Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Can George Bush use Blackwater to stage a coup?

Lucifer · 10-01-2008, 05:34 AM

I'm not an American and I try to stay out of the politics forum, mainly cause I don't understand a lot of how the American system of government works, but I'm curious how many tfp'ers think that it's possible that George Bush might stage a military coup and take over the country.

I was reading in a thread about Blackwater, and somewhere either in there or in Wikipedia, I read that Blackwater has 22, 000 mercenaries (!) available to throw into a conflict and about how George Bush was planning on bringing them back to the States (North Com?) and refitting them for crowd control and urban pacification. That photo in the thread about New Orleans with the blackwater troops in full gear with assault weapons and taking over someone's apt for their headquarters.

It's not a huge leap from that to paramilitary action on some scale. Certainly a lot of the coups in other countries have started out the same way, with a small heavily armed paramilitary force seizing control and pulling in other units along the way. I'm not sure what checks and balances on the control of the president exist to stop him doing exactly this, but a president with a 22,000 member paramilitary private army hasn't existed before today either.

I've always felt comforted by the fact that neither USA or Canada had a paramilitary force like so many other countries seem to have. That seems to be out the window now....

10-01-2008, 05:34 AM	#1 (permalink)
Lucifer Husband of Seamaiden Location: Nova Scotia	Can George Bush use Blackwater to stage a coup? I'm not an American and I try to stay out of the politics forum, mainly cause I don't understand a lot of how the American system of government works, but I'm curious how many tfp'ers think that it's possible that George Bush might stage a military coup and take over the country. I was reading in a thread about Blackwater, and somewhere either in there or in Wikipedia, I read that Blackwater has 22, 000 mercenaries (!) available to throw into a conflict and about how George Bush was planning on bringing them back to the States (North Com?) and refitting them for crowd control and urban pacification. That photo in the thread about New Orleans with the blackwater troops in full gear with assault weapons and taking over someone's apt for their headquarters. It's not a huge leap from that to paramilitary action on some scale. Certainly a lot of the coups in other countries have started out the same way, with a small heavily armed paramilitary force seizing control and pulling in other units along the way. I'm not sure what checks and balances on the control of the president exist to stop him doing exactly this, but a president with a 22,000 member paramilitary private army hasn't existed before today either. I've always felt comforted by the fact that neither USA or Canada had a paramilitary force like so many other countries seem to have. That seems to be out the window now.... __________________ I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. - Job 30:29 1123, 6536, 5321