How a Republic becomes an Empire - ROME v. US

Beginning October 1st, this WEDNESDAY, the US Army will assign The 3rd Infantry’s 1st Brigade Combat Team on ACTIVE DUTY inside the United States - dubbing it "Consequence Management Response Force" operating in the United States - operating out of Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado.

This combat brigade has spent 35 of the last 60 months operating in heavy combat in Iraq - now they are being stationed as part of an active combat operation within the United States.

Though this is not the first time an active operation has taken place within the borders of US proper, this is the first time that an unprecedented active and permanent deployment of US combat troops has been deployed in the United States.

I cannot help but recall the early days of the Roman Empire, when defending the Republic was the mantra of those in command, however Rome became a place of martial law and eventually an Empire under the Caesar's. Roman law stated that no Roman Army could cross the Rubicon River - Yet, when Julius Caesar marched his army south and into Rome, a new age began in which Rome ceased to be a Republic and set the stage for the Roman Empire.

Yet, Caesar's deployment of combat troops to Rome was not the only act that ended the Republic - it was Caesar's bribery of the troops, the citizens, and the wealthy with gold from Rome's treasury. These payments came as goodwill signs that Caesar was intent on ruling on behalf of the people - yet the Civil Wars that ensued ensured the death of the Roman Republic.

Parallel to the United States in the new century... After the attacks of September 11th, Homeland Security was created, giving rise to the day-to-day existence of authoritarian government officials in our daily lives. This is the sign of the unrest of the nation - just as the unrest existed with the growing concerns in Ancient Rome when Pompey and Julius broke their friendship. The United States handed out a $600 per person payment from "the treasury" to show a sign of goodwill to the Plebs - just as Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar did on many occasion to ensure domestic jubulance. The United States Federal Government has taken an authoritarian stance towards the states, and the citizens, now stationing active combat troops inside the United States and tramping on state's rights - just as Julius Caesar stationed troops inside of the city walls of Rome, as well as throughout the countryside, instituting martial law and military authoritarianism.

Conspiracy Theory or not? There are now too many coincidences for a conservative libertarian like myself to ignore. Without discrediting myself, I want to take a moment and question the intentions of this United States Government.

1. Presidential Directive 51 - In order to maintain an "Enduring Constitutional Government", the President has the sole power (where it used to take an act of congress) to take over all functions of the government in the event of a "catastrophic event" to provide "leadership visible to the nation and the world". This gives the President absolute power to mandate certain operations to ensure "stability" as he sees fit.

2. Telephone Tapping Infrastructure - Since 9/11, the US government has been conducting a surveillance of telephone conversations in search of intelligence regarding terrorism in the United States. This tapping debate was led by the battle cry "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" - regardless of the implications to civil liberties. One thing that was not also considered was the building of the infrastructure to tap the general public. Now the infrastructure exists to listen to, and record every conversation via telephone services - less Blackberry because Canada refuses to cooperate with tapping.

3. Inflation and Distraction - The value of the US dollar has decreased by 96% since the inception of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Debt has gone from $0 to nearly $10 Trillion in the same amount of time (and has continued to increase an average of $2.32 billion per day since September 28, 2007!) , and the Federal Government is making no plans to stop spending (especially under Obama). The taxpayers of the United States seems not too concerned about this debt, as we have been cultured into a "credit" state of mind, and distracted by commercialism and reality TV constantly demanding that we "watch and vote" - as if it made some sort of a difference in the world! The burden of the debt is over $30,000 per US citizen - more than a years pay for most Americans. Such a burden forces the citizenry into a state of "constant work" in order to survive - thus removing the mind of the masses.

4. Digital Television Infrastructure - Beginning Feb 2009 all televisions will be on a digital signal, allowing interactive information sharing between the TV and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. This allows, initially, an exact tracking of what each TV is watching - trends, stations, etc... even volume information may be available as digital TVs are asked to deliver certain information to the Federal Agency. In the future, as Orwellian as it may seem, Televisions may be constructed with a voice and/or picture recording device (so you can webcam on your tv) - however, those cameras would also be able to be activated through a digital signal - thus monitoring conversations of every household in America.

5. Intersection Cameras - National Surveillance is already underway. I challenge my readers to go to any Colorado intersection and NOT see a camera. I am not just talking about the Red Light Ticket Cams - I am talking about "traffic cameras" used for general surveillance of motorists. Every minute of every day these cameras are active - and it is not much of a jump to suppose that these cameras can be networked or operated by a federal/national agency. Add to those cameras the ATM cameras across the nation, and other cameras hardwired to the net, and tie in facial recognition technology (I got scanned at the Denver Airport two weeks ago by a facial recognition booth on my way to security) and the government can track you anywhere at any time.

6. FEMA camps - As a part of REX 84 (Readiness Exercise 1984), in which the Federal Government has planned for the mass arrest and detention of US citizens in the case of civil unrest, the FEMA camps are those mass detention centers. This Link provides a list of the FEMA camp locations - including the refurbished Trinidad Camp in Colorado where German and Italian Americans were detained during WWII and the Canon City Japanese internment camp. Don't forget about the corresponding FEMA Coffins - now this may be conspiracy theorist garbage, but I have to question the existence of millions of coffin liners popping up near the FEMA camps.

7. Active Deployment of Combat Troops - The deployment of combat troops for the purpose of putting down civil unrest within the United States is the last reality of the Authoritarian Society in which we now find ourselves.

Call me crazy, or a Conspiracy Theorist, or call me a realist and a patriot for questioning the actions taken by the Federal Government. As we move further toward a nationalized marketplace and a Federal Authoritarian government, I am left contemplating the words of the late Benjamin Franklin: "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both"

What ARE the intentions of the US government?

I don't want to have the children of tomorrow's generation look back on this time and ask "Why didn't anybody do anything?"

Violence in Iraq Spikes Under Al Sadr, What’s our Role?

"Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's followers say security forces are abusing a
cease-fire by his Mahdi Army militia to unfairly target them in raids.
The government says it is acting against criminal gangs. "

The answer to Iraq’s security issue has to be regional security with allegiance to the central government of Iraq. This is the same system that the US uses, where cities and counties take care of local issues, followed by state government, who all pledge allegiance to the federal government.

The mistake in Iraq has been too much focus on the central government, and the central government’s subsequent fighting with the regional security forces.

As much as I hate the devil child, Muqtada al Sadr, he and his followers may be more in the right than we think. Now, of course, al-Sadr has not been elected councilman of anything… he is a self proclaimed leader and head of an illigitimate gang… so IMHO he needs to run for a post, or petition his government for the creation of regional posts, like city council or county commissioner. That will legitimize he and his followers, and bring people in to the political process.

Notice that I use “illegitimiate” instead of “illegal”. It is for a purpose. We in the United States have set rules and regulations, the breaking of which is against the legal system as voted on by the people or their representatives… thus illegal. In Iraq, there are not the same set of rules, elected representatives, or an effective democratic structure. It is a land of renegades and regional order (or disorder), with groups fighting with the US troops or the Iraqi government because they have no other way to petition their government – the system doesn’t exist. So they engage in civil war, or widescale gang war…

With the lack of rules of, by, and for the people, and the increased frustration of the people in Iraq, I have to ask myself and our countrymen: what is our role?

I was discussing the war with my best friend, Curtis, during our road trip. Curtis is active military, scheduled to deploy in January of 2009. He said, “It’s our job to stay there until the job is done”. To which I replied, “What is the definition of the ‘job’ and how will we know when it is ‘done’?” He couldn’t answer, so we discussed the irony of being in a war, and supporting a war to which there is no end in sight, or there are no clear objectives.

Should the objectives be set per my guidelines, we could end ground combat within a year, and chose to establish a few permanent bases for regional security should we so chose.

My guidelines for ending the war would be this:

1. The establishment of regional states, which would establish rule of law in accordance with the Iraqi Constitution, the election of regional or state Governors and legislature, and the creation of these state’s own constitution, as prescribed in Chapter 5 of the Iraqi constitution. Each region would have one year to complete a draft regional constitution and submit it to the voters.
2. Complete the training of the Iraqi Military for basic infantry combat. Our continued presence with bases can continue training higher tech military personnel and officers.
   

That is it. Two goals. Establish the rule of law, and provide for the defense of that rule of law. Everything else is extra, as part of a post combat effort.

If we continue our combat in Iraq as part of a “stop all violence” effort, we will have zero chance of success. What we are now is the Iraqi police, fighting thugs and gangsters.

The role of the US combat troop in Iraq is done. The political process, however difficult, needs to be allowed to work. We should establish a combat ready force at local bases to ensure there are no strings of genocide, and to help qwell a civli war… but our task must be complete.

For those who disagree, I would argue that most combat that is seen now is, in fact, an attack by a gang (you may call them terrorist groups, but they are gangs). This is reminiscent of Los Angeles during the gang war years.

So my plea to the US government is to define the job, so we will know what it is that needs to be done. Let’s finish the job you define. Let’s end combat in Iraq and unite this country!