News and Politics | November 04, 2008 | 37 comments

ACLU wants to know why army's 1st brigade is deployed on U.S. soil.

source: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202425749369

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csmonut
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security, seeking an explanation for the Army's decision to station what the ACLU believes is an active-duty military unit inside the United States.

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    News and Politics,   Civil Liberties
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37 comments // ACLU wants to know why army's 1st brigade is deployed on U.S. soil.

  • DreSandoval
  • Argon18
    • 0
      Argon18  

    • If they were going to do that at all then the best chance ofit working at all was when Wall Street had the meltdown recently.

      Now it istoo late since they already let the election results come in so they can't have a clear shot at unfettered power without dispute.

      It was always long odd that they were willing to have total anarchy to sieze power anyway.

      The greatest danger now is all the policies for a closed society that have been put into place already.

      They have severly damaged the system of checks and balances that protect the 3 branches of goverment.

      If they are not put back into place then the abuses of power can be easily continued without any consequences.

      Obama could be seduced into using them to think he could do the right thing but have the ends justify the means and compromise his standing.

      That kind of power is like when Galadriel was tempted to use the One Ring in the same way Obama could be made to do terrible things just for expediency to get them done.

      Let's hope he is up to resisting the temptation to use that unchecked excutive power like Galadriel was and that will restore the system of check and balances.

    • 3 years ago
  • Illari
  • Echelon
    • 0
      Echelon  
    • Illari:

      People should be paranoid when their government blatantly and openly encroaches, at every opportunity and for every excuse, upon the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and, in this particular case, the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act, in the name of "protecting" its people.

      "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Benjamin Franklin

    • 3 years ago
  • moosefly24
  • superfinet
    • 0
      superfinet  

    • play the wait and see game... these folks just spent 35 monthes overseas and are merely fulfilling an obligation.... so far there is nothing wrong (just unsettling) about having a support staff of military personnel stationed domestically, so long as they do not need to be quartered in our homes, or arresting civilians everything will be fine...
      When ML is in effect, just don't go nuts and everything will continue to function just as it always has: poorly.

    • 3 years ago
  • Validatore
    • 0
      Validatore  

    • doithengiaorg, Thank you for clarifying the presence of Northern Command, but their purpose is not disaster relief or emergency management. That's FEMA and the National Guard's job. This command's job is to monitor "domestic terrorists," i.e. Americans who want to terrorize america or anyone *deemed* combatant or terroristic, which based on the ideas behind H.R. 1955, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-1955, could be ANYONE. Read the legislation. It's scary.
      This is what the 'war on terrorism' and a culture of fear produces.
      The police should not need military support. The fact that they already look so military smacks of a POLICE STATE, which I guess is already here. It's against the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 http://www.dojgov.net/posse_comitatus_act.htm for the military to enforce civilian law.

      So again, and thank you ACLU, why is there an Army brigade deployed on American soil?
      Are you really wary of a CBR attack here? At least committed by anyone without ties to the government?

      And, this is beyond liberal or conservative 'bandwagons.' This is about the basic civilian right to know what the hell the government is doing. This isn't the friggin Cold War, though it feels like the beginning of Cold War TWO.

    • 3 years ago
  • arenegade
  • rburris1
    • 0
      rburris1  

    • I can not believe how stupid some of you people are. Lets hope for change. Yeah okay Im going to hope for a million dollars. csmonut have you ever been in the military?? Do you know anything about it?? Maybe do some research before you attack the people who fight for your rights...I bet you have the little Support our Troops flag too.

    • 3 years ago
  • brad62
  • Pwdrskir
    • 0
      Pwdrskir  
    • rburris1:

      Easy there Rambo...

      This is a Civilian society with a undrafted military. I have a number of friends who have served and I respect them greatly, but I haven’t served in the military.

      This is not about respect, it’s about the overbearing government our Founding Fathers warned us about and wanted to protect us against.

      Civilians govern, so show us the same respect you demand.

    • 3 years ago
  • csmonut
    • 0
      csmonut  

    • doithengiaorg...

      Had it not been for the "civil unrest" part of the article, myself and many others would perhaps responded with a more positive bent.
      However, our National Guard are supposed to be the ones that take care of the situations, not a regular standing army.
      With so many of our rights being violated for the sake of "safety", with the Patriot Act, I seriously question the administrations reasons for doing this.

    • 3 years ago
  • doithengiaorg
    • 0
      doithengiaorg  
    • csmonut:

      csmount, thank you for your response!

      Military units do not blindly follow orders, the idea of using a specialized unit for civil unrest is something I am willing to bet my life that would not happen, UNLESS and I stress UNLESS there was a CBRN emergency that created the civil unrest. However, I would still find it a very remote, almost nonexistent possibility because of the expertise of the individuals in this type of organization.

      I think they would be concentrating on handling the CBRN emergency and not be used against (as I imagine the argument) protesters.

    • 3 years ago
  • Validatore
    • 0
      Validatore  
    • csmonut:

      "Military units do not blindly follow orders" - doithengiaorg

      Of course not, they are not robots. They are given perfectly good "reasons" to go into an illegal war and kill people who pose absolutely no threat to their home country. They are freedom and democracy. By freedom and democracy, though, they really mean capitalism and the american empire.
      Here at home they can preserve the proliferation of the police state.

      And I did serve in the military.

    • 3 years ago
  • philvoydanoff
    • 0
      philvoydanoff  

    • *Well after the McCain Camp rigs this election, we (Obama supporters) will go out and riot. Thus because we are then "Domestic Terrorist" the army will be forced by higher ups to enforce the laws. DUH!!

      * Possible

    • 3 years ago
  • csmonut
  • brad62
    • 0
      brad62  
    • philvoydanoff:

      It's good to know that you've already stated;
      Well after the McCain Camp rigs this election, we (Obama supporters) will go out and riot. Thus because we are then "Domestic Terrorist" the army will be forced by higher ups to enforce the laws. DUH!!

      It will make it easier for the proper Authorities to find you.

      BTW, you should be careful what you say on the internet. It's all on a disc somewhere.

    • 3 years ago
  • cheller1820
  • doithengiaorg
    • 0
      doithengiaorg  

    • First of all there is a major command called NORTHCOM which is responsible for North America and has aided previously in situations like Hurricane Katrina.

      The unit in question is Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear and Explosive Consequence Management Response Force (CCMRF) will be stationed for one year in Fort Stewart, Ga., with the expectation -- according to Army Times -- that another active-duty brigade will then take over and that the deployment will be permanent.

      The unit's explicit mission will be to provide support for civilian law-enforcement branches like local police and rescue personnel: It may be called upon in situations involving civil unrest, crowd control or catastrophes such as chemical, biological or nuclear attack, and it will be trained in skills like search and rescue and crowd control.

      Considering that the terrorist experts predict a 40% chance of a dirty bomb being set off in the United States by 2015, I would hope our military, which trains exclusively for this contingent, would prepare local forces to deal with this situation when it happens. Let's be proactive and not reactive jerks who point the finger and blame the government afterwards.

      This unit is not being deployed to enforce any laws just as a support to handle CBRN emergencies.

      If a chemical or nuclear disaster happens in the U.S. and your family is affected, time is of the essence. Having that type of capability to handle a disaster should not be seen as the "sky is falling" and our rights are being trampled on.

      I hope people really examine these issues and apply logic and common sense before jumping on the liberal or conservative bandwagon which seems the only responses we are capable of anymore.

    • 3 years ago
  • spindian_shaw
  • brad62
  • Pwdrskir
    • 0
      Pwdrskir  

    • Interesting...

      First it's no flying (list),
      then domestic spying,
      for the sake of data mining,
      now it's deployment incase of dying,
      the powers will keep trying,
      but we’re no longer buying,
      their insincere crying,
      and we’re tired of their lying,
      our hands are not for tying.

    • 3 years ago
  • fun_size
    • 0
      fun_size  
    • Image

    • this is an old story they were deployed on US soil a month ago. and yes this is a VERY bad thing seeing as how their deployment is against the Constitution. also link to the older story

    • 3 years ago
  • desertcat
    • 0
      desertcat  

    • a couple months ago the repugs were spreading rumors that if Obama lost there would be a race war. Maybe this is why, not because the African Americans will start a race war but the government will. Remember Kent State.

    • 3 years ago
  • MrButterCuts
    • 0
      MrButterCuts  

    • This unit is DEPLOYED permanently in the US. They use road legal combat vehicles and will kick you ass upon request.

      Don't hope for change. Work for it. Like damn near everything that happened in the last 8 years this is illegal. If we don't don't support our constitution we may as well throw it out.

    • 3 years ago
  • alicynx
  • rossao
    • 0
      rossao  

    • Are they active or in a stand down position? What are the logistics of the mission? Kind of strange to do this on election day and only with one brigade, can't do much nationally... Maybe takeover one city or a large town... Probably on an exercise...

    • 3 years ago
  • delas78
    • 0
      delas78  

    • Be scared! Obey! Stand in line! Don't talk too loud! OBEY! Don't have an opinion! Spend! Your property is our property! Obey! Pay taxes! Pay more taxes! Don't ask questions! OBEY! The government knows best!

      Or else...

    • 3 years ago
  • idealist
  • Shawamar
  • the_Jack
  • bluestranger
  • F7
    • F7  
    • This comment has been hidden for review.
  • csmonut
  • csmonut
  • rburris1
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