War footing?

[Nightshade]

Are they just covering their bases or is this something to be worried about?

Last Friday, March 16, President Barack Obama may have quietly placed the United States on a war preparedness footing, perhaps in anticipation of an outbreak of war between Israel, the West, and Iran. A newly-propounded Executive Order, titled "National Defense Resources Preparedness," renews and updates the president's power to take control of all civil energy supplies, including oil and natural gas, control and restrict all civil transportation, which is almost 97 percent dependent upon oil; and even provides the option to re-enable a draft in order to achieve both the military and non-military demands of the country, according to a simple reading of the text. The Executive Order was published on the White House website.

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edwin-bla ... 59715.html

The executive order is here on the whitehouse website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-off ... eparedness

[callmeslick]

some variation of that same order has been issued by virtually every President since Eisenhower, wtih but minor updates. So what?

[Nightshade]

but minor updates

Care to list those "updates" for us?

[TechPro]

So, TB, you think they have no need to at least be prepared in case war breaks out between those countries?

I applaud Obama (or the Whitehouse, or whoever) for taking steps to be prepared.

Never mind that those nations have been warring with each other for generations (they just may not call it "war" but that's what it really is).

[flip]

It's just a heads up from TB, lighten up.

[callmeslick]

but minor updates

Care to list those "updates" for us?

when threats were largely from massive, nuclear armed states, the wording tended toward that sort of threat(Eisenhower, Kennedy, can't find one issued by Johnson, but didn't try that hard). Carter, for example, issued a very similar set of edicts, because, once again, oil flow restriction was the issue. Ford,before him, did likewise, while Reagan seems to have issued a more open-ended decree, although, presumably Iran was on his mind as well. Bush, Sr. issued a similar set of orders to Obama, and Clinton seems to have not issued anything so sweeping, nor did Bush II. Over the years, allowances in wording bespeak the advances in technology(communications, etc), which is mainly where I was going with the word 'updates'

[Duper]

We're going to sell them some more bunker busters and some (I think 5?) refueling jets.

[Sergeant Thorne]

Whether it's old news or not, I find it very disturbing, both in scope, and in timing. Not to mention the fact that the U.S., together with the U.N. and crew are provoking trouble over there where we get so much of our oil. This ties in to exactly where the U.S. is heading. So much so that it might as well be a wish-list of powers for the new year, IMO. The sweeping scope of this would allow specific groups of unscrupulous individuals to make some desired changes to the economic, political, and industrial landscape of this country very quickly. This country would never be the same. Somebody somewhere is clapping themselves on the back for successfully targeting two birds (at least) with one stone on this one.

I don't suppose we get to keep our guns for these measures in the interest of national security?

[VonVulcan]

Not to mention the food supply. Control the food, control the people.