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Martial Law, Detention Camps

and Kangaroo Courts: Are We
Recreating the Third Reich?
By John W. Whitehead
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak
outBecause I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the
Trade Unionists, and I did not speak outBecause I was not
a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the J ews, and I did not
speak outBecause I was not a J ew. Then they came for
meand there was no one left to speak for me.Martin
Niemoller
May 06 2014 "ICH" - Despite what some may think, the Constitution
is no magical incantation against government wrongdoing. Indeed, its
only as effective as those who abide by it. However, without courts
willing to uphold the Constitutions provisions when government
officials disregard it and a citizenry knowledgeable enough to be
outraged when those provisions are undermined, it provides little to
no protection against SWAT team raids, domestic surveillance, police
shootings of unarmed citizens, indefinite detentions, and the like.
Unfortunately, the courts and the police have meshed in their thinking
to such an extent that anything goes when its done in the name of
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national security, crime fighting and terrorism. Consequently,
America no longer operates under a system of justice characterized by
due process, an assumption of innocence, probable cause and clear
prohibitions on government overreach and police abuse. Instead, our
courts of justice have been transformed into courts of order,
advocating for the governments interests, rather than championing
the rights of the citizenry, as enshrined in the Constitution.
J ust recently, for example, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in
U.S. v. Westhoven that driving too carefully, with a rigid posture,
taking a scenic route, and having acne are sufficient reasons for a
police officer to suspect you of doing something illegal, detain you,
search your car, and arrest youeven if youve done nothing illegal
to warrant the stop in the first place.
In that same vein, the U.S. Supreme Court declared in a 5-4 ruling in
Navarette v. California that police officers can, under the guise of
reasonable suspicion, stop cars and question drivers based solely on
anonymous tips, no matter how dubious, and whether or not they
themselves witnessed any troubling behavior.
And then you have the Supreme Courts refusal to hear Hedges v.
Obama, a legal challenge to the indefinite detention provision of the
National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA), thereby
affirming that the President and the U.S. military can arrest and
indefinitely detain individuals, including American citizens, based on
a suspicion that they might be associated with or aiding terrorist
organizations.
All three cases reflect a mindset in which the rule of law, the U.S.
Constitution, once the map by which we navigated sometimes hostile
terrain, has been unceremoniously booted out of the runaway car that
is our government, driven over and left for road kill on the side of the
road. All that can be seen in the rear view mirror are the tire marks on
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its ragged frame.
What we are dealing with, as I document in my book A Government
of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, is a run-away
government hyped up on its own power, whose policies are dictated
more by paranoia than need. Making matters worse, we the people
have become so gullible, so easily distracted, and so out-of-touch that
we are ignoring the warning signs all around us and failing to demand
that government officials of all stripesthe White House, Congress,
the courts, the military, law enforcement, the endless parade of
bureaucrats, etc.respect our rights and abide by the rule of law.
The Supreme Courts refusal to hear the NDAA indefinite detention
casewhich challenged whether the government can lawfully lock up
American citizens who might be deemed extremists or terrorists (the
government likes to use these words interchangeably) for criticizing
the governmentis one such warning sign that we would do well to
heed.
The building blocks are already in place for such an eventuality: the
surveillance networks, fusion centers and government contractors
already monitor what is being said by whom; government databases
track who poses a potential threat to the governments power; the
militarized police, working in conjunction with federal agencies,
coordinate with the federal government when its time to round up the
troublemakers; the courts sanction the governments methods, no
matter how unlawful; and the detention facilities, whether private
prisons or FEMA internment camps, to lock up the troublemakers.
For those who can read the writing on the wall, its all starting to
make sense: the military drills carried out in major American cities,
the VIPR inspections at train depots and bus stations, the SWAT team
raids on unsuspecting homeowners, the Black Hawk helicopters
patrolling American skies, the massive ammunition purchases by
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various federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland
Security, the Department of Education, the IRS and the Social
Security Administration.
Viewed in conjunction with the governments increasing use of
involuntary commitment laws to declare individuals mentally ill and
lock them up in psychiatric wards for extended periods of time, the
NDAAs provision allowing the military to arrest and indefinitely
detain anyone, including American citizens, only codifies this
unraveling of our constitutional framework.
Throw in the profit-driven corporate incentive to jail Americans in
private prisons, as well as the criminalizing of such relatively
innocent activities as holding Bible studies in ones home or sharing
unpasteurized goat cheese with members of ones community, and it
becomes clear that we the people have become enemies of the state.
Thus, its no longer a question of whether the government will lock
up Americans for First Amendment activity but when. (Its
particularly telling that the governments lawyers, when pressed for
an assurance that those exercising their First Amendment rights in
order to criticize the government would not be targeted under the
NDAA, refused to provide one.)
History shows that the U.S. government is not averse to locking up its
own citizens for its own purposes. One need only go back to the
1940s, when the federal government proclaimed that J apanese-
Americans, labeled potential dissidents, could be put in concentration
(a.k.a. internment) camps based only upon their ethnic origin, to see
the lengths the federal government will go to in order to maintain
order in the homeland. The U.S. Supreme Court validated the
detention program in Korematsu v. US (1944), concluding that the
governments need to ensure the safety of the country trumped
personal liberties. That decision has never been overturned.
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In fact, the creation of detention camps domestically has long been
part of the governments budget and operations, falling under the
jurisdiction of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
FEMAs murky history dates back to the 1970s, when President
Carter created it by way of an executive order merging many of the
governments disaster relief agencies into one large agency. During
the 1980s, however, reports began to surface of secret military-type
training exercises carried out by FEMA and the Department of
Defense. Code named Rex-84, 34 federal agencies, including the CIA
and the Secret Service, were trained on how to deal with domestic
civil unrest.
FEMAs role in creating top-secret American internment camps is
well-documented. But be careful who you share this information with:
it turns out that voicing concerns about the existence of FEMA
detention camps is among the growing list of opinions and activities
which may make a federal agent or government official think youre
an extremist (a.k.a. terrorist), or sympathetic to terrorist activities, and
thus qualify you for indefinite detention under the NDAA. Also
included in that list of dangerous viewpoints are advocating states
rights, believing the state to be unnecessary or undesirable,
conspiracy theorizing, concern about alleged FEMA camps,
opposition to war, organizing for economic justice, frustration with
mainstream ideologies, opposition to abortion, opposition to
globalization, and ammunition stockpiling.
Now if youre going to have internment camps on American soil,
someone has to build them. Thus, in 2006, it was announced that
Kellogg Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, had been
awarded a $385 million contract to build American detention
facilities. Although the government and Halliburton were not
forthcoming about where or when these domestic detention centers
would be built, they rationalized the need for them in case of an
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emergency influx of immigrants, or to support the rapid development
of new programs in the event of other emergencies such as natural
disasters.
Of course, these detention camps will have to be used for anyone
viewed as a threat to the government, and that includes political
dissidents. So its no coincidence that the U.S. government has, since
the 1980s, acquired and maintained, without warrant or court order, a
database of names and information on Americans considered to be
threats to the nation. As Salon reports, this database, reportedly
dubbed Main Core, is to be used by the Army and FEMA in times
of national emergency or under martial law to locate and round up
Americans seen as threats to national security. As of 2008, there were
some 8 million Americans in the Main Core database.
Fast forward to 2009, when the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) released two reports, one on Rightwing Extremism, which
broadly defines rightwing extremists as individuals and groups that
are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of
state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely,
and one on Leftwing Extremism, which labeled environmental and
animal rights activist groups as extremists. Both reports use the words
terrorist and extremist interchangeably. That same year, the DHS
launched Operation Vigilant Eagle, which calls for surveillance of
military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, characterizing
them as extremists and potential domestic terrorist threats because
they may be disgruntled, disillusioned or suffering from the
psychological effects of war.
These reports indicate that for the government, so-called extremism is
not a partisan matter. Anyone seen as opposing the government
whether theyre Left, Right or somewhere in betweenis a target,
which brings us back, full circle, to where we started, with the
NDAAs indefinite detention provision, whose language is so broad
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6 de 13 07/05/2014 06:56
and vague as to implicate anyone critical of the government.
Unfortunately, we seem to be coming full circle on many fronts.
Consider that a decade ago we were debating whether
non-citizensfor example, so-called enemy combatants being held at
Guantanamo Bay and Muslim-Americans rounded up in the wake of
9/11were entitled to protections under the Constitution, specifically
as they relate to indefinite detention. Americans werent overly
concerned about the rights of non-citizens then, and now were the
ones in the unenviable position of being targeted for indefinite
detention by our own government.
Similarly, most Americans werent unduly concerned when the U.S.
Supreme Court gave Arizona police officers the green light to stop,
search and question anyoneostensibly those fitting a particular
racial profilethey suspect might be an illegal immigrant. Two years
later, the cops have carte blanche authority to stop any individual,
citizen and non-citizen alike, they suspect might be doing something
illegal (mind you, in this age of overcriminalization, that could be
anything from feeding the birds to growing exotic orchids).
Likewise, you still have a sizeable portion of the population today
unconcerned about the governments practice of spying on
Americans, having been brainwashed into believing that if youre not
doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about. It will only
be a matter of time before they learn the hard way that in a police
state, it doesnt matter who you are or how righteous you claim to
beeventually, you will be lumped in with everyone else and
everything you do will be wrong and suspect.
Martin Niemoller learned that particular lesson the hard way. A
German military officer turned theologian, Niemoller was an early
supporter of Hitlers rise to power. It was only when Hitler threatened
to attack the churches that Niemoller openly opposed the regime. For
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7 de 13 07/05/2014 06:56
his efforts, Neimoller was arrested, charged with activities against the
government, fined, detained, and eventually interned in the
Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1938 to 1945.
As Niemoller reportedly replied when asked by his cellmate why he
ever supported the Nazi party:
I find myself wondering about that too. I wonder about it as
much as I regret it. Still, it is true that Hitler betrayed me
Hitler promised me on his word of honor, to protect the
Church, and not to issue any anti-Church laws. He also
agreed not to allow pogroms against the J ews Hitler's
assurance satisfied me at the timeI am paying for that
mistake now; and not me alone, but thousands of other
persons like me.
John W. Whitehead is an attorney and author who has written,
debated and practiced widely in the area of constitutional law and
human rights. Whitehead's concern for the persecuted and oppressed
led him, in 1982, to establish The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit
civil liberties and human rights organization whose international
headquarters are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.
https://www.rutherford.org/
Copyright 2014 The Rutherford Institute
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Martial Law, Detention Camps and Kangaroo Courts: Are We Recreating... http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38428.htm
8 de 13 07/05/2014 06:56
+3 anotherbob
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Comments (12)
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13 hours ago
The corporatists are clearly going to fail in their globalization schemes and we the little
people of the world are going to be the losers. At this point it is clear that the corporatists
own our federal government, many if not all of our state governments and the media. The
only space left for the people is on the local level. As we can see, however, from the
experience of oppressed people in the 2nd and third world there is no hiding from the
masters and their lust for wealth, and the power that wealth can buy.
Unfortunately humans are group animals and therefore susceptible to the manipulations
of self-centered power hungry "leaders" who have throughout history led us into war and
slavery. The ego maniacs among us create "glorious" empires out of "exceptional
nations" that in time lose all semblance of goodness and wind up fighting ruinous wars
like WWI and WWII.
Without a populace committed to love and justice there is simply no defense against the
killers among us. Since no populace has ever been largely committed to love and justice
the empires have always risen, declined and then fell with deadly consequences. As the
human population dependent upon the global empire of the western capitalists grows it
becomes ever more important that the enforcers of the empire have the power to detain
and imprison anyone without due process.
In time this Anglo American empire will meet up with a "just as crazy leader" of a nuclear
power and their global empire will become history along with many, if not all, of the rest of
us. We'd all like it to be different but it's not.

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9 de 13 07/05/2014 06:56
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+1 william B. Smith
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+5 Andre
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+4 anotherbob
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+1 Andre
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ago
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comments:
"I think that 40% of the
blame should...
1 hour ago
Comments by
IntenseDebate
12 hours ago
Hello Patriots,
I don't know if the American people are beginning to see a pattren when it comes to our
Veterans. The Government uses the people. The people sign up and join the Military go
off to war and come back with mental problems and loss of limbs. They turn to the VA for
help, and get crapped on, put on waiting lists, cannot get their medicines for long lenths
of time. The Government uses them, then forgets them.
What a way to treat the Veterans for doing their service .
W.B.Smith, Tea Party
2 repli es active 7 hours ago
11 hours ago
You are right about Veterans who were drafted or desperate and refused to kill, maim,
and torture others. But those who volunteered to kill, maim, and torture, deserve no
sympathy.
7 hours ago
In an ideal world where every young potential recruit had accurate information as to
what the Empire was about as well as viable economic choices I would agree that
those who freely choose to be killers for the state should not be accorded our
sympathy. In fact they would be war criminals just as those who led us into these
illegal immoral wars of empire.
This however is generally not the case and the young recruit is told/sold a pack of
lies. Most have no viable skills or adequate education coming from among the
poorest of the rural and urban poor. These are victims and "there but for the grace
of God go you or I." These veterans have my deepest sympathy.
11 hours ago
"a suspicion that they might be associated with or aiding terrorist organizations."
This would include everyone who supports the US military/security complex - assuming
that "terrorist organization" means an organization that has terrorized millions of people
around the world.
1 reply active 9 hours ago
Martial Law, Detention Camps and Kangaroo Courts: Are We Recreating... http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38428.htm
10 de 13 07/05/2014 06:56
+5 Abaddon441
Report Reply
0 J ackie
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+8 Thomas Nelson
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+2 Terrapin
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+1 trimethr202
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+1 Kurt O
9 hours ago
When you get down to brass tax, "terrorism" translates into "any activity that defies the
established monopoly on force" - ergo, anyone who dares to challenge the established
powers will be labeled as "terrorists" while the agents of the establishment avoid the
label.
It's time that this meaningless word is retired and taken out of our language...
10 hours ago
Okay will do and this was really a great eye opener if one wants the truth. It still is nothing
more than chasing a ball all over hoping to find the real truth and all the time it is within all
of us if we only just slow down breathe deeply and then continue, thanks.
10 hours ago
I am an attorney, and Mr. Whitehead is making a critical point: The loss of our freedoms
post-9/11 is the fault of our federal judges. Politicians always seek more power and often
use fear bordering on mass hysteria to achieve it (witness the Korematsu case). It is the
job of appointed-for-life federal judges to serve first the Constitution instead of the
whim-de-jour. Mr. Whitehead points out that the judges have failed us when we needed
them most.
8 hours ago
SIEG HEIL
7 hours ago
Excellent!
5 hours ago
"As Salon reports, this database, reportedly dubbed Main Core, is to be used by the
Army and FEMA in times of national emergency or under martial law to locate and round
up Americans seen as threats to national security."
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11 de 13 07/05/2014 06:56
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4 hours ago
Shouldn't that be the 4th Reich?
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