The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012…(Written In ’92!!)
Charles J. Dunlap Jr
Scholarship.law.duke.edu
1992-93 issue of Parameters
The letter that follows takes us on a darkly imagined excursion into
the future. A military coup has taken place in the United States—the year is
2012—and General Thomas E. T. Brutus, Commander-in-Chief of the Unified
Armed Forces of the United States, now occupies the White House as permanent
Military Plenipotentiary. His position has been ratified by a national referendum, though scattered disorders still prevail and arrests for acts of sedition are
underway. A senior retired officer of the Unified Armed Forces, known here
simply as Prisoner 222305759, is one of those arrested, having been convicted
by court-martial for opposing the coup. Prior to his execution, he is able to
smuggle out of prison a letter to an old War College classmate discussing the
“Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012.” In it, he argues that the coup
was the outgrowth of trends visible as far back as 1992. These trends were the
massive diversion of military forces to civilian uses, the monolithic unification
of the armed forces, and the insularity of the military community. His letter
survives and is here presented verbatim.
It goes without saying (I hope) that the coup scenario above is
purely a literary device intended to dramatize my concern over certain
contemporary developments affecting the armed forces, and is emphatically not
a prediction.
—The Author
Dear Old Friend,
It’s hard to believe that 20 years have passed since we graduated from the
War College! Remember the great discussions, the trips, the parties, the people?
The Rest…PDF…HERE
