I asked, “Are you asking me if we could win?” “Yes”, he replied. I told him, “Yes, we would win, but the real issue is what would we win?”

That is the only rational reason we citizens haven’t descended on Washington D.C. already. We know that a major upheaval in American civil rule would lead to a splintering of differing interest groups that would in turn lead to a shattering of a once great nation: A once great nation that no longer cooperated in a union of states that has withstood the tests, depressions and wars of time. Hell yes, we would win, but what then? Our international enemies would probably descend on us like locusts.

Leaving that consideration aside, let’s get back to that reporter’s question by examining what is happening in Iraq right now, with a taste of salt from our learning experiences in Viet Nam.

We lost the war in Viet Nam to a raggedy group of under-armed, but dedicated Communist insurgents. Our armed forces in Viet Nam were far better equipped and superior in training, yet we lost anyway. It was the first modern test of citizen guerilla forces waged against a standing army, and 58,000 lives later, we limped home. If you will recall, our own insurgents, loosely organized under a guy named George Washington, sent a another superior standing army from England limping home. Such is the legacy of an armed citizen insurgency, and our excellent adventure in Iraq is going exactly the same way.

I shouldn’t even have to write this, but an insurgency of really pissed-off, armed citizens, even numbering only 5% or less of an entire population, can topple an existing government.

Back in Viet Nam, Charlie would go into the villages at night to recruit new conscripts and punish the villagers who had cooperated with our forces. During the day, our forces would go into the villages to seek information and make nice with the local folk. The non-combatant citizens were caught in the middle, and Charlie’s boys would summarily execute anyone known to have cooperated with us. In the interim of battle, thousands of Vietnamese citizen non-combatants were killed collaterally, and most of them were killed by our forces who were shooting at Charlie while he was hiding amongst them. In the balance, the locals overwhelmingly blamed the foreign invaders (us) and that led to even more local citizens jumping off the fence to fight us.

Now look at what’s happening in Iraq. Same thing. We’ll lose in Iraq.

If American citizens chose force to overthrow the existing government of the United States to restore constitutional rule, they could do it. They would win. They would summarily execute any citizens cooperating with the government, and they would make the opposing forces die from a thousand tiny cuts. They would wreak havoc on power, transportation, the economy, you name it. The opposition would be confined to living in armed camps, going out only under heavy guard, and even then subject to attack. Just like Iraq. It is a nightmarish, bloody scenario that no rational American citizen would ever want to see played out here.

Unlike Viet Nam and Iraq, we insurgents would look just like every other American, only we’d be far more well-armed and devious. Hell, we’d make those Iraqi insurgents look like girl scouts. No wonder the little scum-bags in Washington want to ban citizens from owning “assault weapons” and .50 caliber sniper rifles.

Could we win? Yes, we would win. But what would we win? It remains to be seen whether the people running this unconstitutional government of the United States will see that they have made a grave mistake and reverse the trend, or drive forward into the face of the storm that awaits them.

Carl F. Worden