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U.S. Combat Troops in Iraq repatriated to "help with civil unrest" in USA
(Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, September 26, 2008)
The Army Times reports that the 3rd Infantry’s 1st Brigade Combat Team is returning from Iraq to defend the Homeland, as "an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks." The BCT unit has been attached to US Army North, the Army's component of US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM). (See Gina Cavallaro, Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1, Army Times, September 8, 2008). . . . "Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks. . . . It is not the first time an active-duty unit has been tapped to help at home. . . . But this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities. . . . After 1st BCT finishes its dwell-time mission, expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one. . . . The BCT is an army combat unit designed to confront an enemy within a war theater. . . . With US forces overstretched in Iraq, why would the Pentagon decide to undertake this redeployment within the USA, barely one month before the presidential elections? The new mission of the 1st Brigade on US soil is to participate in "defense" efforts as well as provide "support to civilian authorities". . . . What is significant in this redeployment of a US infantry unit is the presumption that North America could, in the case of a national emergency, constitute a "war theater" thereby justifying the deployment of combat units. . . . The new skills to be imparted consist in training 1st BCT in repressing civil unrest, a task normally assumed by civilian law enforcement. . . . What we are dealing with is a militarization of civilian police activities in derogation of the Posse Comitatus Act. . . . Civil unrest resulting from from the financial meltdown is a distinct possibility, given the broad impacts of financial collapse on lifelong savings, pension funds, homeownership, etc. . . . The timing of this planned militarization is crucial: how will it affect the presidential elections scheduled for Tuesday November 4. . . . But at the same time, the Bush administration may be seeking a justification to establish martial law and intervene militarily within the USA. . . . The deployment of an Army combat unit on US territory, with a mission to curb "social unrest" constitutes a dangerous historical precedent. It creates a new legitimacy, namely that combat units can integrate civilian law enforcement functions and that this comes to be accepted both by the US Congress and the American public. . . . It should also be under that the combat units repatriated from Iraq to "defend the Homeland" will be replaced by mercenary forces.

posted by Lorenzo 4:59 PM