Freedom vs.Tyranny

by Ira J. Tabankin

  The Service Chiefs are meeting in the War Room, which is located 100 feet under the Pentagon is a secure conference room. US Army Lieutenant General Simpson looks around the room, saying, “Friends, speaking for myself, I can’t follow the President’s illegal orders. What about the rest of you?”

  Four star Commandant of the US Marine Corps, Marine General Brownstone says, “General, speaking for myself, I agree, and I can say most of my Marines will follow me in not following his orders, General Bracken how about the Air Force?”

  “Gentlemen, I took the same oath like the rest of you, I gave my word to follow the orders of the Commander in Chief and the officers appointed over me. I’ve spent the last 29 years following those orders, how can I change now?”

  Admiral Zander, the Chief of Naval Operations, replies, “I can’t and won’t follow illegal orders. I took the same oath like the rest of you; his order is clearly illegal, and he’s doing away with our Constitution. My oath first binds me to defend the Constitution. I can’t follow an order that violates the Constitution. The Navy will not follow his orders. General Simpson, are you sure about the Army?”

  “Gentlemen, as I said I also can’t follow his orders, I know that many of the Army’s officers WILL follow his orders, he’s all but pruned my most experienced and loyal officers. I think the Army is going to split, maybe 50/50. Admiral, are you sure all of your ship captains are going to agree with you?”

  “General, no, I’m not 100% sure. I know some will follow the President’s orders. I know that the carrier captains won’t follow him. I handpicked each and every one of them. It’s the submarine commanders that concern me. I think that at least 60% of the attack boat commanders will follow me; the strategic commanders are picked by a committee, those I really worry about. Each boat carries 24 Trident D5 ballistic missiles with either four or eight thermonuclear warheads.

  “One of my major concerns is fully a third of my Marines are deployed outside of CONUS, some on the Admiral’s ships if those captains follow the President’s orders there may be bloodshed on the open seas. Admiral, how do we get our deployed people home with their weapons, supplies and vehicles ASAP?”

  “General Bracken, we can’t allow the Air Force to fight against the rest of us, it’ll be a bloodbath. In addition, we need your aircraft to protect us from anyone who is going to want to use the current situation against the country. What about the country’s strategic forces?”

  “Admiral Zander, I suggest we poll our missile officers and also your Trident captains, we can’t allow the strategic forces going off the reservation. That would be too dangerous. We might have to take control of the birds if the crews don’t remain loyal. We need their birds to keep the wolves at bay.”

  The Admiral stands to address his three counterparts, “Gentlemen there’s one topic that we haven’t spoken about, it’s hanging in the air like a lead balloon, we all know what it is, yet none of us want to say it, so I will, should we overthrow him?”

  There’s silence in the conference room; no one wants to be the next person to speak. Finally, General Simpson stands, “Admiral, in the 239 years our great nation has existed we’ve never had a military coup, and that’s what it’ll be if we step in and overthrow the President. We’ve always had the support of the population, we’ll never maintain the people’s support if we overthrow their legally elected government.”

  “General, given what’s happened, can you say it’s still a legally elected government?”

  “Admiral, the people elected him, as such he’s the legally elected President. He may have wandered off the reservation, but he is still our Commander in Chief. May I suggest we break for an hour or two and then reconvene? I’d like to speak with a few of my staff.”

  “General, that’s agreeable to me; the other topic, we need to discuss, is what should we do if our friends at DHS decide they want to enter the Pentagon for our protection?”

  General Brownstone laughs saying, “Let them try I don’t think our mobile security force will honor their ID cards.”

  “General, I suggest we inform the security detail to lock the building down.”

  “Admiral, a very good idea.”

  Picking up the telephone on the table, General Simpson says, “This is General Simpson speaking for the commanding officers of the Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy, this is a direct order, lock down the Pentagon, set Threatcon Delta. I don’t care who shows up at the front door, or any ID card or pass signed by anyone, and I mean anyone, not even the President. The building stays locked down until further notice. Am I clear?”

  “Sir, this is Colonel Watkins, sir, Threatcon Delta, yes sir, total lockdown, sir what are our ROE (rules of engagement)?”

  “Colonel, the four of us, have agreed that use of deadly force is authorized. Son, get us locked down and secure, open up the arms lockers. While you’re at it, please appoint Captain Grover, USMC to lead the mobile security force.”

  “Sir, yes sir. Sir, are you really sure you want Captain Grover to command the mobile security force? I assume the general is fully aware of the Captain’s typical assignments?”

  “Colonel, we’re very familiar with the Captain, most of his orders have originated from the four of us. I think he’s the perfect person to put the fear of God in anyone who attempts to enter the Pentagon by force.”

  “Yes sir, you’ve got that one right. I’ll contact the Captain right now; I’m sure he’ll enjoy himself commanding the mobile security force. General, what do I do when he asks for a platoon of M1 tanks?”

  “Give them to him and stand back.”

  The alarms in the Pentagon sound, a computer generated voice says, “Attention, attention, now set THREATCON DELTA, repeat now set THREATCON DELTA this not a drill, this is not a drill. Use of deadly force is authorized. The building is now on total lock down. All security squads report to battle stations. External guard stations are to lock down the entrances and exits. No one goes in or out. TREATCON DELTA TREATCON DELTA. NO DRILL.”

  @@@@@

  The President’s Secretary of Homeland Security informs the President, “Mr. President, the Pentagon isn’t answering any calls. I’ve personally tried calling. I get a recorded message informing me that the Pentagon is on something called a total lockdown and now operating on Threatcon Delta this is not a drill, repeat this is not a drill.”

  The President responds, “Send some of your people over there to make them understand. I’m tired of the military thinking they live under a different set of rules. Well, their day has now come; they will either swear allegiance to me personally or they are gone.”

  “Yes sir, I’ll send an armed team to collect the service heads and have them brought here so you can give them a direct order.”

  “Do it now. I want them standing in front of me within the hour.”

  Chapter 3

  We live in Northern Virginia; which is a very conservative area, Romney won our county by a wide margin, our Republican Congressman has held office for twenty years. I thought there might be a small local reaction to the President’s speech; I was not prepared for the scene that greeted me when I arrived at our local Wal-Mart. Looking at the people running in and out of the store, one would have thought the President announced the world was going to end. The store resembled a battle zone; people are grabbing food and just running out of the store without stopping to pay. There are three county sheriffs trying to maintain order at the front of the store, they are not succeeding. In fact, they are being pushed aside by the waves of scared people. My first stop is the sporting goods department, it’s been ransacked, the ammo case glass doors have been broken, all of the ammo is gone. The front case which yesterday held 30 different types of sporting knives is broken, all of the knives are gone. Even the rifles, which had trigger locks on them, are missing. I push my shopping cart to the camping aisles, where much to my surprise most of the dried food is still on the shelves; I fill my basket with all of it, plus all of the water filters and ten one
pound bottles of propane. In the event of a power loss or gas, shut off, I’ll have light and some heat. I got a real surprise when I rounded the aisle and saw all of the bows and arrows are untouched, while the firearm section has been ransacked; all of the hunting bows are untouched. I grab two recurve bows and all of the arrows I can fit in my cart. The previous ransacking of the store must have been pretty bad because they're no cashiers, people are running in and out of the store with loaded carts or armfuls of food; some are carrying out large screen TVs and DVD players. I push the cart to my car’s trunk; I just dump everything in the trunk as quickly as I can so I can return to see what other treasures I can find. BANG BANG BANG, Crap, someone’s shooting it out at the front of the store. Three sheriff’s deputies are running towards the gunshots; they run to the right-hand door, allowing me to get in the left-hand doors. Most people are grabbing everything from the food half of the store; I return to the camping section where I grab a couple of sleeping bags and two inflatable sleeping mattresses. I also grab all of the batteries I can locate, flashlights and slow burning candles. My gut says that either the power is going to be too expensive to use, or the grid is going to collapse. I luck out in finding two first aid kits jammed in the back of the wrong shelf; this gives me four counting the two I have at home. I’m about to head to the health and beauty section when the sheriffs make an announcement they are closing the store. Anyone caught inside the store in two minutes will be arrested or shot. Damn, time to get the hell out of Dodge. I make it out of the store as the doors are closed, and metal fencing from the warehouse section of the store is strung across the front of the Wal-Mart. Since I still have room in the car, I head over to Sam’s. When I get there I find it locked and ten private armed security guards standing in front of the store. My next stop is the Wegmans grocery store, they have private armed security who are only allowing one person into the store as one exits, I stand in line with about 50 others, soon it’s my turn to enter the store, many of shelves are empty, some are even turned over. I’m looking for canned goods and bottled water. There’s a sign limiting bottle water to two cases per person; I take my two and head to the canned goods section, I grab a hundred cans of various types of soup, canned tuna and chicken, If things turn to crap, I want as many supplies as I can get my hands on. Standing in the checkout line, I see shotgun armed employees escorting shoppers to their cars. The woman behind me tells me her neighbor was here earlier, she got jumped as she was putting her food into her car. A group of kids came up behind her, hit her in the head with a metal pipe, stealing her car full of food, leaving her bleeding in the parking lot. I thought to myself; the President’s announcement has done nothing but open the gates of hell and let loose all of the scum. What’s going to happen when he takes all of our firearms away?

  On the way home I tune to the Rash Linebacker show only to find out he too is off the air. I shouldn’t have been surprised. I try to tune to the patriot station on Sirius; it’s not there, all, I get, is an announcement saying, “This station is currently off the air due to technical issues, please try to tune in later.” I can guess the technical reasons are more censorship. I try watching CNN. The anchor is saying, “I can’t understand why people aren’t more ecstatic about the President’s new policies, look at how hard he’s working to ensure those evil guns are forever removed from our streets making all of us so much safer.” The reporter goes on saying, “The President is doing everything possible to protect the first amendment rights by allowing people to express themselves.” She doesn’t say a word about the President overturning the second amendment, or the damage the inner city youth are doing while expressing their first amendment rights. It’s only a matter of time before these gangs; start attacking whites and Latinos everywhere, when that happens we are going to have a full-blown race war on our hands.

  I want to get home and hide my “loot” before another shoe drops. I wonder if our neighborhood will see the fighting and burning the cities are experiencing.

  I put everything in my hiding spots. I still don’t have a good idea where to hide my AR 15 and shotgun which I purchased from a friend. I’ve been buying ammunition for years, I have over 25,000 rounds stored in the quest bedroom. All of it is stored in 50 caliber ammo cans. I decide to disassemble my two non-registered long guns to make them easier to hide. There's no way I'm going to turn in or sell back these two firearms. I also need to hide my ammo and cleaning kits. I'll find a way to hide what's mine, or they can kill me to take them from my cold dead hands.

  @@@@@

  Senators Rand and Cruise are led out of the sheriff’s office to a waiting DHS blacked out bus with bars welded over the windows. Senator Rand says, “Well look who’s here, we have most of our party on the bus with us, we could hold our next convention right here.” No one laughs, many are injured, some have bandages wrapped around their heads, and a few have their suits ripped. Senator Cruise asks, “What the hell happened to you?”

  The Senator from Mississippi responds for the group, “When the two of you went off to make a live broadcast and be big heroes; the DHS goon squad entered our conference room, they told us we were under arrest for violation of the Sedition Act. We didn’t even realize the sedition act was still on the books. A few of us refused to go with the DHS agents; the goons beat them and then turned on the rest of us with clubs. Two of the women were led away, we heard them screaming a couple of rooms down the hall, while none of us could leave the room to try to save them. We can only imagine what happened to them. Once we got on the bus, they changed their story and said they are taking us into protective custody. To protect us from the angry mobs. Yet it was our protectors who beat us.”

  “Have you seen any Democrats?”

  “Senator Ried showed the DHS goons where we were meeting. He told us we were committing an act of treason. He called the DHS security forces to protect us from the masses wanting our heads for allowing Americans to freeze to death. He said he’s worried about our safety once he announces we’re opposing the President’s policies. He said it didn’t matter anyway because he was putting the Senate into recess; he’ll personally advise the President during the recess.”

  A voice from the back of the bus asked, “Does anyone know where they’re taking us?”

  Senator Rand replies, “I guess we’re going to the FEMA camp outside of Manassas Virginia.”

  Another voice said, “I’m Jewish, there can’t be concentration camps in America. I won’t accept it; I think we need to form a committee to investigate who built them and who funded them.”

  Senator Cruise responds, “We as a body funded them, plus we allowed them to purchase 1.6 billion bullets didn’t any of you wonder why and whom they were going to use those bullets to against?”

  “So smart one, how are we going to get out of the camp they send us to? How are we going to put a stop to all of this?”

  Cruise responded, “We aren’t, the only way, I see us getting out of that camp, is if the military busts us out or if the people rise and overthrow the President. If I were you, I’d pray for the military.”

  “Why?”

  “Have you seen the images from Syria or Lebanon or for that matter any modern country where there’s been a civil war? Did you happen to notice the damage an all-out civil war causes? Lebanon used to be a major holiday resort, the Middle East Rivera, look at it now; it’s a government less war zone twenty years after their civil war, look at Syria or central Europe. Look at what happened in Egypt. Is this what you want for America? If the military steps up, they can toss the pain in the ass out of the White House and return the rule of law to the country. The longer the lawlessness goes on, the worse the future of our country is going to be. Unless there is a change, someone is going to have to remove both the President and his idiot Vice President from office.”

  The senior Senator from Arizona speaks up saying, “Senator, come on, those were civil wars brought on by religious factions, we wouldn’t have similar civil war here. We can talk i
t out and reach a compromise with the other side, I’m telling you, there’s no need for all of this. If they would just let me talk to Senator Ried, I’m sure, we can work it out.”

  Senator Cruise responds, “Senator, if you want to leave the bus, do so, I’m not going to help you, after all you told the press you thought I was crazy, remember?”

  “Cruise, you know I didn’t mean that, we just didn’t agree on the same course of action with the government shutdown.

  “Senator leave if you want, I won't put it past the DHS to shoot you and blame it on the Tea Party.”

  “They wouldn’t shoot me; I ran for President.”

  “Then make a try for it, me? I’m going to stay right here; at least I won’t be shot escaping.”

  The Senator from North Carolina asks, “Senator Cruise do you think your constituents in Texas will turn over their firearms?”

  “Senator, they will, as soon as they are pried out of their cold dead hands. There’s no way Texas is going to go along with the President. What worries me is, do any of you remember the Goggle search by state analysis they ran back in January of 14? Google published a report on what people in each state searched for with auto-complete. Out of the 50 states, 15 or 16 searched for “secede” I’m afraid we’ve reached the tipping point. Ten years ago a President would never think of using executive orders like the current one does, ten years ago no one would search for how to secede. I’m afraid the President is going to push the people over the edge. Half don’t pay any taxes, the other half wonders why they are supporting the nonworking half. The nonworking half wants more from the working, and this President wants to give it to them. His recent announcements may be just the spark that lights a fuse we can’t put out. I better grab a seat; it looks our driver is coming, along with a couple of armed security goons.”

  The driver climbs into the bus, saying, “Senators, the President has deemed you’re not safe here in Washington, he worries that the hordes of unhappy people will come after you because you refused to pass his policies. He thinks the people will hunt you down and do you harm. As such, he asked us in the Department of Homeland Security to take you into protective custody. Any rumors of your being under arrest are false, we’re here to help and protect you. We’re going to be taking you to Manassas; there we can ensure your safety and security. Please don’t try to leave the bus; you may have noticed the windows have bars welded over them so any unhappy citizens won’t be able to get to you. Now sit back and relax, we should be at your new home in about 90 minutes. We’ll have a nice hot meal waiting for you.”