What are the chances of a "National Emergency" being declared?

Question

A friend of mine said this:"Look for a "catastrophic emergency" right around late summer or just before election 2008. There'll be an attempt at marshall law... maybe no election. He'll just be forced to stay in office in order to deal with this national chrisis."

Im inclined to think it is hogwash too, however, recently Buish signed a law that grants him complete presidential order to do pretty much whatever he needed to in the "interest of national security" This means bypassing the Senate, also.

Oh, to the "Im as dumb as my friend" comment--havent you been reading the Patriot Act? Apparantly not--here's additonal food for thought:
The "National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive," with the dual designation of NSPD-51, as a National Security Presidential Directive, and HSPD-20, as a Homeland Security Presidential Directive, establishes under the office of president a new National Continuity Coordinator.

NSPD-51/ HSPD-20 appears to supersede the National Emergency Act by creating the new position of National Continuity Coordinator without any specific act of Congress authorizing the position.

NSPD-51/ HSPD-20 also makes no reference whatsoever to Congress. The language of the May 9 directive appears to negate any a requirement that the president submit to Congress a determination that a national emergency exists, suggesting instead that the powers of the executive order can be implemented without any congressional approval or oversight.

Ill say this finally: I grew up in a time that freedom meant "freedom from tyranny". The last three adminiistartions have suceeded in brainwashing Americans into thinking that freedom merely means "freedom from terrorism".

Answer 1

This will assist you forming your own opinion - -

Some of you are not old enough to remember that nearly every family in America was grossly affected by WWII. Most of you don’t remember the rationing of meat, shoes, gasoline, and sugar, no tires for our automobiles, and a speed limit of 35 miles an hour on the road, not to mention, no new automobiles. Read this and think about how we would react to being taken over by foreigners in 2007.

This is an EXCELLENT essay; well thought out and presented.

Historical Significance

Sixty-three years ago, Nazi Germany had overrun almost all of Europe and hammered England to the verge of bankruptcy and defeat. The Nazis had sunk more than 400 British ships in their convoys between England and America taking food and war materials.

At that time the U.S. was in an isolationist, pacifist mood, and most Americans w anted nothing to do with the European or the Asian war.

Then along came Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 , and in outrage Congress unanimously declared war on Japan , and the following day on Germany , who had not yet attacked us. It was a dicey thing; we had few allies.

France was not an ally, as the Vichy Government of France quickly aligned itself with its German occupiers. Germany was certainly not an ally, as Hitler was intent on setting up a Thousand Year Reich in Europe. Japan was not an ally, as it was well on its way to owning and controlling all of Asia.

Together, Japan and Germany had long-range plans of invading Canada and Mexico , as launching pads to get into the United States over our northern and southern borders, after they finished gaining control of Asia and Europe.

America’s only allies then were England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, Australia, and Russia. That was about it. All of Europe, from Norway to Italy (except Russia in the East) was already under the Nazi heel.

The U.S. was certainly not prepared for war. The U.S. had drastically downgraded most of its military forces after WWI because of the depression, so that at the outbreak of WWII, Army units were training with broomsticks because they didn't have guns, and cars with "tank" painted on the doors because they didn't have real tanks. A huge chunk of our Navy had just been sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor.

Britain had already gone bankrupt, saved only by the donation of $600 million in gold bullion in the Bank of England (that was actually the property of Belgium) given by Belgium to England to carry on the war when Belgium was overrun by Hitler (a little known fact).

Actually, Belgium surrendered after one day, because it was unable to oppose the German invasion, and the Germans bombed Brussels into rubble the next day just to prove they could.

Britain had already been holding out for two years in the face of staggering losses and the near decimation of its Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain, and was saved from being overrun by Germany only because Hitler made the mistake of thinking the Brits were a relatively minor threat that could be dealt with later. Hitler, first turned his attention to Russia, in the late summer of 1940 at a time when England was on the verge of collapse.

Ironically, Russia saved America 's butt by putting up a desperate fight for two years, until the U.S. got geared up to begin hammering away at Germany.

Russia lost something like 24,000,000 people in the sieges of Stalingrad and Moscow alone; 90% of them from cold and starvation, mostly civilians, but also more than a 1,000,000 Soldiers.

Had Russia surrendered, Hitler would have been able to focus his entire war effort against the Brits, then America. If that had happened, the Nazis could possibly have won the war.

All of this has been brought out to illustrate that turning points in history are often dicey things.

Now, we find ourselves at another one of those key moments in history.

There is a very dangerous minority in Islam that either has, or wants, and may soon have, the ability to deliver small nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, almost anywhere in the world.

The Jihadis, the militant Muslims, are basically Nazis in Kaffiyahs - they believe that Islam, a radically conservative form of Wahhabi Islam, should own and control the Middle East first, then Europe, then the world. To them, all who do not bow to their will of thinking should be killed, enslaved, or subjugated. They want to finish the Holocaust, destroy Israel, and purge the world of Jews. This is their mantra (goal).

There is also a civil war raging in the Middle East - for the most part not a hot war, but a war of ideas. Islam is having its Inquisition and its Reformation, but it is not yet known which side will win - the Inquisitors, or the Reformationists.

If the Inquisition wins, then the Wahhabis, the Jihadis, will control the Middle East, the OPEC oil, and the U.S., European, and Asian economies.

The techno-industrial economies will be at the mercy of OPEC - not an OPEC dominated by the educated, rational Saudis of today, but an OPEC dominated by the Jihadis. Do you want gas in your car? Do you want heating oil next winter? Do you want the dollar to be worth anything? You had better hope the Jihad, the Muslim Inquisition, loses, and the Islamic Reformation wins.

If the Reformation movement wins, that is, the moderate Muslims who believe that Islam can respect and tolerate other religions, live in peace with the rest of the world, and move out of the 10th century into the 21st, then the troubles in the Middle East will eventually fade away. A moderate and prosperous Middle East will emerge.

We have to help the Reformation win, and to do that we have to fight the Inquisition, i.e., the Wahhabi movement, the Jihad, Al Qaeda and the Islamic terrorist movements. We have to do it somewhere. We can't do it everywhere at once. We have created a focal point for the battle at a time and place of our choosing - in Iraq. Not in New York, not in London, or Paris or Berlin, but in Iraq, where we are doing two important things.

(1) We deposed Saddam Hussein. Whether Saddam Hussein was directly involved in the 9/11 terrorist attack or not, it is undisputed that Saddam has been actively supporting the terrorist movement for decades. Saddam was a terrorist! Saddam was a weapon of mass destruction, responsible for the deaths of probably more than a 1,000,000 Iraqis and 2,000,000 Iranians.

(2) We created a battle, a confrontation, a flash point, with Islamic terrorism in Iraq. We have focused the battle. We are killing bad people, and the ones we get there we won't have to get here. We also have a good shot at creating a democratic, peaceful Iraq, which will be a catalyst for democratic change in the rest of the Middle East, and an outpost for a stabilizing American military presence in the Middle East for as long as it is needed.

WWII, the war with the Japanese and German Nazis, really began with a “whimper” in 1928. It did not begin with Pearl Harbor. It began with the Japanese invasion of China. It was a war for fourteen years before the U.S. joined it. It officially ended in 1945 - a 17 year war - and was followed by another decade of U.S. occupation in Germany and Japan to get those countries reconstructed and running on their own a gain; a 27 year war.

WWII cost the United States an amount equal to approximately a full year's GDP - adjusted for inflation, equal to about $12 trillion dollars. WWII cost America more than 400,000 Soldiers killed in action, and nearly 100,000 Soldiers still missing in action.

The Iraq war has, so far, cost the United States about $160,000,000,000, which is roughly what the 9/11 terrorist attack cost New York. It has also cost about 3,000 American lives, which is roughly equivalent to lives that the Jihad killed (within the United States) in the 9/11 terrorist attack.

The cost of not fighting and winning WWII would have been unimaginably greater - a world dominated by Japanese Imperialism and German Nazism.

This is not a 60-Minutes TV show, or a 2-hour movie in which everything comes out okay. The real world is not like that. It is messy, uncertain, and sometimes bloody and ugly. It always has been, and probably always will be.

The bottom line is that we will have to deal with Islamic terrorism until we defeat it, whenever that is. It will not go away if we ignore it.

If the U.S. can create a reasonably democratic and stable Iraq, then we have an ally, like England , in the Middle East, a platform, from which we can work to help modernize and moderate the Middle East. The history of the world is the clash between the forces of relative civility and civilization, and the barbarians clamoring at the gates to conquer the world.

The Iraq War is merely another battle in this ancient and never ending war. Now, for the first time ever, the barbarians are about to get nuclear weapons. Unless somebody prevents them from getting them.

We have four options:

1. We can defeat the Jihad now, before it gets nuclear weapons.

2. We can fight the Jihad later, after it gets nuclear weapons (which may be as early as next year, if Iran 's progress on nuclear weapons is what Iran claims it is).

3. We can surrender to the Jihad and accept its dominance in the Middle East now; in Europe in the next few years or decades, and ultimately in America.

OR

4. We can stand down now, and pick up the fight later when the Jihad is more widespread and better armed, perhaps after the Jihad has dominated France and Germany and possibly most of the rest of Europe. It will, of course, be more dangerous, more expensive, and much bloodier.

If you oppose this war, I hope you like the idea that your children, or grandchildren, may live in an Islamic America under the Mullahs and the Sharia, an America that resembles Iran today.

The history of the world is the history of civilization clashes, cultural clashes. All wars are about ideas, ideas about what society and civilization should be like, and the most determined always win.

Those who are willing to be the most ruthless always win. The pacifists always lose, because the anti-pacifists kill them.

Remember, perspective is everything, and America's schools teach too little history for perspective to be clear, especially in the young American mind.

The Cold War lasted from about 1947 at least until the Berlin Wall came down in 1989; forty-two years!

Europe spent the first half of the 19th century fighting Napoleon, and from 1870 to 1945 fighting Germany!

World War II began in 1928, lasted 17 years, plus a ten year occupation, and the U.S. still have troops in Germany and Japan. World War II resulted in the death of more than 50,000,000 people, maybe more than 100,000,000 people, depending on which estimates you accept.

The U.S. has taken more than 3,000 killed in action in Iraq. The U.S. took more than 4,000 killed in action on the morning of June 6, 1944, the first day of the Normandy Invasion to rid Europe of Nazi Imperialism.

In WWII the U.S. averaged 2,000 KIA a week - for four years. Most of the individual battles of WWII lost more Americans than the entire Iraq war has done so far.

The stakes are at least as high. A world dominated by representative Governments with civil rights, human rights, and personal freedoms - or a world dominated by a radical Islamic Wahhabi movement, by the Jihad, under the Mullahs and the Sharia (Islamic law).

It's difficult to understand why the average American does not grasp this. They favor human rights, civil rights, liberty and freedom, but evidently not for Iraqis.

“Peace Activists” always seem to demonstrate here in America , where it's safe.

Why don't we see Peace Activists demonstrating in Iran, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, North Korea, in the places that really need peace activism the most? I'll tell you why! They would be killed!

The liberal mentality is supposed to favor human rights, civil rights, democracy, multiculturalism, diversity, etc., but if the Jihad wins, wherever the Jihad wins, it is the end of civil rights, human rights, democracy, multiculturalism, diversity, etc.

Americans who oppose the liberation of Iraq are coming down on the side of their own worst enemy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Raymond S. Kraft is a writer and an attorney living in Northern California that has studied the Middle Eastern culture and religion
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Answer 2

Your friend is stupid. And you are almost as dumb listening to him.

Read the Constitution. Article I. It is Congress that runs the elections. You think the Democrat controlled Congress would let Bush call off the elections?. Even in WW Two, we had the 1944 elections.

Read the Constitution Amendment XXII. A president can only serve two elected terms. Regardless of what happens, Bush will be out of there by 1201 PM on Jan 20, 2009.

Tell your friend to do a little research before coming up with stupid theories. Or better yet, you do a little research before posting "your friend's" stupid theories here.

Answer 3

I've always prided myself at keeping up with the latest news. I have never heard of this "rumor" but if it is true and marshall law is declared, I would be hard pressed to remember another time when this has happened. I thank you for this question, because I apparently grew up in the same era as you and I'm going to Google every site I can find. If it is indeed, true, seems like we should start doing something about it right now. Thank you again for the heads up.

Answer 4

I hope it won't happen, and I hope if it does that the people will rise up and o something about it.

If i happens with a establishment of Marshall Law, remember those of us who stand up will be face to face with the American Military.

Bush has trample all over Posse Commentates.

Remember this quote
"It would be much easier if this were a dictatorship, just as long as I was the dictator" (he he he) big grin on his face
Current president of the United States of America George Bush, Dec 19th 2000

Answer 5

Naivete' is the blessing for all politicians. Hitler once said that the bigger the lie, the better it will be believed by most of the "people". Hitler also said: "How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think."

In the past fifty years, the U.S. government has LIED to its citizenry dozens of times:
a) There is speculation that FDR knew about the pending attacke on Pearl Harbor, but did nothing, knowing it would lead to the U.S. involvement in World War II;
b) Residents of Roswell, New Mexico have never received a satisfactory explanation as to the events surrounding the alleged UFO landing in 1947;
c) Our government denied that U-2 spy planes were being flown over the U.S.S.R. until Nikita Krushchev shot one down and displayed it for all the world to see;
d) Allegations of U.S. battleships being attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin were 'exaggerated', which led the U.S.A. in to the Vietnam War;
e) U.S. military officials lied about the affects Agent Orange would have on Vietnam veterans;
f) The White House lied about a third-rate burglary at the Watergate Hotel until two reporters dug out the truth, which caused the resignation of a U.S. President;
g) The White House lied about 'weapons of mass destruction' in Iraq, which was the first excuse used to let the U.S.A. attack another sovereign nation that in ho way threatened, provoked or attacked the United States;
h) The CIA lied about 'secret' prisons;
i) The U.S. military lied about the sexual abuse and torture of 'detainees' at Abu Ghraib until stunning photos were released showing the atrocities commited by the U.S.A. in direct violation of the rules of the Geneva Convention;
j) The Warren Commission sealed all records pertaining to the Kennedy assassination until 2038, when most of us who witnessed that event will be dead and gone, unable to challenge the facts.

I personally believe that the Bush administration will put the U.S.A. into a 'war' with Iran before the end of this year.
If the Republicans feel the need to 'win' the 2008 elections, George W. Bush will be ordered to declare a 'national emergency' which will inflict martial law. He will claim that it's a matter of national security, in the best interests of the country not to change administrations.
If things are in such turmoil that the Republicans would not benefit from winning the elections, you will then see little effort to try and 'win'. That way the Democrats can 'win', shortly after which we will experience the worst economic depression in America's history, which the Republicans can then blame on the Democrats. Wait and see. -RKO- 05/29/07

Answer 6

Technically, since March 9, 1933, the United States has been in a state of declared national emergency.

But, don't take my word for it. Read Senate Report 93-549 War and Emergency Powers Acts.

"A majority of the people of the United States have lived all of their lives under emergency rule. For 40 years, freedoms and governmental procedures guaranteed by the Constitution have, in varying degrees, been abridged by laws brought into force by states of national emergency. The problem of how a constitutional democracy reacts to great crises, however, far antedates the Great Depression. As a philosophical issue, its origins reach back to the Greek city-states and the Roman Republic. And, in the United States, actions taken by the Government in times of great crises have-from, at least, the Civil War-in important ways, shaped the present phenomenon of a permanent state of national emergency."

Answer 7

this is in the event of a cataclysmic event like nuclear terrorist attack or something to that nature. it isn't a question of if but when. stop with all the conspiracy theories and get on with your life. there are a lot of democrats that are more power-hungry than bush. if an event like this would happen, liberals would find a way to blame bush. but at the same time, they don't want to give the authority for bush to prevent this from happening

Answer 8

Anything can happen. We need to plan ahead. I doubt that there is any provision whatsoever for cancelling elections. They were held in the middle of the Civil War, so I assume we will have them in 2008.

Interesting how some criticized Bush for "doing nothing" about Katrina, and then criticize him for having more comprehensive plans now. People can't have it both ways.

Answer 9

It wouldn't surprise me one bit. I've seen this government do things I NEVER thought in a million years they would do. It's at "his discretion" and this country is definitely divided whether it be the war or illegal immigration and every time I think "they can't do that"....they do.

Call me a conspiracy theorist....they said the same about SPP, the Nau and well....it's no theory either. It's real.

Answer 10

Wow. I never thought of that. That'd be scary. Reminds me of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones when the Senate voted the Chancellor Emergency Powers. Anyone know what happened after that?!

If anything like that happens, I'd be extremely inclined to revolt against our government. Hell...I'm ready right now. I guarantee you though, that MANY others would revolt and we'd see another American Revolution unfold.

Answer 11

Your friend is obviously a conspiracy lover. Don't you remember all the crap about how they will miraculously find Osama in the last two elections?

This one falls into the same, somewhat odiferous, category.