Posted on 12/24/2008 11:40:50 AM PST by BGHater
ARE you afraid that the eco nomic downturn could get out of hand? I mean, really out of hand?
Well, don't worry.
The US Army War College is on the case - ready to handle "unforeseen economic collapse" and the "rapid dissolution of public order in all or significant parts of the US."
And you thought we were just dealing with a recession!
In a report published Nov. 4 - just in time for the holiday season - the War College's Strategic Studies Institute posited a number of shocks that the country should be prepared for, including unrest caused by the economy's failure.
The report has a snappy title, "Known Unknowns: Unconventional 'Strategic Shocks' in Defense Strategy Development," and was written by Nathan Freier, a visiting professor at the college. The foreword was written by Col. John A. Kardos, director of the Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute.
Freier lists a number of possible things we should worry about - because we probably don't have enough of our own - including run-of-the-mill terrorism and the fact that China and Russia could align against us politically and economically.
"Some of the most plausible defense-relevant strategic shocks remain low-probability events," Freier soft-pedals before going on to scare the hell out of us.
The War College says "widespread civil violence inside the US would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security."
Among things Freier wants us to worry about are "deliberate employment of weapons of mass destruction. . . unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency and catastrophic natural and human disasters."
Oh, and by the way, have a Merry Christmas!
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I agree.
You're dreaming if you think he can make our military fire on Americans. He'll be frog marched out of the White House if he tries something like that.
Not all, probably not the majority, but enough that will. History has shown it to often to believe otherwise.
The real question is what will happen after wards. The first time, maybe. The second... Who knows?
Also it really depends on why the orders are giving. Say a unit is bused over night to a different part of the country from where they are based, and told that a whole area is in rebellion, or needs to be isolated because of Ebola, or what ever else soon bastard son of Gobbels could dream up. Make it believable so the troops think they HAVE to fire on the civilians or all hell will break loose and more will die. Again, will work the first time, and if the scenario is played all over at the same time there will probably not be a second.
We should not delude ourselves that the military will mount what amounts to a coup if they are ordered to detain and attack US civilians.
I agree. I think I can try to "bring it home" to them.
Just as the universities and the MSM were the Communists' "most valuable guerrillas" radical Muslims' most valuable jihadists -- for that matter America's enemies' most valuable allies -- are universities and the MSM.
We'd never even heard of political correctness back then. The future today is fraught with portents unlike any we've seen unless.. the military is used? If it takes that then . . . .
I have a feeling we will find out one way or the other before he leaves office.
“It’s basically a preparedness plan for a variety of long shot events that probably won’t occur. The fact that folks are using it to monger fear is more distressing than the report itself.”
Deja Vue, all over again.
I fully expect to see all of the old Y2K rumors about how Clinton was going to use Y2K to take over the United States and sell our sovereignty to the UN. We had threads about FEMA establishing civilian detention centers out in the Utah desert. We even had one where Clinton was hiding Chinese shock troops in trailers behind Walmart Super Centers ready to spring into action to quell civilian unrest. Just a matter of time.
I believe the report is correct — as a nation we should prepare for the unexpected. The world has changed since the end of the Cold War.
However, to take a largely academic treatise and turn it into a fear mongering tool that fuels mistrust about the gubmint isn’t a smart thing to do. Folks are nervous enough as it is.
I'm telling you that there won't be any "one way or the other".
The US military will not collectively obey an order to go to war against their own brethren, if our citizens rebel against a perceived usurpation of our government.
I will agree that in such a scenario, that you would probably see some incidents of individual units executing force against US citizens. In my opinion, those would quickly be reversed by an overwhelming breakdown in the chain of command, as officers and enlisted men sided with The People and the Constitution.
Best to work from the assumption that “yes, the military will follow orders to fire on civilians” and plan accordingly.
You might get lucky and have some who won’t obey an order to commit murder of civilians, but don’t count on it.
“Question for active duty and recently discharged military. Would the troops and officers fire on American citizens in an attempt to confiscate our legally owned weapons? The military is sworn to uphold the constitution. WILL THEY???”
We had two or three threads on this subject back before Y2K. Some staff officer at some war college did a survey of his class asking all sorts of questions. One question was would they fire on their fellow Americans if ordered.
It looks like Obama’s election will resurrect all the old Y2K rumors how a President was going to take over the US and sell us out to the UN. Just change the name from Clinton to Obama and the story line is the same.
I agree completely about the fear mongers exploiting people’s nervousness. And, that was my point.
Essentially, these are the same people pushing the same story lines to attract attention as they did back during Y2K. So far, everything I’ve seen on this thread is rehash of old Clinton/Y2K rumors.
Because they have shifted to actively recruiting young Mexican illegals and Chicano anchor babies in the US as well as having massive infrastructure for their network in Mexico itself.
One of their great strengths as a criminal enterprise is they have apparatus in place where they can infiltrate rankings members across the border with ease in the event that one is arrested in the US.
There are some folks who believe that the fall of America’s post-modern society — the return to something approaching anarchy — will level the playing field, make their skill sets more relevant, and perhaps provide the chance for some form of heroism.
In fact, such a chain of events would grind them to dust.
well if 0b0zo legitimizes marijuana the gubmint won’t have no more problems with people now will they? everybody be’ high & be’playin’ on da’ Xbox360 &-smokin’& tokin’ and runnin’ down to Sem-Eleben to get a Slurpee
Ya everything is best/worst modeled.. I posted that on an earlier thread yesterday.
I’m not sure most want to return to “something approaching anarchy”, but there are a lot who would like to see something more akin to Jefferson’s vision of an agrarian America. The surprising thing is that advocates of such a return are found on both the small government right and the global warming left. And, then there are the ‘gold bugs’ who are pumping this downturn with all their might.
As you point out, I’m afraid that such an outcome is far more appealing in theory than reality.
” I fully expect to see all of the old Y2K rumors about how Clinton was going to use Y2K to take over the United States and sell our sovereignty to the UN.”
Yep, deja vu. I recall one story of railroad cars strung across the US with gas ovens inside. And let’s not forget all the concentration camps being built in Montana.
This whole “US Army will kill us” is nonsense. The first incident of Army Private Smith killing the family of Marine Sergeant Brown (or vice-versa) would implode the entire US military, as individuals and units strike out on their own to take revenge.
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