The Seige 2.0: Lackawanna, NY?
pO157.
Posted to Politics on Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 11:21:39 AM EST (promoted by DEMachina). RSS.
Remember the 1998 drama "The Seige" wherein New York City was placed under martial law due to the threat of Islamic extremists? New information suggests a real-life version of this almost occurred in 2002 when former Vice President Cheney (R-Birdshot) urged President Bush to send in the military to tiny Lackawanna, NY to apprehend the "Lackawanna Six." President Bush declined to do so and the men were promptly arrested by the FBI.
Twelve hours after the President gives the order we can be on the ground. One light infantry division of 10,700 men, elements of the Rapid Deployment Force, Special Forces, Delta, APCs, helicopters, tanks and of course the ubiquitous M-16 A2 assault rifle. A humble enough weapon until you see it in the hands of a man outside your local bowling alley or 7-11. It will be noisy, it will be scary and it will not be mistaken for a VFW parade.~General William Devereaux, The Seige.
The Lackawanna Six were men that had traveled to an al-Qaeda training camp in 2001 and stayed for a few months, leaving before 9/11. They were homegrown teenagers that had spent much of their life living in the quiet suburb of Lackawanna, NY. However, after 9/11 when word came out that a ring of locals had spent time in an Al-Qaeda training camp they were promptly snatched up by the FBI. After an anonymous letter was sent to the FBI office in Buffalo, President Bush and Mr. Cheney personally advised then FBI-director Robert Mueller to pick the men up. Prosecutors floated putting them to death upon conviction and they eventually received sentences ranging from 8 to 10 years in prison. They are currently assigned to the Communications Management Unit at Terre Haute Prison. Years later, questions remain about how dangerous the Lackawanna Six actually were.
But in those frantic days after 9/11, Vice President Cheney, his staff and some Pentagon officials argued the military needed to be used to raid Lackawanna, NY, search and arrest these men. It was an outrageous request, as a President had not used military forces for law enforcement since the Civil War. According to Cheney, the raid would have been legal "because it served a national security, rather than a law enforcement, purpose." Bush administration officials also pointed to a Oct. 23, 2001 Justice Department memo written by John Yoo which said "The president has ample constitutional and statutory authority to deploy the military against international or foreign terrorists operating within the United States."
Local officials are glad that Bush and others decided against deploying the US military into their suburban community. "If we had tanks rolling down the streets of our city, we would have had pandemonium down here" according to Police Chief James L. Michel. Other Bush administration officials warned of serious consequences if the Cheney's suggestion had been followed and the US military had been turned against its own people: "What would it look like to have the American military go into an American town and knock on people's door?"
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