, 1 Mar 2006 16:54:47 -0800 (PST)

[Air_America_Radio] Preparing For Martial Law?

 

 

Ocnus.Net

 

Dark Side

 

Preparing For Martial Law?

By PETER DALE SCOTT, PACIFIC NEWS 2/1/06

Feb 1, 2006, 10:32

 

BERKELEY, Calif.--A Halliburton subsidiary has just received a $385

million contract from the Department of Homeland Security to provide

" temporary detention and processing capabilities. "

 

The contract -- announced Jan. 24 by the engineering and construction

firm KBR -- calls for preparing for " an emergency influx of

immigrants, or to support the rapid development of new programs " in

the event of other emergencies, such as " a natural disaster. " The

release offered no details about where Halliburton was to build these

facilities, or when.

 

To date, some newspapers have worried that open-ended provisions in

the contract could lead to cost overruns, such as have occurred with

KBR in Iraq. A Homeland Security spokesperson has responded that this

is a " contingency contract " and that conceivably no centers might be

built. But almost no paper so far has discussed the possibility that

detention centers could be used to detain American citizens if the

Bush administration were to declare martial law.

 

For those who follow covert government operations abroad and at home,

the contract evoked ominous memories of Oliver North's controversial

Rex-84 " readiness exercise " in 1984. This called for the Federal

Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to round up and detain 400,000

imaginary " refugees, " in the context of " uncontrolled population

movements " over the Mexican border into the United States. North's

activities raised civil liberties concerns in both Congress and the

Justice Department. The concerns persist.

 

" Almost certainly this is preparation for a roundup after the next

9/11 for Mid-Easterners, Muslims and possibly dissenters, " says Daniel

Ellsberg, a former military analyst who in 1971 released the Pentagon

Papers, the U.S. military's account of its activities in Vietnam.

" They've already done this on a smaller scale, with the 'special

registration' detentions of immigrant men from Muslim countries, and

with Guantanamo. "

 

Plans for detention facilities or camps have a long history, going

back to fears in the 1970s of a national uprising by black militants.

As Alonzo Chardy reported in the Miami Herald on July 5, 1987, an

executive order for continuity of government (COG) had been drafted in

1982 by FEMA head Louis Giuffrida. The order called for " suspension of

the Constitution " and " declaration of martial law. " The martial law

portions of the plan were outlined in a memo by Giuffrida's deputy,

John Brinkerhoff.

 

In 1985, President Reagan signed National Security Decision Directive

188, one of a series of directives that authorized continued planning

for COG by a private parallel government.

 

Two books, James Mann's " Rise of the Vulcans " and James Bamford's " A

Pretext for War, " have revealed that in the 1980s this parallel

structure, operating outside normal government channels, included the

then-head of G. D. Searle and Co., Donald Rumsfeld, and

then-Congressman from Wyoming Dick Cheney.

 

After 9/11, new martial law plans began to surface similar to those of

FEMA in the 1980s. In January 2002 the Pentagon submitted a proposal

for deploying troops on American streets. One month later John

Brinkerhoff, the author of the 1982 FEMA memo, published an article

arguing for the legality of using U.S. troops for purposes of domestic

security.

 

Then in April 2002, Defense Dept. officials implemented a plan for

domestic U.S. military operations by creating a new U.S. Northern

Command (CINC-NORTHCOM) for the continental United States. Defense

Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called this " the most sweeping set of

changes since the unified command system was set up in 1946. "

 

The NORTHCOM commander, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced,

is responsible for " homeland defense and also serves as head of the

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).... He will command

U.S. forces that operate within the United States in support of civil

authorities. The command will provide civil support not only in

response to attacks, but for natural disasters. "

 

John Brinkerhoff later commented on PBS that, " The United States

itself is now for the first time since the War of 1812 a theater of

war. That means that we should apply, in my view, the same kind of

command structure in the United States that we apply in other theaters

of war. "

 

Then in response to Hurricane Katrina in Sept. 2005, according to the

Washington Post, White House senior adviser Karl Rove told the

governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, that she should

explore legal options to impose martial law " or as close as we can

get. " The White House tried vigorously, but ultimately failed, to

compel Gov. Blanco to yield control of the state National Guard.

 

Also in September, NORTHCOM conducted its highly classified Granite

Shadow exercise in Washington. As William Arkin reported in the

Washington Post, " Granite Shadow is yet another new Top Secret and

compartmented operation related to the military's extra-legal powers

regarding weapons of mass destruction. It allows for emergency

military operations in the United States without civilian supervision

or control. "

 

It is clear that the Bush administration is thinking seriously about

martial law. Many critics have alleged that FEMA's spectacular failure

to respond to Katrina followed from a deliberate White House policy:

of paring back FEMA, and instead strengthening the military for

responses to disasters.

 

A multimillion program for detention facilities will greatly increase

NORTHCOM's ability to respond to any domestic disorders.