Posted on 10/04/2005 12:02:27 PM PDT by areafiftyone
WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush asked Congress on Tuesday to consider giving him powers to use the military to enforce quarantines in case of an avian influenza epidemic.
He said the military, and perhaps the National Guard, might be needed to take such a role if the feared H5N1 bird flu virus changes enough to cause widespread human infection.
"If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country? And how do you, then, enforce a quarantine?" Bush asked at a news conference.
"It's one thing to shut down airplanes. It's another thing to prevent people from coming in to get exposed to the avian flu. And who best to be able to effect a quarantine?" Bush added.
"One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move. So that's why I put it on the table. I think it's an important debate for Congress to have."
Bird flu has killed more than 60 people in four Asian nations since late 2003 and has been found in birds in Russia and Europe.
Experts fear that the H5N1 bird flu virus, which appears to be highly fatal when it infects people, will develop the ability to pass easily from person to person and would cause a pandemic that would kill millions.
"And I think the president ought to have all ... assets on the table to be able to deal with something this significant," Bush said.
He noted that some governors may object to the federal government commandeering the National Guard, which is under state command in most circumstances.
POLICE DUTIES BANNED
"But Congress needs to take a look at circumstances that may need to vest the capacity of the president to move beyond that debate. And one such catastrophe or one such challenge could be an avian flu outbreak," Bush said.
The active duty military is currently forbidden from undertaking law enforcement duties by the federal Posse Comitatus Act.
That law, passed in 1878 after the U.S. Civil War, does not prohibit National Guard troops under state control from doing police work. But, unless the law is changed, it would keep them from doing so if they were activated by Washington under federal control.
While the law allows the president to order the military to take control and do police work in an extreme emergency, the White House has been traditionally reluctant to usurp state powers.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters he was not aware of any current planning by the military to help respond to a flu pandemic.
But he noted that after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf region, Bush had asked Congress to consider giving the military control over initial response in dealing with major natural or other domestic disasters.
"Obviously the (Defense) Department has a tremendous amount of capability in a lot of areas. And we are a large force," Whitman said, noting also that the military had deployed field hospitals to Louisiana after the hurricanes.
Health experts are working to develop vaccines that would protect against the H5N1 strain of flu, because current influenza vaccines will not.
And countries are also developing stockpiles of drugs that can reduce the risk of serious disease or even sometimes prevent infection -- but supplies and manufacturing capacity are both limited.
Bush said he was involved in planning for an influenza pandemic, which experts say will definitely come, although they cannot predict when, or whether it will be H5N1 or some other virus. (Additional reporting by Maggie Fox)
Here is the one I was looking for.
http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/eo/femalist.htm
What's the mortality rate of the bird flu? Is it as high as the mortality rate of AIDS?
75% mortality rate!
Well----for something this serious---he certainly can't depend on SOME STATES!! If bird flu as found in Lousianna we'd all die!!!
Boo... I thought this would take care of the oldies that want the youngies to pay for the rest of their lives. I am mad at the oldies expecting(and voting) for us(younger) people to pay for their retirement without giving us the right to choose not to pass our retirement on to our children. So much for "the GREATest" generation. I only have one left in my family and she get supported by my father and his siblings. She also supports herself via gardening.
It just makes me sick that people can get so one sided on an issue and not look long term in a patriot fashon.
He didn't. You need to go back and look at the transcripts of either or both of his inaugeral oaths. He swore to uphold the laws -- big difference.
Yes, lets get some perspective.......
Extrapolating the 1918 numbers for a pandemic of this kind, we can safely say that there would be 1.7 million dead from this bug in the U.S. alone.......
I don't call that ridiculous....I call it a potential and more and more likely occurrence every year that passes and idiots continue treating chickens with antibiotics that may well make the bug immune to every tool we have.
It's just a matter of time, as we wait for the hammer to come down.
So I think a bit of prior planning is in order and discussions are necessary so that the big surprise does not catch us with our pants in the dryer.
Personally if there is such a wide spread flu that could kill tens of millions I hope we are not debating Const nicites during it. I love the Constituion but it doesn't add up to a hill of beans if me or tens of millions of Americans beause of the Possie Comatatus laws.
Source please.
Lifetimes are made up of events - one by one.
Some witness greater events than others.
If the President called for martial law or for military interventions to extent farther than the affected areas, then I'd have a serious problem with him and the US Fedgov.
You may agree to forfeit your freedom from fear of an event that "may" happen, but I prefer not to. You may agree to vest powers that ought not be in one person you trust holding that office NOW, but those powers don't follow that person when they leave that position.
The NEXT person might not be so suitable to your liking.
When's the last time our President argued forcefully for freedom, liberty and diminished government tyranny right here in our own country, instead of (for instance) Iraq?
You omitted the Swine Flu of '76.
There is no vaccine for the Avian flu. It is still mutating/recombining so it's not possible to make a vaccine for it yet.
If anyone wants to read about it, read here - with info and commentary by some very knowldegeable and educated freepers and articles from all over:
Avian Flu Surveillance Project ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1399613/posts
Ouch. The truth hurts.
Flu strains mutate.
Hurricane Katrina did not start out as a category 5 hurricane...it started as a warm summer breeze.
Tamiflu has been considered the drug of choice, but apparently is now considered not effective against the Avian flu.
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