I thought a friend might be wearing a tin foil hat when he predicted a terrorist attack in October that will somehow create a situation where Bush will declare martial law and suspend the election. Or maybe Bush will use the Great Depression Bank Run panic. Whatever the reason, this is a chilling little news item from Democracy Now that I think is getting buried by all the bail-out/debate hype. Stationing an active unit inside the U.S. deserves a lot more attention. Follow after the fold for the details.---Oh, and please recommend to bring it to the top--
Army Unit to Deploy in October for Domestic Operations
Beginning in October, the Army plans to station an active unit inside the United States for the first time to serve as an on-call federal response in times of emergency. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent thirty-five of the last sixty months in Iraq, but now the unit is training for domestic operations. The unit will soon be under the day-to-day control of US Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command. The Army Times reports this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to Northern Command. The paper says the Army unit may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control. The soldiers are learning to use so-called nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals and crowds.
{Emphasis mine}