Petition to add question re: US Military Ops On Domestic Soil, to next debates

[chknltl]

From an e-mailer to me from: "American Freedom Campaign" <[email protected]>

Dear ((me))
What would you do if you learned that President Bush was preparing - in violation of federal law - to use the U.S. military to maintain order within our borders? I hope you would at least take one minute to help us raise awareness about the situation.

For more than 200 years, federal laws have protected the American people against the use of military forces on our own soil. Strengthened in 1878 by the Posse Comitatus Act, these laws have guaranteed that the federal government could not use the military for domestic law enforcement purposes.*

Without such protection, the federal government could use the might of our army to violate state and individual rights. Moreover, minor incursions by the military into domestic law enforcement activity could lay the foundation for the imposition of martial law at a moment's notice. This is one slippery slope we don't want to start sliding down.

That is why we should all be deeply disturbed by the news that President Bush has assigned the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team to be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army component of Northern Command (NorthCom). According to an article in Army Times, the soldiers could be called upon for a variety of tasks, including quelling "civil unrest." They are apparently engaged in training with shields and batons, beanbag bullets, and Tasers.

We need to raise awareness about this threat to our liberty immediately. The American Freedom Campaign believes the best method available at the moment is to send an email to the moderators of the next two presidential debates, urging them to ask the candidates whether they would fully enforce the Posse Comitatus Act.

Please join us in the effort by clicking on the following link:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/1027/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26045

In just one minute, you can share your feelings with both Tom Brokaw at NBC and Bob Schieffer at CBS. After you do so, please spread the word by forwarding this alert widely to friends and family or by using the Tell-A-Friend option that will appear on our site after you send your email.

Thanks so much for taking action on this important campaign.

Best,
Steve

Steve Fox
Campaign Director
American Freedom Campaign Action Fund


* In 2006, Congress weakened the Posse Comitatus Act by expanding the list of activities for which military involvement on domestic soil would be permitted. This expansion was largely repealed a little more than one year later, but President Bush issued a signing statement signaling his intention to ignore the repeal.

[stillcool]

1. Thanks!

[Igel]

2. This is about the battalion rotating into NorthCom duty?

Did you know that forces under NorthCom participated in the reconnaissance and some clean up after Ike on Galveston, the Boliver Peninsula, and in the Golden Triangle (which is the area east of Galveston Bay over to the LA border, apparently)? I think they helped with rescues, too.

Of course, that preceded the assignment of the first active duty battalion posted to NorthCom, which is the one that's raised all the eyebrows. No special-use crowd-control "packages", either.

And while they were deployed, they didn't violate the Posse Commitatus Act. They didn't do law enforcement. Just clean up, reconnaissance and rescues.

[chknltl]

3. This I did not know...thanks. All I had to go on was the e-mailer...

.... That e-mailer made it sound as if that battalion was preparing for something We The People would not be happy with.

We have reason to suspect that McCain will quite literally steal the election...it is good that we get those reasons out there. I think you can agree that this is not fear-mongering when we spread our concerns about stolen elections and the likelihood of our facing yet another one.

The same goes with this e-mailer, IMO if there is a stolen election this time around the cons may have a widespread revolt going on in the streets of America to deal with. They are aware of this possibility just as much as you and I. If that DOES happen, I think you would agree Posse Commitatus would wind up where much of our Constitution has wound up.

Another-words, I think there is reason for concern... The insurance Industry does quite well on concerns which have less likelihoods of occurring. If all that e-mailer does is to get a tiny % of the electorate thinking about these things, I see it as good. If enough of us take actual action by voting as the e-mailer requests, perhaps the topic can get fed up to our leaders in Congress and perhaps it can get re-addressed back to the electorate.

IMO this is all about feeding into concerns the American electorate should at the very least be alerted to all things considered. This e-mailer IS borderline fear mongering but given the track record of those who are stealing our nation out from under us......
c