Posse Comitatus (organization)

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This article is about the terrorist organization. For the sheriff's power to summon men for law enforcement at common law, see posse comitatus. For the United States law forbidding the use of military forces for law enforcement, see Posse Comitatus Act.

The Posse Comitatus (from the Latin phrase meaing "power of the country") is a loosely-organized survivalist militia group that opposes the United States federal government and believes in vigilantism. They are considered racist as well, since the racial beliefs of Christian Identity are a part of the group's ideology. The name of the group translates from Latin to mean "power of the county," and the Posse believes that all governmental power is rooted at the county, not Federal, level.

Because they believe that the U.S. Federal government is illegitimate and in the hands of "ZOG," a Jewish conspiracy, members of the Posse Comitatus frequently refuse to pay taxes, to obtain driver's licenses, or otherwise to comply with regulatory authorities. They deny the validity of United States fiat money as not backed by gold, which they claim the Constitution requires. They have odd legal documents drawn up and attempt to record them, declaring independence from the United States, or claiming to file "common law" liens against perceived enemies like Internal Revenue Service employees or judges. They are often involved in various tax protests.

The Posse believes that there is no legitimate form of government above that of the county level and no higher law authority than the county sheriff and that if the sheriff refuses to carry out the will of the county's citizens "he shall be removed by the Posse to the most populated intersection of streets in the township and at high noon be hung by the neck, the body remaining until sundown as an example to those who would subvert the law."

In 1983, Posse member (and accused parole violator) Gordon Kahl killed two Federal marshals (who had come to arrest him) in North Dakota and became a fugitive. Kahl later was killed by Arkansas law enforcement officials in a shootout in which a local sheriff was also killed.

Other members of the group have also been convicted of crimes ranging from tax evasion and counterfeiting to threatening the lives of IRS agents and judges.

The Posse was founded in 1969 in Portland, Oregon, by Henry Lamont Beach, a retired dry cleaner and one-time member of the Silver Shirts, a Nazi-inspired organization that was established in America after Hitler rose to power in Germany.

Ironically, William Potter Gale, who is considered the co-founder of the movement and was one of its most virulent anti-Semites (telling Kansas farmers in 1982 ""If a Jew comes near you, run a sword through him") was, himself, descended on his father's side from a long line of devout Jews. Charles Gale (born Grabfiker), was a Jew who immigrated to the United States in 1896 from Eastern Europe at the age of 14. He changed his name and lied about his birthplace to join the US Army in 1900, evantually converted the Christianity, married a non-Jew and raised his children as Christians. Several of William Potter Gale's siblings, however, returned to their Jewish heritage.

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