>>is this story true on all different levels?<<
Well, I can see you are your usual provocative self, Jay. I'll bite, nonetheless.
Interesting story. The Cigar Aficionado (does this really count as journalism?) reporter chose to headline General (retired) Frank's most outlandish comment and to make it look as if it represents some kind of official policy.
It looks to me like just one more attempt to demonize the United States of America - in this case, to invoke the specter of some future bizarre rogue militarized nation state.
In response to your questions:
>>Did Tommy Franks say what he supposedly did say?<<
I don't know. Possibly. A close reading of the article reveals that Franks expressed a personal fear of a further curtailment of civil liberties in the US in the event of another major terrorist attack - i.e. an attack with a nuclear biological or chemical weapon causing large numbers of casualties. Franks did not make a prediction imo, though the reporter, who did not print Frank's comments verbatim but printed an extensively edited version, clearly wished to promote that interpretation. Another budding Michael Moore (i.e lying sack of s**t) wannabe perhaps?
>>Is his prediction founded on any real possibilities?<<
It depends what you mean by "martial law". This means something very different to the black helicopter crowd , to which, by and large, it means a full-blown military dictatorship with all the trimmings - concentration camps for dissidents, etc. To the more rational, it means a declaration of a national emergency and the kind of measures that were undertaken by the US government in WW2. Well, we already have the declaration of national emergency: whitehouse.gov.
What we'd likely get from a second major terrorist attack is Patriot Act II and a much greater public willingness to kick terrorist ass. Of course, we'd still have the problem of identifying the terrorists, but somebody's ass would get kicked for sure. But no concentration camps.
>>Can it all be?<<
All what?
>>In other words, is this TeoTwawKi?<<
No. The world is very far removed from TEOTWAWKI. Just ask anyone who remembers the Cuban missile crisis. |
