NORTHCOM DENIES TROOPS TO BE USED FOR MARTIAL LAW

• but admits that Army will have access to weapons and tanks during homeland patrols

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Thursday, October 2, 2008

Following the alarming admission that active duty U.S. Army would be on call to deal with “civil unrest” inside the United States from October 1st, the US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) has publicly denied that troops will engage in law enforcement duties, but concedes that forces will be armed with both non-lethal and lethal weapons as well as having access to tanks.

As we highlighted last week, a September 8 Army Times report stated that active duty troops from the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team returning from Iraq would be on call as a “federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks,” for a period of 12 months from October 1st.

The purpose of the unit’s patrols, according to the article, includes helping “with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.”

However, a NorthCom official, presumably responding to reports featured on this website and others, publicly denies that troops will be used to police Americans.

(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)

“This response force will not be called upon to help with law enforcement, civil disturbance or crowd control, but will be used to support lead agencies involved in saving lives, relieving suffering and meeting the needs of communities affected by weapons of mass destruction attacks, accidents or even natural disasters,” Army Col. Michael Boatner, USNORTHCOM future operations division chief, told Homeland Security Today.

We also learn that the troops will be under the operational control of USNORTHCOM’s Joint Force Land Component Command under US Army North, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. The operational headquarters of the response force is at Fort Monroe, Virginia.

The original Army Times report also stated that the use of non-lethal weapons against Americans would be a possibility, but a retraction has now been issued stating that the forces would not use nonlethal weaponry domestically.

However, Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman was told by Air Force Lt. Col. Jamie Goodpaster, a public affairs officer for Northern Command, that “Military forces would have weapons on-site, “containerized,” she said — that is, stored in containers — including both lethal and so-called nonlethal weapons. They would have mostly wheeled vehicles, but would also, she said, have access to tanks. She said that use of weapons would be made at a higher level, perhaps at the secretary of defense level.”

As Goodman writes in an editorial for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “Talk of trouble on U.S. streets is omnipresent now, with the juxtaposition of Wall Street and Main Street. The financial crisis we face remains obscure to most people; titans of business and government officials assure us that the financial system is “on the brink,” that a massive bailout is necessary, immediately, to prevent a disaster. Conservative and progressive members of Congress, at the insistence of constituents, blocked the initial plan. If the economy does collapse, if people can’t go down to the bank to withdraw their savings, or get cash from an ATM, there may be serious “civil unrest,” and the “sea-smurfs” may be called upon sooner than we imagine to assist with “crowd control.”

The use of U.S. troops in law enforcment duties is a complete violation of the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act, which substantially limit the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement unless under precise and extreme circumstances.

Section 1385 of the Posse Comitatus Act states, “Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”

Under the John Warner Defense Authorization Act, signed by President Bush on October 17, 2006, the law was changed to state, “The President may employ the armed forces to restore public order in any State of the United States the President determines hinders the execution of laws or deprives people of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law or opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.”

However, these changes were repealed in their entirety by HR 4986: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, reverting back to the original state of the Insurrection Act of 1807. Despite this repeal, President Bush attached a signing statement saying that he did not feel bound by the repeal.

The original text of the Insurrection Act severely limits the power of the President to deploy troops within the United States.

For troops to be deployed, a condition has to exist that, “(1) So hinders the execution of the laws of that State, and of the United States within the State, that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection; or (2) opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws. In any situation covered by clause (1), the State shall be considered to have denied the equal protection of the laws secured by the Constitution.”

VIDEO:NAOMI WOLF-AMERICA HAS BEEN STOLEN IN A COUP!!!!!!!!

AFRICOM GOES OPERATIONAL

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer

Posted : Friday Oct 3, 2008 8:40:48 EDT

After spending the past year under the wing of European Command, the fledgling U.S. Africa Command became fully operational Wednesday — even as it remains headquartered in the middle of Europe.

Stuttgart, Germany, is not the likeliest location for this hybrid military-civilian command that hopes to promote security ties between the U.S. and African nations, help build Africa’s ability to fight terrorism and piracy and focus on “war prevention rather than war fighting,” as AfriCom’s Web site proclaims.

But concerns among both U.S. and African officials about establishing a permanent American presence on the continent combined to block an effort to place even part of its headquarters in Africa.

So AfriCom remains based in Stuttgart, vowing that it has no plans to establish permanent U.S. bases on the continent, and becomes the U.S. headquarters with primary responsibility for U.S. interests in all of Africa save for Egypt, which will remain under the purview of Central Command.

AfriCom will do so while continuing to try to convince the doubters that it is not being formed strictly to fight terrorism, secure oil resources, ward off growing Chinese influence on the continent or militarize U.S. policy in Africa, as noted during congressional testimony by Theresa Whelan, the Pentagon’s deputy assistant secretary for African affairs.

AfriCom’s primary job, says Gen. William “Kip” Ward, AfriCom commander, will be building “partner security capacity” through a combination of operations, military-to-military events and exercises, and humanitarian assistance missions.

“We will be a reliable partner, building trust and confidence with all those we work with on the continent — whether they are African partners, fellow U.S. government agencies, or international partners,” Ward said Sept. 22 during remarks honoring the Oct. 1 activation of the 17th Air Force, AfriCom’s air component.

While AfriCom becomes a full combatant command, one of six in the Pentagon’s portfolio — and, like those, exists mostly as a headquarters that gains forces on a rotating basis — its structure will be unique. Serving under Ward are two deputies, one of whom is a State Department ambassador, Mary Carlin Yates. Half of the more than 900 personnel assigned to the command — a number that will grow to 1,300 — are civilians.

Responsibility for U.S. military oversight of Africa was previously divided between the Central, European and Pacific commands. AfriCom, Whelan says, will be a “more effective tool” for promoting security and stability in Africa and helping African nations deal with a wide variety of ills ranging from poverty to weapons proliferation.

READ MORE: Lack of planes not a problem

WHY I FEAR OBAMA LIKE NO OTHER,LIKE NO OTHER

By Ignorance Isn’t Bliss:

Amidst all the potential nasties, I fear one thing most. And this one reason alone is why I’ve deeply felt for some time that he will surely be the one “elected”. And I’ll premptively point out that the list of reasons that precedes this one thing almost wholeheartedly applies to McCain as well (worse in many cases).This won’t be a reason any Liberal or Conservative would ever expect, nor is the preceding list hardly particular in any ‘wedge issue’ topic. Vote None of the Above!

So is it…

…because he’s calling for a Stasi-like “national security force” consisting of middle & high school children that is larger than the US military ?

…because he “believes” in the delusional “War on Terror” ? Link 1 Link 2 Link 3

…because Joe Biden is a “War on Terror” fearmonger who during the Dem debates spouted off the same fearmongering rhetoric as the GOP’s Neocons were using ?

…because supports the notion of a military draft (sounds similar to annual legislative proposals from another Democrat -who endorsed him- for a ‘universal’ military draft that includes all women ages 18-40) ? “If we are going into war, then all of us go, not just some”.

…because Obama voted for the new FISA Act, which granted immunity to telecommunication corporations for illegal wiretapping , and runaway governmental wiretapping ?

…because he didn’t support Dennis Kucinich’s drive to impeach Bush & Cheney, stating that “impeachment is not acceptable” ?

…because he has pledged to let Bush’s crimes remain buried for all time ?

…because he disregards the fact that the primary motivation for 9/11 terror attacks on the US is US foreign policy itself (meaning that continuing the perpetual war policy literally means never ending perpetual war) ?

…because he wants to expand taxes in general, but in particular implement a “global tax” ?

…because Zbignew Brzezinski, his chief foreign policy adviser, is a flagrant neoliberal global imperialist who essentially created “Osama Bin Laden” and the “War on Terror” ?

…because he supports BushCo.’s Russian border missile “defense shield”, which is their ’solution’ of creating a “New Cold War” to ensure perpetual wars even with an eroding notion of a never-ending “War on Terror” ? Link

…because Obama is just another frontman for the privately-owned tyrannical Federal Reserve, which has devalued the dollar to being worth less than 4 cents since its inception in 1913 ?

…because Joe Biden supports what amounts to runaway copyright laws expanding “Big 5″ media content protection? Because Biden bends over for expanded FBI powers, and supports stymying private citzens rights to using software encryption? Because Biden has about the most dismal Cyber Rights voting record possible ? Link

…because Obama was soft on HR1951 / S1959, which was the open embracement of the modern day COINTELPRO which was used to violently repress civil rights groups (Black Panthers, etc) in the 60’s and 70’s ?

…because Joe Biden supports stripping US citizens rights & ability to defend itself (from tyrannical government) with firearms?

…because VP Joe Biden promised a Supreme Court ruling on mandatory “Verichip” implants for the US population ?

…because he’s just another front for NAFTA, even though he tries to deny it ?

…because despite criticising the “Politics of Fear”, he still supports both the War on Terror & Global Warming. After years of propaganda from each side on these matters he doesn’t even have to directly engage in pure fearmongering. He merely needs to mention the issues and support them. The effects of others fearmongering is already there to invoke. FACT: there isn’t an actual consensus on man made “Global Warming”.

…because he’s for an expanded global government UN? (This goes without saying)

…because Obama is a first term Senator, meaning we don’t even have a clear record of who we’re dealing with ?

…because he doesn’t speak about nor does his campaign respond to the Depleted Uranium US munitions issue ? It turns out that most US military tank rounds -amongst many other munition types- are made from DU, which has a 4 billion year half-life and causes birth defects in now multiple countries where it has been used by US forces since the first Gulf War.

…because, despite all the ‘Strengthening the Middle Class” & “regulations” rhetoric, Obama fronts for Wall Street’s corrupt infrastructure ? The old axiom ‘Put your money where your mouth is’ sure comes to mind, but it goes further than just that. Link 1 Link2 Link 3 Link 4 Link 5

…because he dodges the new 9/11 investigation issue, and for sure doesn’t speak about it whatsoever? Regardless of your view, it doesn’t take much research to conclude that the 9/11 Commission “investigation” was a total farce, and that the stakes are so high in this regard that to not insist on a full investigation goes beyond mere national suicide.

…because his wife and he are both Council on Foreign Relations members ? The CFR is the ideological powerhouse organization in which te past 90 years worth of never ending “American Imperialism” perpetual war may be mostly to attributed to. The list of some members of this group should speak for itself: George H. W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Allen Welsh Dulles, Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Walter Lippmann, John McCain, David Rockefeller, Fred Thompson, Herbert Hoover, Michael R. Bloomberg, Sandy Berger, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Robert M. Gates, Gary Hart, John Kerry, Irving Kristol, John D. Negroponte, Condoleezza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, James Woolsey, Gerald Ford, Rupert Murdoch, Porter J. Goss & Newt Gingrich. BUT, not only does the CFR steer American Imperialism, its the powerhouse driving one world government. One example is the whole “North American Union” controversy. The NAU is driven almost completely by the CFR, whose mission resembles the dictatorial European Union. Much more can be said of this but these entries are meant to be short. NAU Link 1 NAU Link 2 NAFTA Link 1 SPP Link 1

…because he preached fearmongering to a foreign crowd in Germany about rampant border-less ‘threats’, where he in effect called for a “New World Order” without using those particular words ?

…because Obama and Dick Cheney of all people on earth are cousins (in a similar vein to how Bush & John Kerry are cousins) ? So a few of these might seem flimsy, but that doesn’t discount my other points while when you add them in its just gets uglier and uglier.

…because his economic adviser (since Barack’s Illinois Senate campaign), Austan “the ghoul” Goolsbee, is Skull & Bones the same as the Bush’s and even John Kerry, despite there not being more than 900 living members of this nefarious organization at any giving time ? At one point, during its rule, the Bush administration contained 11 S&B members, not to mention his dad and brother Jeb.

…because he’s another in a long line of Israel Lobby politicians ? This is another touchy subject, but the fact remains that the Palestinians weren’t the ones who expelled the Jews from Israel, and in the modern sense there are ‘private citizen’ Zionist terrorists who commit the same atrocities as the Muslim extremists. And even though the Israeli government performs ‘Big Brother’ operationsagainst the Zionist terrorists -who literally call for genocide against their enemy- the vast majority of policies and actions by said Israeli government still complement their work just the same. The legacy of the Israeli government has been compared to the ‘apartheid’ South African regimes of decades past, but name calling happened in those decades. So for Obama to support the Israeli government has rammifications paralleling supporting the confederate leadership during the US “Civil” War. Now for the touchy side, Israel means lots of things for lots of different people.There are lots of different justificiations or rather rationalizations for continuing blind support for Israeli policies , that I don’t have time to get into here. But suffice to say, many assume it has to do with Biblical scripture, but the part that doesn’t make sense is we still find the same support by the so-called ‘heathen’ Liberal elitists. The answer to this paradox is the key to understanding the whole point of Israel: Israel is simply a US imperial beach-headfortress in the Middle East, to ensure American Imperialism over the Middle East. Which means their tyrannical policies get the blind eye, not that the Israeli Lobby runs the United States.

…because BushCo. has already spent 8 years on turning the White House and the Imperial Presidency into a centralized dictatorial powerhouse, but Obama has failed to make sweeping & itemized promises to undo it all while he’ll be quite busy doing all of his other “change” to assume he’ll actually focus on cleaning up the dictatorial presidential executive orders, congressional legislation and over 1100 executive signing statements ?

NO! None of those are the reason.

I’m quite ‘used to’ those sorts of travesties & tyrannies already.

The reason is actually more simple and subtle: Crowd Control.

The Answer: Nobody can possibly subdue the masses like Obama can. That’s why he’s the Ruling Establishment’s man. After 8 years of BushCo. over half the population aren’t just pissed, they’re in complete dustrust of the government in general. The control scheme to keep us ignorant and asleep is falling apart at the seams. And even more important than just having a pissed off political party the nations youth are waking up at an ‘alarming’ rate. The youth are the ones who protest. And Black’s have a history of rioting.

Only Obama can can get the bulk Democrat’s, The Youth and Minorities under his wing, while at the same time not having too much of the GOP base pissed to all whits end. Consider if Hillary would have “won”: virtually the entire GOP base would have been up in arms. While there will still be an us vs. them sense of defeat and so forth, the same amount of hate wouldn’t exist, especially not right away. And since Obama is apparently in a position to start taking on Neocon foreign policy positions he seems poised keep even some of the staunchest Neocon types content.Besides Hillary wouldn’t have ever had the Obama effect on The Youth.

Meanwhile, it’s The Youth in particular that must be put under wraps. Further, considering African American voter disfranchisement in the past 2 presidential elections, I’d say that they’re already a whits end. What better way to garner their unbridled support than to allow them to ‘vote’ for a ‘Black’ man? For the majority of the population to be willingly controlled, we must trust, we must “Believe In” the system in general and the election process in particular.

————

Let’s say you happen to be amongst the puppeteers who run the big show from behind the scenes. Like if you were one of the many deeply embedded in the Military Industrial Complex, the central banking scheme, the Big 5 Media, etc. You know, the people that steer (electioneer) and even rig the elections. The “Disaster Capitalists” whose portfolios are set to make profits off of any and nearly all disasters. The people who seek world government aka global domination, and who use the United States as the machine to make that a reality.

Well if you’re one of these people then you face a serious problem: you can’t control a system when most of its population doesn’t trust you. Likewise, you can’t control an alert population. Most importantly: you can’t maintain a system of quiet domination when the youth of it are angry, and are making noise in the streets. Enter Obama.

To maintain a hegemonic system of never ending perpetual war -bent on global domination- you need a subdued and dumbed down citizenry. In particular, you need the youth not only ignorant to the hard truth, but you also need them to believe in your government. Therefore, the more cult-like you can get them the better.

For a spell Bush enjoyed such a scenario. But where it lacked, especially after the invasion of Iraq, was only about half the population idolized he and ‘his’ government. It wasn’t too long before one half of the population cursed his name to the ranks of Hitler, and nowadays maybe half of his own ‘cult’ doesn’t dodge him like the plague. Many who once gobbled up his every breathe as truth handed down from God Almighty now have awoken to the morbid truth of a nightmare that runs much deeper than Bush and his cronies. That nightmare is best known as the “American Dream”.

Back to the ‘criminal profiler’ view, as central social engineering planners, by necessity of career and worldview, you see the ‘08 election coming. You’ve had several years to study ‘your’ ‘market’ and ‘your’ ‘audience’. So as you and your think-tanks contemplate the best way to ensure your future goals, it would already be obvious that you need your masses truly on board. Total subservience; Total acquiescence; Or at least as close as possible.

But now, during the final stages of your plot for world control, of true militaristic technological totalitarianism, you face the youth in new ways. Many things, but 2 things in particular, besides ‘the war’ itself, compel them. First, the nation is barreling towards being $10 trillion in national debt, which means its the youth in particular in trouble. Second, there’s this pesky new thing known as the Internet helping the masses wake up to the reality that your controlled media ‘pentopoly’ would normally divert them from.

In this 21st Century reality you need a 21st Century ‘leader’ to whip the 21st Century masses into an all-time cultish fervor. The obvious choice would be Barack Hussein Obama. You really couldn’t ask for more from your position. It’s the best of both worlds, and after-all, thanks to careful engineering over many decades, there are only 2 realities for the masses to pick from (Left or Right).

After nearly 8 years of rabid hatred from most of the one half, and the youth of the typically marginalized masses beginning to wake up, you must get these segments of your control scheme under wraps. Especially considering each have the War doctrine among the top items of their lists. When you’re executing Vietnam’esque policy you can’t have a repeat of the response to such. You’ve already learned that lesson.

The solution to maintaining your policy goals is not to actually strip away the policies, but rather send in the perfect man to convince the masses that the policies will “change” and therefore they can go back to bed. You need the perfect oratory hitman, from your own ranks, of course. And the masses need him, because after most of a lifetime of deep-concerns revolving around ballgames, TV commercials and power-shopping they are a strained citizenry in light of the painful truth of modern years.

So with Obama its a slam dunk. By gearing the foreign policy just right, you’ll be able to keep much of the Right at least content. You will only be able to please the some of the staunchest pro-war-mongers so far, but that’s ok because many of them are already over with “BushCo.” obsession. Meanwhile, again, most Youth & Democrats & Minorities will be put back to sleep.