This is a fascinating read. I learned about it from a Salon.com article, which describes it this way:
In 1992, Gen. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, awarded the prize for his Strategy Essay Competition at the National Defense University to Lt. Col. Charles J. Dunlap for "The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012." His cautionary tale imagined an incapable civilian government creating a vacuum that draws a competent military into a coup disastrous for democracy. The military, of course, is bound to uphold the Constitution. But Dunlap wrote: "The catastrophe that occurred on our watch took place because we failed to speak out against policies we knew were wrong. It's too late for me to do any more. But it's not for you." "The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012" is being circulated today among top U.S. military strategists.
Some of the things predicted in the paper are a little backwards from how events have transpired, but there's a lot in there to think about. For example, there's a lot of concern about how involvement in non-war fighting activities (police work, humanitarian efforts, etc.) weakens the military as a fighting force. While I don't think this has come to pass, in the case of Iraq you could easily take the same notion and spin it around to note that people trained to kill make rotten cops.
Posted by Jason at May 13, 2004 01:20 PM