Posse Comitatus

In his latest attempt to divert attention from the catastrophe that is Iraq, the pending indictment of his brain (Karl Rove), his anemic poll numbers, and the most recent revelations regarding his domestic spying scheme, President Bush has tossed out the idea that we should send the National Guard to patrol the southern U.S. border. Never mind the fact that any domestic law enforcement activities taken on by the U.S. military would be a violation of the “Posse Comitatus” act of 1878. After all, Bush hasn’t met a U.S. law he wasn’t willing to violate. Perhaps he can consult with Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and get one of his “signing statements” amended to the law.

This idea, like the idea of invading Iraq, is a disaster waiting to happen. The National Guard is neither trained, nor qualified to be border patrol agents. The role of the Guard has traditionally been one of responding to domestic crises, oftentimes to natural disasters. And yet nine months after the devastation of hurricane Katrina along the Gulf coast, rather than deploying our National Guard forces to help rebuild New Orleans, Gulf Port, and other areas, we’re going to deploy them to guard the border? Where the HELL are our leader’s priorities?

Many of the guardsmen who would be called up for this deployment have already had combat tours in Iraq, and have already spent enough time away from their families. Now, after being involved in a major military conflict, where “shoot to kill” was often a required mandate for survival, we’re going to send these soldiers down to our southern border, armed no doubt, and tell them to “secure the border.” How long will it be before the first potential illegal immigrants are returned to Mexico in body bags? How long until guardsmen on the border come home the same way? And what, may I ask, will that have accomplished?

Our illustrious President is going to go on national TV tonight to sell this proposition to the American people. The question is, will we be as gullible as we have been in the past regarding this administration’s cavalier attitude towards the lives of our men and women in uniform? Will we allow the further erosion of any semblance of accountability by this administration? And will we allow this President to ignore the Posse Comitatus act, as he has ignored so many other of our nation’s laws since he took the oath of office?