[Austin-ghetto-list] Our latest war

[Roger Baker]

[These are snips from a longer article in the Wash. Post. 

And by the way, aren't we fortunate that a man like Bush would never
confuse precautions related to (A) the bad Islamic fundamentalist terrorists
with (B) legitimate constitutional dissention related to his domestic policies,
corporate dominance, and stuff like that. His corporate handlers would
never allow
A to interfere with B, would they? 

The airlines also now want a $15 billion bailout for added costs due to
terrorism. There goes the balanced budget. 

But wars like this new "cold war" require sacrifice! --  including
enough restrictions on dissent so we will feel free again after seeing
all that stuff on TV. And enough too so we can win this scary war, just
like we did after Pearl Harbor, except much easier because all we have
to do this time is go get rid of the one man causing all these problems
named bin Laden (who thinks he is so damn smart just because his Islamic
fundamentalist buddies defeated the Soviet Union).

Try this one: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/13-9-19101-0-24-43.html

-- Roger] 

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34162-2001Sep14.html


Washington, Nation Move To High Alert 

By Neely Tucker and Vernon Loeb

Washington Post Staff Writers

Saturday, September 15, 2001; Page A01
 
Washington and the nation moved the defense of the homeland yesterday to
a level not seen since the raid on Pearl Harbor, reflecting the deep
civil and military concern that the attacks on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon were but the opening salvos in a war unlike any the
United States has ever faced.

Without warning and without stated reason, the U.S. Secret Service
effectively annexed dozens of blocks around the White House late
Thursday and early Friday to create a defense perimeter. Coast Guard
cutters patrolled ports and waterways at unprecedented levels from New
York harbor to San Diego. F-15 Eagles and F-16 Fighting Falcons
continued to fly combat patrols over Washington, New York and other
major cities, supported by AWACs airborne surveillance and tanker
aircraft, according to a spokesman for the North American Aerospace
Defense Command in Colorado.
President Bush signed an order authorizing Pentagon officials to call up
35,000 reserves, most of whom will be used to keep military jets on
alert at bases across the country, check ships in ports, assist in
intelligence gathering activities and perform other missions that
defense officials said either had not yet been determined -- or could
not be disclosed.

"They are not convinced it is over," Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), a
ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,
said after briefings from the CIA and the FBI.
Day and night, helicopters circle the White House and the U.S. Capitol,
sometimes seen and sometimes lost in cloud cover, the thump-thump of
their blades beating the air. Reagan National Airport is closed. The
country's most hallowed symbols along the Mall and the Tidal Basin --
the Washington Monument and the Lincoln, Jefferson and FDR memorials --
are all shut down. About a dozen police cars block access to Vice
President Cheney's residence at the Naval Observatory, though he is at
Camp David in Maryland...

...From New York to San Diego, city ports are closed to all but
essential cargo vessels, which maritime officials board and guide into
the harbor. Baggage is being inspected before it is loaded onto ships.
In Pascagoula, Miss., Coast Guard vessels guard two Navy ships -- the
USS Gates and the USS Cole -- under repair in local shipyards.

The defensive measures were by no means limited to federal and military
agencies. Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) said yesterday that an
eight-member, Cabinet-level team will immediately scrutinize the state's
civil defense measures...

..."Those are decisions that have been made solely by the Secret
Service," Koskinen said. "We did not get advance notice, which created
more gridlock downtown than anyone would have wanted. But this is a
unique situation. It's not that anybody meant to overlook us."

A federal law enforcement official said the street closures and other
emergency actions are meant to give authorities time to investigate bomb
and other possible threats and prevent any problems. He said that he
wasn't aware of a credible "general threat" against Washington but that
some agencies are receiving information about potential problems and
taking action. 
"I don't think it's an exercise," said the official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity. "It takes time to evaluate things. I think that
any agency that has a protective responsibility leaves nothing to
chance. That's the prudent thing to do." 

The speed at which intelligence and military maneuvers are moving into
civilian territory has many civil libertarians almost stunned into
silence. Johnny Barnes, the director of the Washington branch of the
American Civil Liberties Union, declined to comment on the Secret
Service maneuvers in federal parts of the city, deferring to a national
statement that was mainly focused on protecting the rights of Arab Americans...

...Any eventual U.S. military action aimed at retaliating against those
responsible for Tuesday's attacks would probably require the call-up of
substantially more reserve forces, officials said yesterday. The last
time a mobilization of reserves was ordered was in January 1991, when
265,322 National Guard and reserve troops were activated to fight in the
Desert Storm campaign that ousted Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

Under the call-up authority, the Pentagon can keep the reservists on
duty for up to two years.
Among other units that might be called, defense officials yesterday
listed intelligence support, military police, medical teams, logistics
specialists, engineers, search-and-rescue squads and civil affairs units.

The military services have identified requirements for 35,500
reservists, but Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld sought approval to
activate up to 50,000. Under the order President Bush signed, the
Pentagon can call as many as 1 million reservists. But Craig W.
Duehring, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for reserve
affairs, told reporters yesterday that Rumsfeld had a "handshake
agreement" with Bush to "coordinate" any possible future need to exceed 50,000...