General Ray Odierno, the current chief of staff of the army, wrote an op-ed for Foreign Relations May/June 2012 edition that show the general has no concept of Constitutional law, his oath to protect the same, nor an understanding (or care, more like) of the dangers and illegality of his suggestions.
Odierno — like any general officer in history that scents his nation is a target for autocracy — penned an opinion in line with the often-treasonous, internationalist Council on Foreign Affairs in which he suggests the U.S. Army should be used to plan, command, and execute (with the help of federal law enforcement, of course!) policing of the United States. At no point does Odierno reference the Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids this exact action (and is the reason why the National Defense Authorization Act is such a danger — it provides a legal basis to do so) after the disastrous effect on personal liberties the use of the military during Reconstruction had.
The general’s plans to build a “flexible force” that would “provide civilian officials with a robust set of reliable and rapid response options…” So just in case the SWAT team that was serving your warrant wasn’t violent enough, now you can face a team of Army Rangers and maybe some Hellfire missile-armed drones.
One of the reasons for this shift in Odierno’s mind is the sudden decline in military budgets…which were necessitated by mass military action over the course of a decade. He makes a plea for redirecting the focus toward the Pacific — because starting a war with China or its proxies would guarantee the money and power keeps flowing to the Pentagon and the contractors making trillions on the constant state of war. But moving the troops home to war on their own people is not only 1) illegal, but 2) going to be just as costly.
That doesn’t matter, however, to the internationalists at CFR, and not to the general. The real reason for this op-ed was that the permanent warfare state is in danger of having to roll up its tents; generals like Odierno are not content to bankrupt the nation lying to us about the situation in Afghanistan…they want the ability to bring the fight to the people that pay them. And their paymasters in Washington want the same thing — the internet and a healthy suspicion on both sides of the political fence over their mismanagement of the country have the People looking cashier them…something a career bureaucrat or politician cannot stomach.
Look at the President’s stated acceptance of official murder as part of his job, and his delighted leaks of OPSEC concerning the use of drones to kill folks worldwide in the War on Terror — even making sure we all understood he is the “last moral authority” on the killshots. He’s Tough on Terror, folks! Don’t forget to vote in ’12!
You don’t think a man who delights zapping tangos via drone, or in selling guns to Mexican drug lords to stir up violence on the border in a pathetic and illegal excuse to go after gun rights isn’t going to use his last moral authority to use the military — if given the opportunity — to quash dissent? Odierno is the military mouthpiece for an administration that desperately wants to knock the last Constitutional supports out from under the population. Because Odierno certainly knows Roman history — and once there’s an unpopular autocracy in place, it’s always up to the military “ride to the rescue”, as it did in Egypt. You see how well it turned out for the Romans. Or the Soviets. Or the Egyptians.
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