Time: Sun Aug 17 01:18:10 1997
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Sun, 17 Aug 1997 20:56:11 -0700 (MST)
Date: Sun, 17 Aug 1997 20:54:54 -0700
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: SURVEY: (US) Army Times: To Shoot or Not? A Vexing Issue
(fwd)
<snip>
>
>Discussed also in the Army Times 09-25-95 issue in an article called "TO
>SHOOT OR NOT? A VEXING ISSUE" by Margaret Roth.
>
> << WASHINGTON -- The question given to the Marines was hypothetical:
>Would you shoot at U.S. citizens who have disobeyed a federal order to
>surrender banned firearms? But Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ernest G. Cunningham found the
>answers seriously disturbing.
>
> More than one-quarter, or 26 percent, of the 300 Marines Cunningham
>surveyed for his master's thesis said yes, they would shoot. Sixty-one
>percent said they would not. The rest had no opinion on the question, which
>ignited a firestorm when the survey, done in May 1994, leaked to the news
>media.
>
> The purpose of Cunningham's thesis, approved by his advisers at the
>Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., and the survey was to find out
>whether service members' opinions of nontraditional missions could affect
>their ability to stick together during a mission. Cunningham felt that ``the
>overwhelming majority should have said flatly, `No'.''
>
> He said the 79 Marines who said they would shoot showed an ignorance of
>the Posse Comitatus Act, a law that bars use of the military for domestic law
>enforcement.
>
> Unlawful order?
>
> The order to shoot would be unlawful, Cunningham said, because it would
>violate the constitutional right to bear arms.
>
> The question was inspired by the Bush administration's decisio992, said
>Cunningham, who disagreed with that decision.
>
> Troublesome what-ifs >>
>
>The article goes on to outline:
>
> TROOPS' VIEWS
>
> ---Almost two-thirds, or 63.8 percent, favored taking part in more than
>five of 10 hypothetical missions conducted by U.S. forces under U.S. command.
>The 10 included such efforts as drug enforcement, border patrol, and
>teaching.
>
> ---Approximately one-third, or 33.1 percent, of those surveyed favored
>taking part in at least four of seven hypothetical U.N. missions under U.S.
>authority. Peacekeeping was the most acceptable, nation building the least.
>
> ---Little more than one-tenth -- 11.2 percent -- favored participating
>in at least four of seven hypothetical U.N. missions under U.N. operational
>control. An equal percentage had no opinion. Almost two-thirds, or 64
>percent, did not want U.S. combat troops to take part in any of the seven
>missions.
>
>***************************************************************
>
>POINTS TO PONDER:
> ~What missions for US Forces? (And surely someone has something to say
>about posse comitatus)
> ~What would your response be to the question posed to Marines: "Would you
>shoot at U.S. citizens who have disobeyed a federal order to surrender banned
>firearms?"
> ~What happens when ROE falls short of the situation?
> ~How will unit morale and cohesion be impacted by a range of missions?
> ~Where should the line be drawn for U.S. Armed Forces activity?
>
>
>
>STEVEN R. LINNABARY
>P.O.BOX # 115; BLACKLICK, OH 43004-0115;Ph.(614) 476-6773,Pager (614)
672-3023
> " When you make peaceful revolution impossible, you make violent
> revolution inevitable" - John F. Kennedy, Sr.
========================================================================
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