Lynndie England. Poster girl for why the military should not be civil police.
President GW has suddenly got the notion in his head that the military should become our police force. Why the hell not? They already fight our wars, help with disasters, perform aid missions around the world, provide neat backdrops for speeches by Bush and his merry fellows. Bush has been talking about using the military as a more authoritarian force during disasters in the wake of having his ass handed to him in the recent Katrina public relations dustup. Yesterday, he again brought the subject of using the military for police purposes up while talking about Bird flu from Asia:
“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? When — 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? One option is the use of a military that’s able to plan and move.”
Yes that’s one option Mr. President. Next thing you will hear is the dreaded:
“Ve need to see your pa-pas, old man.”
To be sure, there will be a certain number of nutcases and GI Joes (pretend soldiers) and Secret Squirrels (marginal or pretend special forces) who think this is just a dandy idea. This is despite the Posse Comitatus Act preventing the military from performing ordinary police functions. These same people are the kind of people who like to collect SS memorabilia and name their children Adolf.
Fortunately, most serious professional military people have a deep disdain for such a notion. Who knows better than the soldier, sailor, Marine, airman, Coast Guard, etc., that war is job one. And given the fact that this administration has us ass deep in war don’t you think we should be concentrating on that task before deciding this democracy should be turned into a police state?
Overreacting? I blather, you decide.