[PAA-Discuss] Bush wants right to use military if bird flu hits to enforce quarantine

[Randy Scott]

The question that's bugging me:

Why is Bush suddenly so fixated on bird flu?

This is a guy who has consistantly demonstrated NO interest in anything scientific and NO interest
in health issues for the American people aside from banning stem cell research and keeping people
alive on feeding tubes.

This is a guy who has demonstrated a hostility toward science in general unless it's important to
his contributors in pharmaceutical corporations or science that can be abused to overturn Roe v.
Wade.

So, why is he suddenly chanting these talking points about bird flu?

Randy

"conspiracy theory":
1. a theory is an idea waiting for the evidence to be revealed;
2. conspiracies happen on golf courses and in board rooms, not dimly-lit, smoke-filled rooms.




--- Sarah Gonzales <slindahl at rounder-graphics.com> wrote:

> are you actually reading this? unbelievable... this article below is  
> from Reuters news service.
> 
> The Wikipedia has a great history and explanation of the Posse  
> Comitatus Act
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act
> 
> and... here's  a story about it in the Houston Chronicle!
> 
> Bush considers changes to Posse Comitatus Act
> Both right and left wary of giving domestic police power to military
> http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/3377358
> 
> <snip>
> Bush wants right to use military if bird flu hits
> http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=N04676934
> 
> (Recasts; adds background, Pentagon reaction, paragraphs 12-16)
> By Charles Aldinger
> 
> WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush asked Congress  
> on Tuesday to consider giving him powers to use the military to  
> enforce quarantines in case of an avian influenza epidemic.
> 
> He said the military, and perhaps the National Guard, might be needed  
> to take such a role if the feared H5N1 bird flu virus changes enough  
> to cause widespread human infection.
> 
> "If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then  
> quarantine that part of the country? And how do you, then, enforce a  
> quarantine?" Bush asked at a news conference.
> 
> "It's one thing to shut down airplanes. It's another thing to prevent  
> people from coming in to get exposed to the avian flu. And who best  
> to be able to effect a quarantine?" Bush added.
> 
> "One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move. So  
> that's why I put it on the table. I think it's an important debate  
> for Congress to have."
> 
> Bird flu has killed more than 60 people in four Asian nations since  
> late 2003 and has been found in birds in Russia and Europe.
> 
> Experts fear that the H5N1 bird flu virus, which appears to be highly  
> fatal when it infects people, will develop the ability to pass easily  
> from person to person and would cause a pandemic that would kill  
> millions.
> 
> "And I think the president ought to have all ... assets on the table  
> to be able to deal with something this significant," Bush said.
> 
> He noted that some governors may object to the federal government  
> commandeering the National Guard, which is under state command in  
> most circumstances.
> 
> POLICE DUTIES BANNED
> 
> "But Congress needs to take a look at circumstances that may need to  
> vest the capacity of the president to move beyond that debate. And  
> one such catastrophe or one such challenge could be an avian flu  
> outbreak," Bush said.
> 
> The active duty military is currently forbidden from undertaking law  
> enforcement duties by the federal Posse Comitatus Act.
> 
> That law, passed in 1878 after the U.S. Civil War, does not prohibit  
> National Guard troops under state control from doing police work.  
> But, unless the law is changed, it would keep them from doing so if  
> they were activated by Washington under federal control.
> 
> While the law allows the president to order the military to take  
> control and do police work in an extreme emergency, the White House  
> has been traditionally reluctant to usurp state powers.
> 
> Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters he was not aware of  
> any current planning by the military to help respond to a flu pandemic.
> 
> But he noted that after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the  
> Gulf region, Bush had asked Congress to consider giving the military  
> control over initial response in dealing with major natural or other  
> domestic disasters.
> 
> "Obviously the (Defense) Department has a tremendous amount of  
> capability in a lot of areas. And we are a large force," Whitman  
> said, noting also that the military had deployed field hospitals to  
> Louisiana after the hurricanes.
> 
> Health experts are working to develop vaccines that would protect  
> against the H5N1 strain of flu, because current influenza vaccines  
> will not.
> 
> And countries are also developing stockpiles of drugs that can reduce  
> the risk of serious disease or even sometimes prevent infection --  
> but supplies and manufacturing capacity are both limited.
> 
> Bush said he was involved in planning for an influenza pandemic,  
> which experts say will definitely come, although they cannot predict  
> when, or whether it will be H5N1 or some other virus. (Additional  
> reporting by Maggie Fox)
>