From the birds to the Pentagon:
Is something completely different going on?

While the “war on terrorism” is still the main pretext for a greater role of the military, natural disasters constitute a new and innovative justification.

Both the Avian Flu threat, which has taken on a political twist, and the hurricane disasters are being used by the Bush White House to justify a greater role for the Military in the country’s civilian affairs.

Bush hinted, offhandedly, at the height of Hurricane Rita that the Military should become the “lead agency” in disaster relief: 

“Is there a natural disaster – of a certain size--that would then enable the Defense Department to become the lead agency in coordinating and leading the response effort? That’s going to be a very important consideration for Congress to think about.”

A few weeks later at a White House Press Conference, President Bush pointed to a role for the Military in enforcing quarantines in the case of an outbreak of avian flu: 

“I have thought through the scenarios of what an avian flu outbreak could mean. ... 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? ... And who best to be able to effect a quarantine? 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.” (White House Press conference, October 4, 2005)

Military dictatorship instead of democracy?

“The question raised by the Katrina fiasco. is whether the threat from madmen [Osama and Al Zarqawi] and nature is now sufficiently huge in its potential horror and unacceptable loss that we should modify existing jurisdictional authority to give the Pentagon functional first-responder status.”

Fait Accompli

What is the dividing line, from the point of view of emergency procedures, between these two distinct phenomena? Or is there a dividing line between a humanitarian disaster resulting from a natural cause on the one hand, and a real or perceived “terror attack on America” on the other? 

The Department of Homeland Security’s National Response Plan (NRP) (December2004) eliminates the distinction between a civilian and a national security emergency situation: 

“This approach is unique and far reaching in that it, for the first time, eliminates critical seams and ties together a complete spectrum of incident management activities to include the prevention of, preparedness for, response to, and recovery from terrorism, major natural disasters, and other major emergencies. The end result is vastly improved coordination among Federal, State, local, and tribal organizations to help save lives and protect America’s communities by increasing the speed, effectiveness, and efficiency of incident management.”

Northern Command: 
Taking over like the birds out of the blue

Deployment in the case of a major civilian emergency (e.g. hurricane and/or avian flu pandemic) would be governed by the same criteria in conformity with the basic tenets of the “war on terrorism”.

The Pentagon has dispatched US Northern Command officials to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) national headquarters. According to Frances Fragos Townsend, Homeland Security Adviser to President Bush, the U.S. Northern Command “planners” have a mandate “to deploy the military if needed.” (quoted in Seattle Times, 22 Oct 2005).

Source: Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, October 23, 2005
(www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20051023&articleId=1134)