Is Bush Preparing to Assume Dictatorial Powers?

The Progressive editor Matthew Rothschild reports that in Bush's new National Security Directive, he has created a plan whereby he would assume control of the entire federal government in the event of a "catastrophic emergency."

Rothschild quotes the NSD as defining a catastrophic emergency as "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government function."

The author goes on to suggest that this might mean that another 9/11 or Katrina or other natural disaster could lead to Bush assuming this power unilaterally.

The report essentially dismisses the role of the other branches of government – pretty much as the administration did in its first six years – and locates these emergency power solely in the president's hands.

It even hints that Bush would have power to designate his successors, dispensing with elections, to "provide for orderly succession" and "appropriate transition of leadership."

Read the entire article here.

--Joel Wendland