U.S. Military planning for American Insurrection

Recently, an article written by retired Army Col. Kevin Benson and Jennifer Weber in the Small Wars Journal titled “Full Spectrum Operations in the Homeland: A ‘Vision’ of the Future.” started to go viral on the Internet. The article talks about how the U.S. Military would be used to crush a Tea Party inspired rebellion.

The actual article in Small Wars Journal is a typically dry piece full of jargon and Milspeak. The scenario it sets up is rather silly.

In May 2016 an extremist militia motivated by the goals of the “tea party” movement takes over the government of Darlington, South Carolina, occupying City Hall, disbanding the city council, and placing the mayor under house arrest. Activists remove the chief of police and either disarm local police and county sheriff departments or discourage them from interfering. In truth, this is hardly necessary. Many law enforcement officials already are sympathetic to the tea party’s agenda, know many of the people involved, and have made clear they will not challenge the takeover. The militia members are organized and have a relatively well thought-out plan of action.

It goes on to say that local law enforcement will not move against the “Rebels” and that the “Rebels” set up check points to stop illegal aliens, collect tolls and arrest people who complain about the take over. After the set up, Colonel Benson and Jennifer Weber put together all the details for the military to move in and retake the town. This includes executive orders issued by the President, operational planning and other odds and ends. Read the article for all the details.

The Washington Times saw this and wrote their own “review” of the article.

Imagine Tea Party extremists seizing control of a South Carolina town and the Army being sent in to crush the rebellion. This farcical vision is now part of the discussion in professional military circles.

At issue is an article in the respected Small Wars Journal titled “Full Spectrum Operations in the Homeland: A ‘Vision’ of the Future.” It was written by retired Army Col. Kevin Benson of the Army’s University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and Jennifer Weber, a Civil War expert at the University of Kansas. It posits an “extremist militia motivated by the goals of the ‘tea party’ movement” seizing control of Darlington, S.C., in 2016, “occupying City Hall, disbanding the city council and placing the mayor under house arrest.” The rebels set up checkpoints on Interstate 95 and Interstate 20 looking for illegal aliens. It’s a cartoonish and needlessly provocative scenario.

That is an understatement. If such an event actually occurred, it would mean that things were so far gone that people saw no other alternative. Additionally, I didn’t see any mention of the state government or the state National Guard which would be the real “First responders” in such a situation. If the Governor of South Carolina refused to send in the Guard, it would mean that the situation was a lot worse than this scenario posits.

The article is a choppy patchwork of doctrinal jargon and liberal nightmare. The authors make a quasi-legal case for military action and then apply the Army’s Operating Concept 2016-2028 ((US Army Training and Doctrine Command, The Army Operating Concept 2016 – 2028 (.pdf) )) to the situation. They write bloodlessly that “once it is put into play, Americans will expect the military to execute without pause and as professionally as if it were acting overseas.” They claim that “the Army cannot disappoint the American people, especially in such a moment,” not pausing to consider that using such efficient, deadly force against U.S. citizens would create a monumental political backlash and severely erode government legitimacy.

Oh, it’s a lot worse then that. The odds of the military actually carrying out these orders are very bad. If such a situation actually occurred, it wouldn’t be one town, this would happen all across the nation. In all probability you might see entire states refusing the diktats from Washington. (This assumes that Obama won a second term of course) There is a better than even chance that the rank and file troops, possibly entire formations would not only refuse the orders, but would move on Washington themselves and remove the administration that issued what they would see as illegal and unconstitutional orders.

The scenario presented in Small Wars Journal isn’t a literary device but an operational lay-down intended to present the rationale and mechanisms for Americans to fight Americans. Col. Benson and Ms. Weber contend, “Army officers are professionally obligated to consider the conduct of operations on U.S. soil.” This is a dark, pessimistic and wrongheaded view of what military leaders should spend their time studying.

I think we now see why Colonel Benson is a Retired colonel and not a serving General. If he came up with this idiocy, I don’t want him anywhere near U.S. Troops. It’s obvious that he has failed to understand the history of this country and why such a scenario he and Ms. Weber came up with is so wrong headed. If people start taking up arms against the federal government, it means only one thing. The federal government has lost all credibility and no longer has the privilege to handle the affairs of the nation. For them to resort to sending in the military would mean that the Republic was finished and we were now nothing more than a centralized authoritarian state.

Now, some will say that the Civil War in the 1860’s showed that the federal government can and should use the military to stop an insurrection. (The secession of states and formation of the Confederacy) While I make no claims to being an expert on the causes of the Civil War, there are two major differences here.

First, we had a number of states secede and form their own nation. Second, they opened fire on Fort Sumter. Up until that point, they were still talking. Granted, the two sides were not talking to each other, more like at each other. In the scenario set up by Benson and Weber, the groups are not talking secession, they are looking to force a restoration of the Constitution and see no other alternative but to take up arms. The officers and enlisted personnel in the United States Armed Forces are NOT sworn to the president or Congress. They are sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. You now have the conundrum of who the military considers to be the actual enemy. Those that are seeking the restoration of the document they are sworn to protect, or those who have been busily and happily shredding it.

Finally, Benson and Weber pretty much blow their scenario out of the water with this section.

While mainstream politicians and citizens react with alarm, the “tea party” insurrectionists in South Carolina enjoy a groundswell of support from other tea party groups, militias, racist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan, anti-immigrant associations such as the Minutemen, and other right-wing groups.

First off, the Tea Party despises the KKK along with, oh, just about everyone in the country. The so called “Anti-Immigrant” groups are actually anti-illegal immigration groups. The ones who want to end all immigration forever are generally tied in with the KKK nut bars. Most people, (Myself included), have no issue with legal immigration. It’s those that won’t obey the laws and demand special treatment that we want gone. The “Minutemen” Benson and Weber mention are probably tied in with the Minute Man Project. They are an organization that is trying to get the Federal Government to stop illegal immigration and enforce the current laws. They have nothing to do with the KKK and other racist groups no matter what accusations the Southern Poverty Law Center claims.

This whole article apparently was written to frighten the Progressive Elite and assure them that they can order the Military to crush all dissent. I, for one, am not worried about the Military moving against the American people. The ones who should be worried are those who might be contemplating issuing those orders in the first place.

Remember in November and remove the morons who might contemplate giving such an order from office.

Thatisall

~The Angry Webmaster~

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