U.S. Should Consider Giving Military Arrest Powers, Ridge Says

Bloomberg.com ^ | 7/21/02 | Alex Canizares

[GeneD]

Washington, July 21 (Bloomberg) -- The government should consider reversing a more than a century of tradition and law to give the military authority to make arrests and fire their weapons on U.S. soil in the event of a terrorist attack, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said.

[Freebird Forever]

Hillary! is sure gonna have some neat internal security mechanisms to work with when she gets elected president.

Realistically, wouldn't all privately owned firearms have to be confiscated in order for that to occur?

[Mulder]

I think the one six year term does have merits.

There are merits to that approach, as well as the current system, as well as a 7-year term. These and others were discussed at great length during the Constitutional Convention.

But whatever length of time you make the term of office, the fundamental problem still remains. There is too much power in Washington.

Until the government is returned to some semblance of its limited Constitutional structure, the corruption will continue as will the trend towards tyranny.

[Mulder]

I feared Bush as a friend of the One Worlders. He's done nothing to allay that fear.

Bush is either a willing accomplice to their evil purposes, or he doesn't have the brains to know he is nothing more than a puppet to them. There is ample evidence to support both theories.

[cynicom]

Mulder...

The rebs saw it for what it was, the Federal government was becoming too strong, one way to thwart it was to establish term limits. States rights have become meaningless since 1932. In fact there are no states rights. In a new bill, Bush wanted national ID on drivers licence, Armey took that out of the security bill. It will come along later, one way or another.

[IronJack]

Considering his family's close ties to the UN and other globalist organizations, I'd say that he's an active participant rather than a casual victim. It's even more alarming when you consider that the alternative was Al Gore.

[zadok]

"It will come along later, one way or another."

Yep. Probably after the next "big" terrorist attack.

[Living Stone]

They were not all confiscated before Billzebubba was elected twice. What is to stop her from being our first female president? Lots of lefties that did not vote Gore will gladly vote Hillary! Remember how close the last election was? And just who is going to be classified a terrorist, or a terrorist supporter, after she is elected?

[Tench_Coxe]

How long was the average life span of a Roman Emperor? Just thought it might be germaine to this discussion.

[Living Stone]

More than long enough. There is already an internal security apparatus in place in this country that would have made Stalin or Hitler green with envy. That it has thus far not been used for any overtly evil purpose does not mean that it will not be.

[Texasforever]

Not that it will make any difference, this is what Ridge actually said, not the WP's paraphrasing

Ridge said Sunday that it ``goes against our instincts as a country to empower the military with the ability to arrest,'' and called the prospect ``very unlikely.''

[DugwayDuke]

"Hold on partner...Read that again. Nowhere did I tie Ridge to the Posse act. In fact I do not mention it at all."

Exactly my point. This is not the constitutional issue you alleged. It is a modification of a law that did not even exist until the 1800s. You may object Ridge calling for this change, but you go to far in saying that such a claim means he should be arrested for violating the constitution.

"That said, if you were to take the law unto your own hands, I think you might well have to answer for your actions in a civil court, I would not wait for the military to act. Good intentions are just that and sometimes are misguided. I want no part of military power of arrest and that is what this is about."

Fine, given a choice of potentially losing millions of Americans to a WMD, I'll take that chance. What would you have to say to an officer who said he could have prevented such a loss but chose not to intervene because of this law? Would you sitting on a jury rule send this man to jail?

BTW, this would be a military matter and no civil court could claim jurisdiction.

[DugwayDuke]

"These government people are quite hysterical, and unjustifiably so, IMHO."

I believe that was my point.

[agrandis]

Officials discussing he option of blatantly inoring the law of the land... Do we live in lawless times, or what?

[Texasforever]

Officials discussing he option of blatantly inoring the law of the land...

I think they are discussing revising the "law of the land".

[Jhoffa_]

Officials discussing he option of blatantly inoring the law of the land... Do we live in lawless times, or what?

I think the idea is to change it.. and give the military a free hand in (AP Quote) "arrests, searches, seizure of evidence and other police-type activity on U.S. soil."

Which bugs me.. Yeah, sure the FBI are boobs and we have all had enough of government bungling, but I see no need for the military to do the job of the police.

Further, I am not sure they could even if they wanted to.

[Texasforever]

They were not all confiscated before Billzebubba was elected twice. What is to stop her from being our first female president? Lots of lefties that did not vote Gore will gladly vote Hillary! Remember how close the last election was? And just who is going to be classified a terrorist, or a terrorist supporter, after she is elected?

So, do you think that Hillary would let a little thing like this stop her?

[Texasforever]

How long was the average life span of a Roman Emperor? Just thought it might be germaine to this discussion.

Not a smart thing to post.

[Don Myers]

Before this thing is over, there will be troops on every street corner demanding your papers.

[agrandis]

Revising the law by executive fiat, or by Constitutional Amendment? It seems the legislative route is ignored anymore. That's why I say we live in lawless times. This executive arrogance was increasing even before the Criminal Enterprise from Arkansas took the reigns (I think of FDR, LBJ, Nixon).

[Texasforever]

Revising the law by executive fiat, or by Constitutional Amendment? It seems the legislative route is ignored anymore

No by legislative action. You didn't get past the headline did you?