August 27, 2007

Call For Coup

Hysterical neolib calls for a military coup. As much as the author denies it, what he advocates would be a military overthrow of the civilian government. As bad an idea as you might think the Iraq war was, or still is, the idea that the military would hold a gun-enforced veto over the President’s ability to issue commands ought to give you very serious pause indeed. Some have suggested the author’s post is a form of sedition and a call for the overthrow of the government, which technically it is. I would hesitate to prosecute it, though, because it can fairly be read as a polemic screed against the government (“Even a military dictatorship would be better than what we’ve got right now”) and therefore would be fair political commentary. I’m becoming convinced that the chances that there will still be significant U.S. forces in Iraq by this time in 2009 are pretty slim, though – and it seems to me that would not be a case of the country selecting the least bad option. Least bad is not something that the American political process determines very well. The result of America having no attractive options is not reasoned debate and resigned action, it’s people saying things like what the linked commentator does.

1 comment:

  1. Arnie8/28/2007 6:26 AM

    I agree that the author requesting Gen. Pace to arrest "W" is advocating a military coup. The action he requests is obviously far-fetched for anyone to consider, but perhaps his purpose is to incite less radical actions. The so-called wars we are pursuing in both Iraq and Afghanistan remain somewhere just over the midway line between righteous and hopeless in public opinion. As I've stated before, the American Public's ability to stomach loss of soldier's life seems to be around 50,000. Witness Vietnam and Korea. Unfortunately, we have a lot more lives to lose before we start to approach that number. It would be amazing indeed if the military were able to convince the current administration to change the direction we are headed in war. It is much more feasible to hope for change under new president.

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