On October 1, 2002, George W. Bush established an additional regional military command, which in some grammatical and strategic respects resemble numerous other United States military regional commands currently operating in the Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and South America.
What has made Bush’s creation of an additional command so controversial, alarming, and potentially unconstitutional is the new command, NorthCom, will have responsibilities for numerous ill-defined "emergencies" inside the United States. In a democracy such as ours, the reality of the United States Military becoming increasingly involved in domestic law enforcement during emergencies of various types, should be alarming and chilling to millions upon millions of Americans who are dedicated to the Constitution, civil liberties, and our way of life.
It is a sad but real fact that we cannot trust President Obama (or any President) and the United States Military with the responsibility and ability to deploy soldiers on domestic soil during "emergencies" of numerous types. If we have learned anything from the detention w/out charge and torture of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and Iraq, along with elements of the U. S. Military spying on peaceful protesters and activists during the Bush Administration with the Talon Program, along with detaining innocent Japanese-Americans in internment camps during WWII, is that all powerful institutions, including the United States Military, are capable of violating our trust, Constitution, the law, and threatening our cherished civil liberties.
I’ll expand this with more soon, including the Pentagon’s recent disturbing request for Congress to give the current President and all future Presidents with unprecedented, dangerous, and unconstitutional federal authority over some 400,000 National Guard Military Reservists to be under the authority of the President during vaguely defined "emergencies", but this is a way to get the movement against militarism in American society started.
We must demand that the U.S. Military and the Pentagon respect our democracy, stay completely out of domestic law enforcement during future national emergencies, return to respecting State Governor control over the National Guard during domestic emergencies, and either drastically restrict the power, responsibilities, and serious threat to our democracy represented by NorthCom, or abolish this command.
Please contact your member of Congress to push them to consider restricting and potentially abolishing NorthCom. A movement against militarism and NorthCom could also gain momentum by talking with our friends and families about why the U.S. Military should never be involved in domestic issues, especially law enforcement during emergencies, elections, protests, or disruptions...our Constitution and civil liberties are being seriously damaged.
Here's more about NorthCom