For cryin’ out loud, read what these clowns are planning. They are scared to death of their constituencies. And THAT scares me to death. First they trash the system, then they effectively scapegoat us for it having happened. What a deal !!
Richard Jehn / The Rag Blog
Ariz. police say they are prepared as War College warns military must prep for unrest; IMF warns of economic riots
By Mike Sunnucks / December 17, 2008
A new report by the U.S. Army War College talks about the possibility of Pentagon resources and troops being used should the economic crisis lead to civil unrest, such as protests against businesses and government or runs on beleaguered banks.
“Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security,” said the War College report.
The study says economic collapse, terrorism and loss of legal order are among possible domestic shocks that might require military action within the U.S.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned Wednesday of economy-related riots and unrest in various global markets if the financial crisis is not addressed and lower-income households are hurt by credit constraints and rising unemployment.
U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., both said U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson brought up a worst-case scenario as he pushed for the Wall Street bailout in September. Paulson, former Goldman Sachs CEO, said that might even require a declaration of martial law, the two noted.
State and local police in Arizona say they have broad plans to deal with social unrest, including trouble resulting from economic distress. The security and police agencies declined to give specifics, but said they would employ existing and generalized emergency responses to civil unrest that arises for any reason.
“The Phoenix Police Department is not expecting any civil unrest at this time, but we always train to prepare for any civil unrest issue. We have a Tactical Response Unit that trains continually and has deployed on many occasions for any potential civil unrest issue,” said Phoenix Police spokesman Andy Hill.
“We have well established plans in place for such civil unrest,” said Scottsdale Police spokesman Mark Clark.
Clark, Hill and other local police officials said the region did plenty of planning and emergency management training for the Super Bowl in February in Glendale.
“We’re prepared,” said Maricopa County Sheriff Deputy Chief Dave Trombi citing his office’s past dealings with immigration marches and major events.
Super Bowl security efforts included personnel and resources from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. military’s Northern Command, which coordinated with Arizona officials. The Northern Command was created after 9/11 to have troops and Defense Department resources ready to respond to security problems, terrorism and natural disasters.
Northern Command spokesman Michael Kucharek and Arizona Army National Guard Major. Paul Aguirre said they are not aware of any new planning for domestic situations related to the economy.
Nick Dranias, director of constitutional government at the libertarian Goldwater Institute, said a declaration of marital law would be an extraordinary event and give military control over civilian authorities and institutions. Dranias said the Posse Comitatus Act restricts the U.S. military’s role in domestic law enforcement. But he points to a 1994 U.S. Defense Department Directive (DODD 3025) he says allows military commanders to take emergency actions in domestic situations to save lives, prevent suffering or mitigate great property damage.
Dranias said such an emergency declaration could worsen the economic situation and doubts extreme measures will been taken. “I don’t think it’s likely. But it’s not impossible,” he said.
The economy is in recession. Consumer spending is down, foreclosures are up and a host of businesses are laying off workers and struggling with tight credit and the troubled housing and financial markets. The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank and U.S. Treasury Department have pumped more than $8.5 trillion into the economy via equity purchases of bank stocks, liquidity infusions, Wall Street and bank bailouts and taxpayer rebates. U.S. automakers are seeking more than $14 billion in federal loans with fears they could fall into bankruptcy without a bailout. The U.S. housing and subprime lending-induced recession also has hit economies in Europe, Japan and China.
Gov. Janet Napolitano’s office declined comment on emergency planning and possible civil unrest. Napolitano is president-elect Barack Obama’s pick for secretary of Homeland Security, an agency that oversees airport security, disaster response, border security, customs and anti-terrorism efforts.
As governor, Napolitano sent National Guard troops to Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in 2003 in response to terrorism threats.
Glendale Police spokesman Jim Toomey said the West Valley suburb developed new emergency plans with the approach of Y2K computer changeovers leading up to the year 2000 and police have updated those plans several times including after 9/11. Toomey said strategies to deal with public unrest usually involve deploying personnel and equipment to deal with specific incidents while still providing usual services.
Source / Phoenix Business Journal
Thanks to Richard Myers, MDS / The Rag Blog
On the other hand – government agengies which don’t anticipate & plan for the worst are crucified by the public when they are provem to be unprepared or ineffective when disasters (natural or manmade) do occur – e.g. Katrina & 911. Would the editor prefer such preparations be made in secret? Not at all? Just made public in soothing language?
Anonymous asks if the blog editor would prefer that preparations for quelling domestic unrest in the face of economic crisis be made in secret or not ar all. Not to put words in RJ’s mouth, but my guess is he’d prefer that government resources be directed more towards avoiding economic crisis and/or assisting those who might suffer from it, and less towards bayoneting us in the streets. In my own opinion, any time a government becomes overtly occupied with plans on protecting itself (“basic domestic order”) against its citizens, there is a deeper issue at work.
However, let us not be naive: ALL governments are ALWAYS worried about what might happen if the ordinary citizens put aside their ordinary pursuits and band together to redress injustice, or to fight over the last packets of ramen on the local grocery shelves. They are letting us see a bit of these preparations now, via the mass media, as a not-so-subtle reminder that “the power of the State flows from the barrel of a gun”!
What struck me most about this posting is not the content of the article, which I find unsurprising and hardly the most worrisome thing going on out there. Rather, I was struck by the stridency of the headline, which uses the sort of polarizing, caricatured language that closes the door to any creative dialogue about the actual situation.
I would guess, for example, that these “war games” scenarios in Southwestern states include the possibility of desperately hungry Mexicans storming the border… a fear I have often heard expressed by residents of border towns in recent weeks and months.
Then, of course, there’s the whole nerdy-academic nature of such study projects, which tends to produce just stunningly irrelevant results when anybody tries to apply them to actual crises on the ground.
But… all that said, I think we’d do better to turn our attention to figuring out how to create truly innovative and community-based support systems of our own to deal with the symptoms of the economic mess as things inevitably “get worse before they get better.” If a new administration can help us out, that will be grand. If they can’t, at least we will have made sure there is no need to send in the troops, because we’re already taking care of ourselves and each other as best we can.
To imagine that’s really possible is the kind of naivete I could sign up for.
The good people of the southwestern states don’t have guns they cling to along with their religion to protect themselves?