Biden backs letting soldiers arrest civilians

The Washington Times ^ | July 22, 2002 | Joyce Howard Price

[robowombat]

A senior rat leads the charge generated by klintinoids in the Pentagon and statists at DOJ to make possible using the armed forces to arrest (and incarcerate?) US citizens. Meanwhile note the ofuscatory rhetoric about how using the armed forces in defense of our borders necessitates such a change. How many soldiers do you think would ever be sent to the Az-Mex border versus how many used to control citizen activities in say Idaho. How long, especially if the rats get the White House, until the need for in-camera trials for native born US citizens accused of "certain classes of crimes" (hint 'hate crimes' will be considered acts of terrorism and the definition of hate crime will be expanded beyond yor wildest dream) will be determined to be a buring necessity in the perpetual war on 'terrorism'.

[Kerberos]

"We should always be reviewing things like Posse Comitatus and other laws, such as the Constitution, if we think it ties our hands in protecting the American people,"

[1bigdictator]

I heard Biden on Sunday morning on Fox discussing this new power. He said it would be necessary for the military to foil any plot using a weapon of mass destruction. Under current law, for instance, if an Arab terrorist were attempting to detonate a suitcase bomb in the Lincoln Tunnel, and the military were the first to arrive, they would not be authorized to either detain or shoot at the terrorist because the military lacks the proper police powers under such circumstances. I say do whatever it takes to track and kill Arab terrorists.

[Types_with_Fist]

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" B.Franklin

[cynicom]

We shall see how asleep the American sheep are.

[Don Myers]

"I say do whatever it takes to track and kill Arab terrorists."

And, thus dies the republic.

[freedomcrusader]

By that logic, they couldn't shoot down planes hijacked by terrorists, either. How do we then explain the fact that our military planes were prepared to do just that - were they violating Posse Comitatus?

[Don Myers]

If Biden is for this thing, people who love their freedom had better take a good, hard look at this proposal.

[cynicom]

People that think like bigdictator scare me.

[LisaFab]

It is my understanding that under the circumstances you outlined above, the military would not need arrest powers. They would be repelling an open, alien attack on our soil which is the military's number one purpose.

I am absolutely against the military having arrest powers on our borders or anywhere else in the USA. It is what the founders feared most but were blessed with General Washington's easing the tensions among his unpaid officers corps after the revolution. A lesser man could have used that tension to rule the new country as many military leaders have done and continue to do.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Will soldiers be allowed to arrest Senators too?

[Types_with_Fist]

Will soldiers be allowed to arrest Senators too?

Not a chance.

[freedomcrusader]

Pretty soon, we'll have soldiers swearing allegiance to Caesar instead of the Constitution.

[joesnuffy]

Anything except racial profiling...its an election year after all......
Hey biden Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo Yankee Oscar Uniform over.........

[steve50]

Ridge, Biden and one of the miltary heads have came out for it. It's should look pretty harmless to start and the media won't have much trouble spinning it to the sheep. Fox seems to be promoting it pretty well already.

[StockAyatollah]

This shows the leftist and the "law and order" conservative are pretty much the same: freedom-haters.

[1bigdictator]

Pan-Arab terror represents more than a minor risk to our safety. If we continue to underestimate the threat from Arab-terror we will all be bowing to Mecca six times a day in fifty years.

You are right, I want to obtain more than "temporary safety"; what good will "essential liberty" be when we are living in a totalitarian Muslim state.

[Don Carlos]

Posse Comitatus = the difference between Banana Republics and the USA.

[Types_with_Fist]

I would agree with you if we had done absolutely anything to protect our borders. My question to you is: What good will this do if we continue to let anybody cross into the US from Canada or Mexico?

[1bigdictator]

Calm down, don't kill the messenger. I was relaying Bidens position on current police powers of the military. If he is wrong and our military is in fact able to confront and detain terrorists on our soil, you all are correct there is no need to expand any powers.