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General: U.S. Military Doesn't Want Police Power
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
General: U.S. Military Doesn't Want Police Power
Wed Jul 24,12:32 PM ET
By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite the specter of new attacks on the United States, the U.S. military opposes any move to give civilian police powers to the armed forces to protect Americans, a top Army general said on Wednesday.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=564&ncid=716&e=11&u=/nm/20020724/ts_nm/attack_military_dc_1
Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. John Keane spoke as the government began to examine possible changes in an 1878 "posse comitatus" law that forbids the military from making arrests and undertaking other law enforcement duties except in dire emergencies.
"We don't see any reason to change," the Army's No. two ranking officer told reporters, adding that the armed forces would continue to operate in an unarmed supporting role for civilian agencies such as airport and border security.
"I think military leaders have always resisted policing the American people. We have police forces that are appropriately trained to do that. ... We have always supported that law for obvious reasons," Keane said in response to questions at a meeting with defense writers.
But a sweeping homeland security plan proposed by President Bush ( news - web sites) last week calls for a review of whether domestic security would be increased by greater involvement of troops and how it could be done after the devastating Sept. 11 attacks on America that killed more than 3,000 people.
Both conservative and liberal members of Congress -- and most Americans, according to past polls -- have traditionally supported the historic separation between police and the military in the United States.
COMMENTS ECHO RUMSFELD
Keane's comments on Wednesday echoed those of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a Pentagon ( news - web sites) briefing this week.
Both said they saw no reason to change the law despite concerns among Americans that the country be adequately protected against any repeat of the attacks using airliners hijacked by radical Muslim guerrillas of the al Qaeda network.
"I don't think anyone should hold their breath waiting for changes in posse comitatus," Rumsfeld told reporters.
But the secretary said any final decision would rest with Bush and Congress.
Independent defense and political analysts have said there is little likelihood that U.S. troops would begin carrying handcuffs and standing armed on street corners except in a national emergency.
But Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said this week that Washington needed to review laws governing the military to ensure flexible response to "terrorism threats" facing the United States.
Keane warned, however, that the nation must not become too dependent on the use of part-time National Guard troops for domestic duties because they had a dual role in protecting the country abroad and at home.
"Our view, the Army's view, is that homeland security is clearly a very important mission," he said. "But as it pertains to the guard, we see the guard being able to do primary war-fighting missions as well as homeland security.
"We don't see the guard just having a singular mission of homeland security."
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Wed Jul 24,12:32 PM ET
By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite the specter of new attacks on the United States, the U.S. military opposes any move to give civilian police powers to the armed forces to protect Americans, a top Army general said on Wednesday.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=564&ncid=716&e=11&u=/nm/20020724/ts_nm/attack_military_dc_1
Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. John Keane spoke as the government began to examine possible changes in an 1878 "posse comitatus" law that forbids the military from making arrests and undertaking other law enforcement duties except in dire emergencies.
"We don't see any reason to change," the Army's No. two ranking officer told reporters, adding that the armed forces would continue to operate in an unarmed supporting role for civilian agencies such as airport and border security.
"I think military leaders have always resisted policing the American people. We have police forces that are appropriately trained to do that. ... We have always supported that law for obvious reasons," Keane said in response to questions at a meeting with defense writers.
But a sweeping homeland security plan proposed by President Bush ( news - web sites) last week calls for a review of whether domestic security would be increased by greater involvement of troops and how it could be done after the devastating Sept. 11 attacks on America that killed more than 3,000 people.
Both conservative and liberal members of Congress -- and most Americans, according to past polls -- have traditionally supported the historic separation between police and the military in the United States.
COMMENTS ECHO RUMSFELD
Keane's comments on Wednesday echoed those of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a Pentagon ( news - web sites) briefing this week.
Both said they saw no reason to change the law despite concerns among Americans that the country be adequately protected against any repeat of the attacks using airliners hijacked by radical Muslim guerrillas of the al Qaeda network.
"I don't think anyone should hold their breath waiting for changes in posse comitatus," Rumsfeld told reporters.
But the secretary said any final decision would rest with Bush and Congress.
Independent defense and political analysts have said there is little likelihood that U.S. troops would begin carrying handcuffs and standing armed on street corners except in a national emergency.
But Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said this week that Washington needed to review laws governing the military to ensure flexible response to "terrorism threats" facing the United States.
Keane warned, however, that the nation must not become too dependent on the use of part-time National Guard troops for domestic duties because they had a dual role in protecting the country abroad and at home.
"Our view, the Army's view, is that homeland security is clearly a very important mission," he said. "But as it pertains to the guard, we see the guard being able to do primary war-fighting missions as well as homeland security.
"We don't see the guard just having a singular mission of homeland security."
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878