Over on AlterNet, Naomi Wolf posted an article that basically leads to a very scary thought. What if Bush doesn’t leave office come next year? What if there’s a coup? Crazy? Maybe not so much, according to Wolf.

In her article, Thousands of Troops Are Deployed on U.S. Streets Ready to Carry Out “Crowd Control”, she points to the following events:

• The First Brigade of the Third Infantry Division has been deployed to the United Stats as of October 1st, with the “tated mission is the form of crowd control they practiced in Iraq, subduing “unruly individuals,” and the management of a national emergency.”
• George Bush struck down Posse Comitatus, thus making it legal for military to patrol the U.S. He has also legally established that in the “War on Terror,” the U.S. is at war around the globe and thus the whole world is a battlefield. Thus the U.S. is also a battlefield.
• Bush also led change to the 1807 Insurrection Act to give him far broader powers in the event of a loosely defined “insurrection” or many other “conditions” he has the power to identify. The Constitution allows the suspension of habeas corpus — habeas corpus prevents us from being seized by the state and held without trial — in the event of an “insurrection.” With his own army force now, his power to call a group of protesters or angry voters “insurgents” staging an “insurrection” is strengthened.
• U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman of California said to Congress, captured on C-Span and viewable on YouTube, that individual members of the House were threatened with martial law within a week if they did not pass the bailout bill.
• She also interviewed a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and asked the types of questions you need to read the answers to believe. (Definitely worth clicking through just to read those.)

Anyway…  Pretty compelling? Absolutely. Likely? Hopefully not. Scary? Yes.

Let’s look at Posse Comitatus and the Insurrection Act, since I wasn’t familiar with either.

According to Wikipedia, Poss Comitatus “generally prohibits federal military personnel and units of the United States National Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress.”

Also, (from the same page) recent legislative activity:

• HR5122 also known as the John Warner Defense Authorization Act (2006) gave the President the power to employ the armed forces to restore public order in any state of the United States the president determines hinders the execution of laws or the Constitution.
• HR4986 also known as the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 included languague that repealed those changes, but Bush (while signing the bill) included a signing statement that basically says I signed this bill but the changes to Posse Comitatus hinder my ability to protect national security and execute my responsibilities as Commander in Chief, so I’m going to do what’s necessary to execute my consitutional responsibilities.

So, it seems as that part checks out. In the ‘War on Terror’, Posse doesn’t exist according to the Bush Administration.

And now the Insurrection Act. According to Wikipedia: “The Insurrection Act of 1807 is the set of laws that govern the President of the United States of America’s ability to deploy troops within the United States to put down lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion.”

Recent legislative activity (same page):

• The 2007 Defense Authorization Bill (September 2006), “widens the President’s ability to deploy troops within the United States to enforce the laws. Under this act, the President may also deploy troops as a police force during a natural disaster, epidemic, serious public health emergency, terrorist attack, or other condition, when the President determines that the authorities of the state are incapable of maintaining public order. The bill also modified Sec. 334 of the Insurrection Act, giving the President authority to order the dispersal of either insurgents or “those obstructing the enforcement of the laws.” The new law changed the name of the chapter from “Insurrection” to “Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order.”
• The 2008 Defense Authorization Bill (HR1585), repeals the changes made in the 2007 bill, but was pocket vetoed by Bush.
• HR4986 (mentioned above), has been passed which also repeals the changes made in the 2007 bill. And you read about the Bush signing statement.

So that one pretty much checks out too, with the same outcome as Posse.. The Act was changed in 2006, repealed by Congress in 2008, but signing statements and vetoes still give Bush the powers he received in the original changes. Or at least that is how the Bush Administration views the law. (See my previous post on signing statements. Since I published that in 2006, I’m not even sure how far Bush has gone since then!)

Anyway, something to think about as we get closer to the end of the Bush administration. This makes it even more crucial that McBush doesn’t get elected and we get someone like Obama (calm, measured, thoughtful responses to issues; a respect for the Constitution; and a respect for social justice) in the White House.