So, if they didn't hear the objections maybe they will just overlook them. Fascinating.
Semper Fi,
TS
Here’s my favorite letter in SWJ so far:
by jkatzman | August 10, 2012 - 10:57pm
HERR BENSON: <<”Thank you to all who took the time to read and comment on our essay. We were hoping to start a conversation and it seems we succeeded.”>>
If you really believe that, you’re dumber than even your article makes you out to be. Frankly, I don’t think you do.
What you did, was leave a LOT of people believing, with cause, that the Army is strategizing ways to use armed force to kill and crush them, and fellow members of their democratic political movement. In blunt terms, to turn South Carolina into Afghanistan, or Aleppo.
Your rhetoric is certainly appropriate to the rulers of such places, and your scenario was delivered as the violent threat toward your fellow Americans that it was meant to be.
There are no words to adequately describe how offensive that is. Or to describe the colossal dereliction of responsibility, judgment, and the fundamental pact between America and its military that this article represents. Not to mention a dereliction of duty, since you used your position at Leavenworth as part of your bona fides. Despite disclaimers, that effectively links your article to them, and your continued employment there to this article.
You have crossed several red lines, and done so with malice aforethought.
If this is the level of professionalism that AECOM Tech displays, they need to be relieved of their contract post-haste. If you continue to teach at Leavenworth, it would be sufficient justification for the commander’s removal from his post.
Frankly, it also leaves this reader with massive questions about the editorial judgement at Small Wars Journal. I strongly suspect that I am not alone.
by William T Russell | August 5, 2012 - 2:52am Congratulations to COL (Ret) Benson. You have just hit the national political scene via Free Republic. The headlines will read: “US ARMY PLANNING TO QUELL TEA PARTY INSURRECTIONS.” This article should be a thoughtful discussion on the process of suppressing potential insurrections and Military/Defense Support to Civil Authorities. However, your scenario using the TEA Party, combined with your credentials as a Seminar Leader at Ft Leavenworth, has a high potential of causing a major political firestorm on the national level. Your scenario could easily give the President, the SECDEF, the CJCS, the SECARMY, and the CoS a political black eye. You have given credibility to the conspiracy theorists who believe the President is preparing to implement martial law to stay in power, and have undermined the faith which so many of the TEA Party members place in the United States Military to support and defend the Constitution. For an author who discusses the importance of information operations your article, you have demonstrated your utter incompetence in this area.
by JI | August 5, 2012 - 11:46am
I always thought the US Army was the good guys, at least until I read this article. And if the authors are so darned clever as to how they can put down the American people, then why weren’t they clever enough to to win a war in Afghanistan? Or clever enough to create a lasting government in Iraq? Maybe it’s because they’re very clever but, when confronted with determined people who wish to be left alone, then will always lose.
One more and I’m done.
by MAJ_John_Pitcairn
August 5, 2012 - 6:04pm
A solid plan for unrivaled Success! However, if the rebels are to be suppressed sufficiently, I have it on good word that to their powder and rifle stores at Lexington and Concord you must go. Rest assured! Vigorous measures at present would soon put an end to this paltry rebellion. The deluded subjects are made to believe that they are invincible. When this glorious Fifth Army is ordered to act against them, they will soon be convinced that they are very insignificant indeed when opposed to regular troops. Once these rebels have been dealt a smart blow, they will fall to their knees and submit. Once disarmament is complete, effective resistance to the Crown will cease and policies of reestablishing order will proceed. God save his excellency King George.
“Coup” got a mention in Derbyshire’s column on VDare.
John Derbyshire vs. Robert Weissberg On Race, Ethnicity, And The Future Of America
By John Derbyshire on September 12, 2012 at 10:29pm
—snip—
•Race war won’t happen.
Matt Bracken’s scenario of total societal breakdown has been bouncing merrily around the internet these past few days.
It’s a great narrative, and I urge Matt to work it up into a novel (or hire me to do the job—rates available on request). However, this is not going to happen.
Matt’s scenario is premised on the federal government being unable to fund welfare programs like SNAP and TANF, leading to widespread food shortages. Hungry minority mobs fan out into suburbs and country districts, committing mayhem. White and Asian vigilante groups organize for self-defense …
In the first place this underestimates the fiscal ingenuity of modern governments. Uncle Sam can find ways to keep the EBT card working, even if he has to sell off a couple of carrier groups to do so. This is a very rich country.
And in the second place, modern methods of social control are sufficient to contain disorder, and are still progressing fast: CCTV monitoring, pilotless drones, smart-phone cameras … I’m sure there are riots in our future, but they will be contained, much more easily than the riots of the 1960s were. The violence will not metastasize.
There is also the Steven Pinker factor to consider. We are softer, less violence-prone, more sissiefied than our grandfathers, or even our fathers. The Mad Matt scenario would involve massive trend reversal. Such things happen, but very rarely.
It follows that:
•Sectional secession won’t happen.