[Mb-civic] Homeland Security Contracts for Vast New Detention Camps

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

Once again, it's better to be aware of this things than to be in the dark--
and we get to choose whether we get depressed, scared, or angry and 
activated....

Homeland Security Contracts for Vast 
New Detention Camps
News Analysis/Commentary, Peter Dale Scott,
New America Media, Feb 08, 2006
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2427.shtml
Editor's Note: A little-known $385 million contract for 
Halliburton subsidiary KBR to build detention facilities for "an 
emergency influx of immigrants" is another step down the Bush 
administration's road toward martial law, the writer says.

BERKELEY, Calif.--A Halliburton subsidiary has just received a $385 
million contract from the Department of Homeland Security to provide 
"temporary detention and processing capabilities."

The contract -- announced Jan. 24 by the engineering and construction 
firm KBR -- calls for preparing for "an emergency influx of immigrants, 
or to support the rapid development of new programs" in the event of 
other emergencies, such as "a natural disaster." The release offered 
no details about where Halliburton was to build these facilities, or 
when.

To date, some newspapers have worried that open-ended provisions 
in the contract could lead to cost overruns, such as have occurred with 
KBR in Iraq. A Homeland Security spokesperson has responded that 
this is a "contingency contract" and that conceivably no centers might 
be built. But almost no paper so far has discussed the possibility that 
detention centers could be used to detain American citizens if the Bush 
administration were to declare martial law.

For those who follow covert government operations abroad and at 
home, the contract evoked ominous memories of Oliver North's 
controversial Rex-84 "readiness exercise" in 1984. This called for the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to round up and 
detain 400,000 imaginary "refugees," in the context of "uncontrolled 
population movements" over the Mexican border into the United 
States. North's activities raised civil liberties concerns in both 
Congress and the Justice Department. The concerns persist.

"Almost certainly this is preparation for a roundup after the next 9/11 
for Mid-Easterners, Muslims and possibly dissenters," says Daniel 
Ellsberg, a former military analyst who in 1971 released the Pentagon 
Papers, the U.S. military's account of its activities in Vietnam. "They've 
already done this on a smaller scale, with the 'special registration' 
detentions of immigrant men from Muslim countries, and with 
Guantanamo."

Plans for detention facilities or camps have a long history, going back 
to fears in the 1970s of a national uprising by black militants. As 
Alonzo Chardy reported in the Miami Herald on July 5, 1987, an 
executive order for continuity of government (COG) had been drafted 
in 1982 by FEMA head Louis Giuffrida. The order called for 
"suspension of the Constitution" and "declaration of martial law." The 
martial law portions of the plan were outlined in a memo by Giuffrida's 
deputy, John Brinkerhoff.

In 1985, President Reagan signed National Security Decision Directive 
188, one of a series of directives that authorized continued planning for 
COG by a private parallel government.

Two books, James Mann's "Rise of the Vulcans" and James 
Bamford's "A Pretext for War," have revealed that in the 1980s this 
parallel structure, operating outside normal government channels, 
included the then-head of G. D. Searle and Co., Donald Rumsfeld, and 
then-Congressman from Wyoming Dick Cheney.

After 9/11, new martial law plans began to surface similar to those of 
FEMA in the 1980s. In January 2002 the Pentagon submitted a 
proposal for deploying troops on American streets. One month later 
John Brinkerhoff, the author of the 1982 FEMA memo, published an 
article arguing for the legality of using U.S. troops for purposes of 
domestic security.

Then in April 2002, Defense Dept. officials implemented a plan for 
domestic U.S. military operations by creating a new U.S. Northern 
Command (CINC-NORTHCOM) for the continental United States. 
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called this "the most sweeping 
set of changes since the unified command system was set up in 1946."

The NORTHCOM commander, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld 
announced, is responsible for "homeland defense and also serves as 
head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command 
(NORAD).... He will command U.S. forces that operate within the 
United States in support of civil authorities. The command will provide 
civil support not only in response to attacks, but for natural disasters."

John Brinkerhoff later commented on PBS that, "The United States 
itself is now for the first time since the War of 1812 a theater of war. 
That means that we should apply, in my view, the same kind of 
command structure in the United States that we apply in other theaters 
of war."

Then in response to Hurricane Katrina in Sept. 2005, according to the 
Washington Post, White House senior adviser Karl Rove told the 
governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, that she should 
explore legal options to impose martial law "or as close as we can get." 
The White House tried vigorously, but ultimately failed, to compel Gov. 
Blanco to yield control of the state National Guard.

Also in September, NORTHCOM conducted its highly classified 
Granite Shadow exercise in Washington. As William Arkin reported in 
the Washington Post, "Granite Shadow is yet another new Top Secret 
and compartmented operation related to the military's extra-legal 
powers regarding weapons of mass destruction. It allows for 
emergency military operations in the United States without civilian 
supervision or control."

It is clear that the Bush administration is thinking seriously about 
martial law.

Many critics have alleged that FEMA's spectacular failure to respond to 
Katrina followed from a deliberate White House policy: of paring back 
FEMA, and instead strengthening the military for responses to 
disasters.

A multimillion program for detention facilities will greatly increase 
NORTHCOM's ability to respond to any domestic disorders.

Scott is author of "Drugs, Oil, and War: The United States in 
Afghanistan, Colombia, and Indochina" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). 
He is completing a book on "The Road to 9/11." Visit his Web site . 


-- 
You are currently on Mha Atma's Earth Action Network email list, 
option D (up to 3 emails/day).  To be removed, or to switch options 
(option A - 1x/week, option B - 3/wk, option C - up to 1x/day, option D - 
up to 3x/day) please reply and let us know!  If someone forwarded you 
this email and you want to be on our list, send an email to 
ean at sbcglobal.net and tell us which option you'd like.


"A war of aggression is the supreme international crime." -- Robert Jackson,
 former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice and Nuremberg prosecutor

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.islandlists.com/pipermail/mb-civic/attachments/20060223/36e51da7/attachment.htm