How would the military be used in case of pandemic?

[cynatnite]

I've read and heard a lot about bush looking to use the military on US soil in case there is a pandemic. I'm curious as to how.

How would he deploy them and to where? Why? Frankly, I don't understand it.

[tk2kewl]

1. same way cops kept people from leaving NOLA

[Selatius]

2. Easy

I can think of a grim scenario:

If a disease manages to get a foothold in a city or town, then bring in the soldiers to cut the city or town off from the rest of the country. Quarantine the area, and prevent anybody from getting in or out of the zone. Anybody who tries to break the quarantine will be stopped by any means necessary. If it's an airborne disease, firebomb the city Dresden style. The heat will cook off the bug.

[cynatnite]

3. hmm...I have Outbreak on DVD

Maybe watching it isn't a bad idea.

[OhioChick]

15. That movie was my first thought

when this issue was raised.

[LiviaOlivia]

4. Round up people

and put them in "quarantine" camps. More likely just lock down cities.

[opihimoimoi]

7. How the hell they gonna lock down Chicago, New York, or any other large

City??? Holy Shit. What then??? Shoot 11 million peeps?

[Selatius]

10. Cities can be broken up into several administrative districts

Just send in troops to divide the city into several districts. Once they have been established, movement can be tightly controlled to help prevent the spread of disease. It'd resemble something similar to what the Nazis did with the city of Warsaw and others in occupied Europe.

If they decide the city is a loss, then they wouldn't bother sending into the city any soldiers at all. They could simply set up a cordon outside the city like the Israelis with the Palestinians and allow nothing from getting out.

[DemInDistress]

12. Thats why we dont want the military to take control

in case of an outbreak.I live in NYC along with 8 million others,we
have numerous bridges and tunnels that must remain open for local
deliveries.We have to eat,plus New Yawkers wont tolerate restrictions
on our movement unless we have another 911.
On Sept.11 2001 after the attacks roads were blocked,little to no movement period.People were stuck on the highways for hours,no bridge
crossings,no traffic into Manhattan.I can imagine 30/50k troops trying
to seal a very porous city...Good luck mr.scumbag president !!!!!

[MercutioATC]

13. That's what I'd HOPE they'd do...

That's a bad thing?

[msongs]

5. the military = prime spreader of WW one flu epidemic - >

in packed military camps near the front lines, in packed camps behind the front lines, in packed troop ships across the atlantic and other oceans, in crammed military camps in the US and elsewhere, then into the general populations of many countries.

according to a recent show on pbs about that pandemic it is suspected that the flu developed in chickens then leapt into pigs in military farms created on military bases in France.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[Polethebear]

6. Truthfully,

you DON'T want to know. Although,the other post have pretty much covered it espeically when it comes to shrub.

[haele]

8. The military is stretched thin as it is...

And if anyone remembers anything about the 1918 pandemic, it hit the troops and the military training camps very hard. Two of my distant great-great-cousins were apparently in uniform during that time (one in boot camp, one in England), and both died of influenza and/or pneumonia that year.
A lot depends on what Shurb thinks he can do with the military. Will they be coordinating inspections, supplies and logistics required for a loose medical quarantine of an area (i.e., test swabbing everyone who reaches a checkpoint to get in or out of an area and keeping clinics open), or will they actually be dealing with isolating people and perhaps populating and maintaining quarantine camps?
Shrub may think he can use the military, but will there be enough manpower to handle his little adventures and whatever the administration thinks quarantine duties are?
Or will he just use predator drones and disposable short term mercenary forces to "keep a parameter"?

I don't think he has any idea what he said; I think he just thought it sounded cool, and was vaguely like something he may have seen on TV or in a movie a couple years back.

Haele

[mom cat]

9. They would shoot the viruses...and anyone suspected of carrying them!

:sarcasm:

[Coastie for Truth]

11. I hope no further then military docs, nurses, medics, and hospitals--

because if Bush tries an "Outbreak" or "New Orleans II" scenario---->
and shows that this Republic of almost 300 Million people, spanning a continent and 7 time zones, can not cope with Avian Flu or a Category 5 hurricane -- then it is Bush who has failed the Republic.

<>
President Jefferson Davis

<>
General Robert E. Lee

<>


Attorney General Judah Phillip Benjamin
Born of English parents, Judah P. Benjamin entered Yale at age fourteen and studied law in New Orleans, where he was admitted to the Bar in 1832. After a successful career in private practice, he was elected to the United States Senate in 1852 as a Whig candidate from Louisiana, but by the end of the decade he had become a Democrat and a strong supporter of James Buchanan. After Abraham Lincoln's election, he became one of the first to call for the secession of the southern states. A close friend of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Benjamin held several important cabinet posts in the Confederacy, including secretary of war and secretary of state. At the collapse of the Confederacy, Benjamin fled to England, where he practiced law with great success.

<>
THE CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC WILL RISE AGAIN

<>
The flag of the Republic of Cascadia

He will use the military to put down the Rebellion - but he's no Lincoln, the Republican Party is no longer the "Party of Lincoln", and the Race Question cuts against Bush.

Seriously, I think he's blowing intestinal gas (medical term is "flatus") from deep in his colon. All hat and boots - no cows or cowboy.

He screwed up the hunt for bin Ladin, the pacification of Iraq, Iraqi oil, the hunt for the anthrax serial killer, energy, New Orleans. He couldn't get social security through. He took a surplus and turned it into a deficit. He put the ten Commandments and unintelligent design into the schools. He has eviscerated the military - including the National Guard. he has made us a debtor nation of heretofore unknoen magnitude.

He let Frist and DeLay rob the people blind.

He gets elected by fear, lying, and ersatz faith.

If he tries to pull a "New Orleans II" or an "Outbreak" - I would not be surprized to see fraggings, mutinies, and desertions.

And the ultimate defense against a "New Orleans II" or an "Outbreak" scenario (even with Blackwater mercenaries) is

Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

[no_hypocrisy]

14. I'm near NYC. While I can see the military stopping folks from boarding

buses at the Port Authority, trains at Penn Station, planes at Newark, LaGuardia, and Kennedy for some destinations, it just isn't feasible -- unless you have some money.

There's NO way that the military is going to stop some executive from boarding a plane to go to a business meeting in San Francisco or stop a lobbyist from "donating" some time and money in DC, etc. They'd scream bloody murder if they were curtailed or outright stopped.

Otherwise, I could see the roadblocks, vehicles being turned away for the rest of us.