Originally Posted by The_Dunedan

You go first. Read up on the shenanigans the Federals got up to during Reconstruction. Then get back to me.



Which, you'll notice, they haven't done. Kinda like how they never declared war on Iraq. I'd also like to know; who allowed these "exceptions?" If the Posse Comitatus Act allows them, that's one thing, but I have a sneaky suspicion that Congress gave themselves the power to make those exceptions after the fact. I'll have to check.



Well, everyone from Nixon forward has used the military illegally against US Citizens as part of the War On Some Drugs, Clinton/Reno used various Army and Army Nat'l Guard units against the Branch Davidian church at Waco, Bush the Elder authorized the use of military personnel and hardward at Ruby Ridge, and Bush the Younger has deployed combat troops in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (where, among other things, they helped such worthies as the LAPD disarm the law-abiding citizens of New Orleans). Then of course you get into things like the WTO protests (AKA the Battle Of Seattle), where Nat'l guard troops were deployed (technically legal) under orders from Washington DC to control the crowds: legal, but in a hazy and troubling grey area.