Paul Hughes wrote:
>
> Accoring to the ex-officers I know, the military would love for Clinton to
> issue such an order, because it would finally give them the control they
> have long sought. Once they establish a military coup, they'll probably
> tell Clinton and the rest of the civilian government to go f__k themselves.
In that case, yes, you're paranoid. First, who's "they"? Who's "the military"? The officers? The generals and admirals? The privates? High-level bureaucrats in the DoD? Second, "the military" is not a political force in this country. The Department of Defense has so little clout, in a nation where budgets are determined by nothing else, that the army is deteriorating.
This isn't a banana republic. Nobody has to keep the military happy. They don't have any Senators in their pocket. Nobody in the military structure has any political clout; thus, the kind of people who are looking for power become politicians, not generals. The various elements in the military don't have a cohesive interest group strong enough to have its own agenda.
--
sentience@pobox.com Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
http://pobox.com/~sentience/AI_design.temp.html
http://pobox.com/~sentience/sing_analysis.html
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.