H1N1, the Military and FEMA

For months I've been receiving all kinds of warnings from the Truthers about FEMA internment camps, martial law, and the suspension of the Constitution. Now Fox News & CNN are reporting the military is planning for a flu outbreak. NORCOM and FEMA, that concerns me.

Military planning for possible H1N1 outbreak

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military wants to establish regional teams of military personnel to assist civilian authorities in the event of a significant outbreak of the H1N1 virus this fall, according to Defense Department officials.

The proposal is awaiting final approval from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The officials would not be identified because the proposal from U.S. Northern Command's Gen. Victor Renuart has not been approved by the secretary.

The plan calls for military task forces to work in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. There is no final decision on how the military effort would be manned, but one source said it would likely include personnel from all branches of the military.

It has yet to be determined how many troops would be needed and whether they would come from the active duty or the National Guard and Reserve forces.

Civilian authorities would lead any relief efforts in the event of a major outbreak, the official said. The military, as they would for a natural disaster or other significant emergency situation, could provide support and fulfill any tasks that civilian authorities could not, such as air transport or testing of large numbers of viral samples from infected patients.

As a first step, Gates is being asked to sign a so-called "execution order" that would authorize the military to begin to conduct the detailed planning to execute the proposed plan.

Orders to deploy actual forces would be reviewed later, depending on how much of a health threat the flu poses this fall, the officials said.

And people called GWB a facist.

Stephanie wrote: FEMA internment camps, martial law, and the suspension of the Constitution. ....... the military is planning for a flu outbreak. ...... that concerns me.

In what respect do you mean ...... "that concerns me"?

That they will put it into effect if there is a pandemic outbreak of the H1N1 flu ...... or that they won't instigate it if it happens?

Now Steph, that was a "Damned iffen you do, damned iffen you don't" question.

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"As a first step, Gates is being asked to sign a so-called "execution order" that would authorize the military to begin to conduct the detailed planning to execute the proposed plan.

Orders to deploy actual forces would be reviewed later, depending on how much of a health threat the flu poses this fall, the officials said."

Thanks for the info Steph.

I am not sure if you are in favor or not?

Is your friends' concern that it could be some sort of "power grab" by the Obama gang?

Mass quarantines for the flu? Come on, Sam. For the past several years we've been hearing these dire predictions about the upcoming flu season. We've been warned time and again about pandemics and death and destruction of every kind and they've become rather like Chicken Little........the sky is falling year after year isn't it?

I don't have the precise numbers at my fingertips and I'm not about to go looking now, but the reality is flu kills people each and every year. There are hundreds of millions of Americans and the flu claims the lives of roughly 36,000 of them a year. These are almost always people with immune systems weakened by some other condition. It is what it is.........it's the flu.

Is this flu really all that different? The fear of the truthers is the government ill use this flu outbreak as an excuse to impose martial law and take away their liberty. Remember, once martial law is imposed our rights are suspended and government officials could invade our homes and confiscate our guns and there would be no jury of peers and they can round up whoever they want.

These people have been posting videos and articles all over the internet about how FEMA has been actively constructing camps in locations across the country and how some National Guard units have been emptied of their weapons etc. This is their conspiracy and I have ignored it. I don't watch the videos and I don't read their articles because I placed them in the same catagory I place the people who insist 9/11 was an inside job and that Obama is not an American rather a Muslim intent on cleansing the nation of Christianity.

They aren't my "friends". They are people who happen to share some of my goals, like reducing the size of government and the restoration of liberty in this country and so they've appeared on my radar.

I am opposed to the military being deployed to deal with the flu, Sherm. I reread your note to me.........these folks by and large are not Republicans. Some are, but most of them view Bush as the anti-Christ. To them this isn't about partisan politics, it's about the Republican and Democrats being intertwined and all about the military-industrial complex. Bush, Cheney, McCain and others aren't conservatives, they're neocons and rinos and are working in conjunction with the socialist Democrats to install the New World Order. The fact that Obama retained Gates only proves their point.

Well I am not as confident as some are of Big Bro's competence to pull off such a deal, but you have known me long enough to realize how much stock to put in that lol.

Sherm,

I was reading an article from the CDC.....as of May 26th there were 13,000 cases of reported swine flu resulting in 90 deaths. Now those were the cases of flu that were reported and confirmed meaning this doesn't include the folks who just got a mild case of flu and stayed home. We're talking about an illness that kills less than one half of 1% of the people it infects world wide. Keep in mind, this includes deaths in populations that don't have the access to healthcare Americans do.Does that sound like something the government will need to deploy the military for?

I do not, yet that is what they're discussing right now.

Stephanie wrote:Mass quarantines for the flu? Come on, Sam. For the past several years we've been hearing these dire predictions about the upcoming flu season. We've been warned time and again about pandemics and death and destruction of every kind and they've become rather like Chicken Little........the sky is falling year after year isn't it?

And etc., etc., etc. ....................

Steph, I do not question the "real possibility" of what you stated as not being what those Clowns in DC are actually plotting.

My question pertained more so to the "what if" a real Black Plague pandemic did re-occur.

Anyway .... (oh, my screen started jumping and I clicked that "button" at the top and it stopped it, but I had to re-key what I was writing) ...... bout the only thing that is keeping the people relative safe from such crap is the 2nd Amendment and the millions of guns that are "on the streets" or will be on the streets if such happens.

That is why they want to take the guns away from everyone so we will be like those Bosnians when the ones with guns said "leave" they had no other choice.

And if they tried something like that with our Military I'm sure they will be in for a surprise. If Congress thinks those patriots, insurgents and terrorists in Iraq and Afghan are "bad dudes", ......... they ain't seen nothing yet ..... if they get the "gun owning" Americans riled up in defense of their life n' liberty.

cheers

Oh Sam, if a real black plague type thing occurs we're screwed. Government can't solve all of our problems, in fact they tend to exacerbate the difficulties we already have.

I am concerned about what this government is planning. I'm not just talking about the Obama administration. I'm talking about the monstrosity the US government has become.

Well Steph I read somewhere that eternal vigilance is the cost of Liberty.

So I agree with you more than not on this issue.

I'm sure we agree on many things, Sherm. It's just the nature of the forum to discuss our differences

I knew there was a law that strictly limits the military in use of law enforcement. I also knew that one of these days I would find it.

The Posse Comitatus Act is a federal law passed on June 18, 1878, after the end of Reconstruction, with the intention (in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807) of substantially limiting the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement. The Act prohibits most members of the federal uniformed services (today the Army, Air Force, and State National Guard forces when such are called into federal service) from exercising nominally state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain "law and order" on non-federal property (states and their counties and municipal divisions) within the United States.

The statute generally prohibits federal military personnel and units of the National Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress. The Coast Guard is exempt from the Act during peacetime.

While aid is allowed for natural disasters and in combating the release of nuclear material, using the military for law enforcement is very limited.

Unless of course the law is repealed.

Aaron,

In recent months I've become somewhat familiar with Posse Comitatus. I agree using the military in this fashion is illegal. I just worry about who would be able to stop it once that order is given? We'd be forced to rely on SCOTUS and there are a number "activist" judges sitting on the court at this time.

True but it is still illegal and if Obama were to ignore the law, it wouldn't do much for his "constitutional expert" image, would it?

It would be too late to matter much, wouldn't it?

Whether it would or not, I don't know but I do like having the law on the book if for no other reason, it would have to give the President pause to act as this is not a debatable issue. The law is pretty clear, written in black and white.

And as such, I certainly do not believe he would just ignore it. To do so could be considered an impeachable offense as by law the the gang of 8 would have to be notified and I really don't think Barrack Obama has the backbone to completely ignore notifying Congress or the law.

He would likely do what GWB did with the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act and attempt to circumvent Posse Comitatius but that too would be public and would, as the JWNDA did, only last for a short time.

I don't want to see Obama nor anyone else use the military for civilian law enfircement.

But could H1N1 not become as much of a natural disaster as a hurricane?

Aaron wrote:I knew there was a law that strictly limits the military in use of law enforcement. I also knew that one of these days I would find it.

The Posse Comitatus Act is a federal law passed on June 18, 1878, after the end of Reconstruction, with the intention (in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807) of substantially limiting the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement. The Act prohibits most members of the federal uniformed services (today the Army, Air Force, and State National Guard forces when such are called into federal service) from exercising nominally state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain "law and order" on non-federal property (states and their counties and municipal divisions) within the United States.

While aid is allowed for natural disasters and in combating the release of nuclear material, using the military for law enforcement is very limited.

Unless of course the law is repealed.

Aaron, don'tja member, ..... Janet Reno violated said Posse Comitatus Act when she authorized/ordered that silly General Clark http://www.rense.com/general42/clark.htm to march his troops and tanks against David Koresh resulting in ...... the Waco Massacre.




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And she should have been proscuted, along with Gen. Clark under the provisions of that act.

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