The invocation of martial law
Just heard on The Weather Channel that due to a tornado wreaking devastation somewhere south of Minnesota that the National Guard has been called out and martial law is now in effect for the region.
I'm sure martial law was imposed for Katrina as well, but I've never of it for a tornado. If it was, I never heard it on the weather channel. And when we had a tornado come through my part of Minnesota in 1998, NO ONE thought to impose martial law or bring the National Guard out for it.
To me, this bodes very poorly in the light of everything else going on in the country today, from the Halliburton camps to the EMS development of mass triage all done through the office of Homeland Security.
I don't have time right now to provide any further details but wanted to get this out.
Could you give a link to a proclamation of martial law, either by the Governor or President? I've heard MSM frequently confuse States of Emergency with Martial Law.
CNN doesn't mention a proclamation. Washington Post/AP says that the governor, Kathleen Sebelius, declared a state of emergency and sent 40 National Guard members to assist.
--
Howard
*equal opportunity offense to both extremes*
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" [George Santayana]
May 5, 2007 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
interesting if it's true! It will be interesting to see the role that Blackwater (Amazon Link) playes in the future. I've heard they were patroling New Orleans....
To boldly go where no man has gone before...
May 6, 2007 11:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
According to the Washington Post in a September 2005 area, at least some of the hires of Blackwater and ArmorGroup are private contracts to protect private facilities from looters.
At one level, this is not that different than the routine rent-a-cop, with the caveat that they may be more experienced in working without much support infrastructure. The dangerous level is whether they are being put, uncontrolled, into jobs more appropriate for sworn law enforcement officers. Another question would be how they were armed: for law enforcement or low-intensity combat, and their rules of engagement.
I am quite concerned with the Bush 43 administration pushing the envelope of civil liberties and of checks & balances, but let's not be confused that local things like disaster relief are equivalent to martial law.. With the tornado relief deployment, I've seen nothing so far that indicates martial law, merely as small number of National Guard still under state control. Don't let fear of power-hungry people in the White House escalate concerns to things that haven't happened and may never happen -- even if ordered.
--
Howard
*equal opportunity offense to both extremes*
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" [George Santayana]
May 7, 2007 9:10 AM | Reply | Permalink