Quote:
Originally Posted by Willravel
We have trained Army soldiers that are posted ongoing, a standing army within US borders. That's unprecedented, as I understand it.
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Unprecedented?
When have we
not an ongoing standing army within US borders? I spent 8 years in the United States Air Force. All 8 of 'em were spent on U.S. soil.
Here's the intent, as I see it. You have any number of organizations that can help during any given emergency. They need direction. This gives them that direction. It helps to ensure a swift response to any situation. By "situation", I'm talking about anything from a natural disaster to an all out attack on the United States. It seems to me that Will sees that lone student standing in front of a tank in Tienamen Square. That's
not what this is for, nor is it what this is
about. It's about coordinating a rapid an effective response to unforeseen circumstances. Eliminating all of the red tape ensures that.
Look...the Bush administration took a well deserved black eye for its' response to Katrina. Good lord, what a fiasco that was. Anyone disagree? That's because there was no coordination on
any level. Not local, not state and certainly not federal. This provides that needed coordination.
There is a lot of hand wringing over the language "civil unrest and crowd control". To
me that reads a total breakdown of law and order. Much like you had in New Orleans, following Katrina. Responders could not get in to help affected areas due to armed looters and marauders. Sorry, but I most certainly
can see the use of the military in that type of civil unrest and crowd control.
Protestors are not even a blip on the radar of this thing. The language, however, must be kept
somewhat vague to allow for unforeseen circumstances. All this is, to me, is streamlining a necessary response, rather than the sloooow and teeedioouus process of moving up through numerous government channels.
Can it be abused? Sure, I would imagine that it could. So can most
anything. Some people, it seems, want to see the boogeyman where the is really just a shadow.