Rise up America!

[taffboy gwyrdd]

Who knows, no matter who gets in this election somebody is going to be really pissed off. Whether it be some Neo Nazi nutters or Islamic terrorists, who knows, as I said I presume they prepare for any eventuality that may disrupt the election process.

TomPaine

On the other hand, the sight of military outside polling stations would dissuade disenfranchised voters from kicking off too much.

Posse Commitatus (sp?) has stood the test of time, including through many elections, some of which were clearly rigged without the military ever being called in to help.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

good job they have some of their most battle hardened troops on the ground.

Given the number of soldiers who've served in Iraq, and the former gulf war, there are plenty of battle hardened soldiers on civvie street as well.

 

[TomPaine]

Given the number of soldiers who've served in Iraq, and the former gulf war, there are plenty of battle hardened soldiers on civvie street as well.

I presume because those currently serving have just come back from combat situations and probably are suffering from the post traumatic stress that comes fom that. Sometimes who has just been patrolling the streets of Falluja amped up on adrenaline and getting sniped at, may not be in the best mental state to deal with a bunch of angry grannies .

TomPaine

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I presume because those currently serving have just come back from combat situations and probably are suffering from the post traumatic stress that comes fom that. Sometimes who has just been patrolling the streets of Falluja amped up on adrenaline and getting sniped at, may not be in the best mental state to deal with a bunch of angry grannies .

TomPaine

The point was that even though the US govt might field the Third Division within the continental US in order to maintain order, they will find themselves facing battle hardened ex servicemen who are armed to the teeth with all the weaponry that US dollars can buy down at the local gun shop.

 

[Barking_Mad]

The point was that even though the US govt might field the Third Division within the continental US in order to maintain order, they will find themselves facing battle hardened ex servicemen who are armed to the teeth with all the weaponry that US dollars can buy down at the local gun shop.

this is true, which would make any move to deploy armed troops on US streets a bonkers idea. thank goodness they arent that, erm, stupid?

 

[Fuchs66]

The point was that even though the US govt might field the Third Division within the continental US in order to maintain order, they will find themselves facing battle hardened ex servicemen who are armed to the teeth with all the weaponry that US dollars can buy down at the local gun shop.

They haven't "fielded" the Third Division within the continental US, the Third Division is Based in Fort Stewart, Georgia (might explain troop movements around Georgia eh? Thats like getting paranoid about seeing troops moving around Aldershot ffs) and 1 Brigade of the Third Division has taken over the role of CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force, which guess what? Another unit was doing this job before them.

Just one more note to all this the National Guard already has a capacity to respond to civil unrest. As far as I know they are still patrolling areas of New Orleans so it wouldn't be anything new to have armed troops on the street even if there was anything in this story.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Just one more note to all this the National Guard already has a capacity to respond to civil unrest. As far as I know they are still patrolling areas of New Orleans so it wouldn't be anything new to have armed troops on the street even if there was anything in this story.

Except that if you want to continue with the paranoia theory, the national guard is under the command of the particular governor of the state that the unit is from. The army is under the command of the president.

 

[Barking_Mad]

from an earlier post

Yes, there are laws against military policing on US streets -- they are part of both the 1807 Insurrection Act and 1879's Posse Comitatus Act -- but the Defense Authorization Act of 2007 gutted them.

Congress restored some limitations on the President's ability to deploy troops to engage in military policing in 2008 -- but President Bush issued a signing statement declaring he did not feel bound by those limitations. He also can direct these troops -- and the National Guard, and Blackwater -- to engage in military policing of civilian populations simply by verbally and unilaterally declaring a national emergency of whatever kind he wishes.

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/1813

So, hypothetically, some terrorist scare would be enough to put troops on the street in order to "protec democracy" during an election.

Im not suggesting it would happen, just highlighting the potential use of such power.

 

[Fuchs66]

Except that if you want to continue with the paranoia theory, the national guard is under the command of the particular governor of the state that the unit is from. The army is under the command of the president.

I know the rough chains of command but are we talking potential armed conflict between the Guard and the regular army here? iIt all sounds a bit tinfoil hat to me, Bush may have been whittling away at the constitution but it isn't going to happen.

E2A I dont think even Bush is stupid enough to risk the consequences of putting the regular army on the streets of the US

ps I have been wrong before but I'm pretty sure I'm not this time

 

[hipipol]

I read the stuff on the Huffington (didn't she used to be Areana Staffinopolous? or something like that? you before she started confusing the Yanks with Her wieird accent) sit, holy shit its aparanoid isn't it? And all the comments, its like their all waiting for Ceasar to return from Gaul, disolve the Senate and declare himself Imperator - oh that was later wasn't it, Dictator then

If you are going to have some kind of coup, well you dont send the fucking Troops out a MONTH in advance and TELL EVRYONE YOU ARE DOING IT!!!!!!!!
There are miltary near all the key bits you'd have to take over to effectively control the entire country - should be deranged enough to try it - the rest could be ,mopped up slowly. The Hollywood bollocks about the determined patriot types who'd hide up in the woods and finally bring doen the geezer in the black hat who now runs things is just that, bollocks. However well trained the "armed citizenry" (saw what you did there JC, nice attempted plug, but dont worry in the coming economic doldrums I suspect Colt, Smith and Wesson, all those guys will do well) they really owuld have a hard time against armour.Its worth pointing out the sort of stuff US Police forces already use
Colt

Armoured shit The Richland County (S.C.) Sheriff's Department has acquired an armored personnel carrier complete with a turret-mounted .50-caliber belt-fed machine gun for its Special Response Team.
Lenco armoured vehicles for cops
Alpine yet more armoured cars for the cops

Honetly the US cops, FBI, Firearms and Tobacco guys, plus of course all the national guard units, and a lot of those guys have seen active service are so fucking tooled up already, they dont need the army