For the Birds

I'm sure you've all heard about the potential avian flu pandemic in the making. In an article I first read over at Vox's, the President expressed his wish to use the military in quarantining the virus:

He said the military, and perhaps the National Guard, might be needed to take such a role if the feared H5N1 bird flu virus changes enough to cause widespread human infection.

"If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country? And how do you, then, enforce a quarantine?" Bush asked at a news conference.

Bird flu has killed more than 60 people in four Asian nations since late 2003 and has been found in birds in Russia and Europe.

Experts fear that the H5N1 bird flu virus, which appears to be highly fatal when it infects people, will develop the ability to pass easily from person to person and would cause a pandemic that would kill millions.

I'm all for cautionary measures, but isn't this borderline hysteria? Sixty people in four nations in two years? Like I said in the comments over at Vox's, more people probably died in boating accidents in those places in the same timeframe. I realize that a pandemic or a regional epidemic can occur, but I haven't seen actual evidence that it will, in this case. All I've heard or read is so-called "experts" spouting off in the newspapers and on tv. I'm willing to bet that these are the same know-it-alls who claimed SARS would be a world-shattering disease, running rampant through the countryside and hopping from one continent to another like fire in a street of crowded tenements. It never even came close to the picture of devastation they painted.

As for the President's request, it bothers me that he's grasping at this kind of power. The Posse Comitatus Act bans the use of active duty military in a law enforcement capacity. I think this is a usurpation of state powers, another nick in the shield of federalism--particularly if the National Guard is involved in such operations.

Two other points: This appears to be an attempt on President Bush's part to make up for perceived federal failures in the aftermaths of Hurricanes Kakillya and Rita. This further blemishes his request, because these "failures" are no such things. The federal government involved itself in those cleanup efforts far more than is constitutionally mandated or acceptable. Also, why on earth would anyone believe the feds can handle quarantining procedures better than local governments? Upon what facts is this opinion based? The federal government works like King Midas in reverse--everything it touches turns to crap. Are we to believe that the current scenario is an exception to this otherwise well-proven rule?