Foreign troops on U.S. soil

[Bearman202]

I let a friend read my short piece called "Paycheck" that I posted here, and he said that no U.S. President in his right mind would allow foreign troops to operate on U.S. soil. I then pointed out to him that it would not be unprecedented. It's already happened. He said there is no way. I then sent him the links to the story about the Mexican military sending a convoy to provide disaster relief after Katrina.

This guy is usually pretty aware of what's going on in the world, and understands finances a lot better than I do. It just amazed me that he was unaware of the Mexican troops being here. CBS and Fox are the only two national media outlets that covered it, as far as I can tell. Seems all of our national guard troops were in Iraq or Afghanistan and weren't available to help. I remember thinking that G.W. was the biggest traitor in the world at the time too. Maybe that's just me? It just bothered the heck out of me that we had to rely on Mexico for assistance because our own government was so screwed up we couldn't handle it.

[Grand58742]

We had more than a few foreign militaries assisting during that time. And it wasn't because the military couldn't help, it was out of the good graces of some of our allies. I think we do enough to help out around the world during disasters and when something happens to us, it's only right for other countries to provide assistance. But as a matter of fact, we refused more help than we accepted. But we did eventually accept assistance from foreign governments in the form of humanitarian aid and assistance. But let's face facts, NOLA wasn't prepared for Katrina not because of GW Bush, but because of the corrupt politicians in their own backyard that ignored the problems for as long as they did. And you know what? They (the people of NOLA) re-elected that same corrupt idiot that tried to blame others for his own failures. So let's face it, who's the blame here? So we used foreign militaries to assist in the relief efforts. Did you want the Singapore Air Force which evacuated 700 people not to help? Or how about the 15 flood fighting pumps and crews sent by the German Government? Be careful about complaining about our allies which assisted in the relief efforts in NOLA. But overall, other militaries and governments sent help during a time of need.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_response_to_Hurricane_Katrina

Not as "occupation forces" but as a humanitarian effort. It would have been far different if those foreign troops were being used to police American cities (which they weren't) instead of focusing on disaster relief (which they were)

But at your original point. The whole not allowing foreign troops on American soil thing will go out the window quickly depending on if the sitting President (whichever it may be) feels they cannot trust the US Military or feel like they are losing control of the population. I can flat guarantee you some of them would not hesitate to ask for foreign intervention if they feel their power base is slipping away during a time of crisis. If they feel the US Military is not helping enough or has turned on them, they probably would accept some deal to remain in power while another nation would send "peacekeeping" forces to the US.

[Klayton]

Let us not forget that most blame GW without following the procedures. The federal government is NOT suppose to just charge in, it is suppose to go through each chain, Mayor asks Governor for state aid, then Governor asks for Federal aid. Let us not also forget that these people were warned IN ADVANCE about the hurricane and still refused to leave. Yet other natural disasters, mainly drought, causes such financial problems that 1000's of families lose their farms and livelihood (yes I know they dont drown as they do in a hurricane-but then again, most farmers arent stupid enough to stay in a city that is below sea level during a hurricane). Yet you never hear about "national emergency" for these people, oh nooo, only the ones that refused to leave their city after they were warned in acvance.

Oh,and one more tidbit about N.O., they ILLEGALLY broke the constitutional rights of their citizens and confiscated ALL firearms from law abiding citizens. Whats that you say? Never in America? don't make me laugh...

[Bearman202]

I tend to agree with Grand on this one. If the SHTF, and the U.S. military stops responding to the current regime's desire to stay in power, they will call in foreign troops in a heartbeat. That was a concern, because the ones who aren't from here are going to be a lot less reluctant to pull the trigger. If they get here with an agenda, which I firmly believe the Chinese would if called, (they really HAVE bought up huge sections of the country) it would be an even bigger problem, for us that is.

Klayton, the problem was that when the Feds were called in, they really dropped the ball. Then they kicked it. As for the people who weren't able to look past the end of their nose, well, Darwin might have had a point. On the last, Missouri, and several other states, have since passed a law that forbids the police from collecting guns in a similar situation. Whether that will actually do anything to prevent them from trying remains to be seen....