Posted on 09/01/2005 8:27:36 AM PDT by devane617
Looks like government enforcement of any kind has abandonded NO? What's up with that? I travel the area frequently and know several military installations in the area. Why have they not taken those personel with their weapons into NO and areas? Am I missing something? They should have had a military presence within 12 hours.
Yes you are missing something, your cerebral cortex to be exact.
Coast Guard and National Guard = Military
It was a stupid question.
"The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, seen in this undated handout photo, is being sent to the Gulf to join the relief effort for hurricane-battered Louisiana and Mississippi, the Navy said on September 1, 2005."
Rockeye Party for the looters...
I'm tired of typing, Read post 39. "Miserable breath" That's cute...juvenile but cute..must have taken your name calling lessons at Walmart..ok..you can have my ice cream.
Nowhere is the POTUS given the power to declare martial law. A fair reading of the US Constitution would, I think, come to the conclusion that Congress may since they are explicitly given the power to suspend habeas.
devane, a legitimate question. First, the National Guard is already there. However, the Governor's orders were for them to conduct relief operations, not security ops. As a result, they were not positioned or equipped to help enforce laws & stop looting. In contrast, after Hurricane Andrew, the National Guard immediately went into a security role. As a result,looting and lawlessness never had a chance to get started. And then it was very easy for relief operations to take place in a stable and secure environment.
I like to keep my debates in public. Feel free to repeat what you just said in private on the thread.
That's a great picture of a truck in water. Maybe you should send it to the MSM.
Its not any old truck devane, it's an Army truck. You get the picture?
True. However, there is precedent--Abe Lincoln in the Civil War and the SF Earthquake are examples, iirc. But I don't think that is needed. Instead, they simply need sufficient forces to enforce the laws and ememrgency directives already in place.
You got that right!!
But even though you admit to complete ignorance about the military, you still decided that you needed to bash the Commander in Chief.
I hope you got it all out of your system.
Even if the Federal government can be omniscient enough to know in advance exactly where and what kind of relief will be needed, you don't position your assets too close to the potential disaster area lest you risk having them blown away by the very hurricane you are preparing for. Unfortunately, it takes some time to move the massive amount of resources needed into the area.
I agree. A battalion of air cav or marines to deal with the deadenders as a rapid response force would do quite nicely freeing everybody else up to do what needs doing. It would only take one incident to calm things down.
New Orleans is a disaster area with no working infrastructure. No food, no water, no sanitation, no communications, etc. etc. It is for this very reason that they are making every effort to evacuate.
The last thing you want to do is move in another five or ten thousand bodies (all needing food, water, sanitation, communication, etc. themselves) without a plan.
It is amazing to me just how stupid some people can be without even trying.
Yes and no. 10 USC 331-334 (the so-called Civil Disturbance Statutes) allows the President to enforce civilian law with active-duty military where so requested by a state's governor, or when a state is unable to protect civil rights and/or property. This is what was used in deploying the military to suppress the LA riots of some years ago - it's a fairly broad exception to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.
I didn't say that the President could not deploy troops, just that he wasn't assigned the power to declare martial law. While the difference may be slight, there is a difference. If POTUS declares martial law in New Orleans, the politicos become subservient to the military. We don't need another pissing match.
True - it allows them to enforce civilian law, including that which is at the discretion of the local authorities. That is, if the mayor or governor decide to implement mandatory evacuations or a curfew or some such, presumably the military is available upon request to assist in enforcement. And of course the National Guard is always available, and is not restricted by Posse Comitatus, unless placed under federal control - the governor can declare martial law (and has done so, I believe) and use the Guard to enforce it.
On FOXNEWS just now the US Justice Department just stated that the President under extraordinary circumstances has the authority to engage Active Duty Military to restore order outside of the Posse Comitatus Act. However that is unusual (once a generation) and they have chosen to deploy additional 1400 National Guard Military Police to assist and reinforce Civilian law Enforcement. So the Government is claiming Presidential authority but choosing not to use it at this time. The explanation is National Guard MP's are trained in police techniques and composed of a high percentage of civilian police fulfilling their military obligation. They are being very careful to emphasize the Military will not be in charge but National Guard from every state will be responding to the NOLA tragedy. So they have found a technical way to avoid the Posse Comitatus debate but put armed boots in the street to restore order. It's just about 2 days late but Bush is moving now in the right direction.
I think the number of NG Mps' will be 1400 per day for the next three days if I heard correctly.
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