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Posted on 10/28/2003 5:47:54 PM PST by archy
Enemies Foreign and Domestic:
An Interview with the Author
By Lady Liberty
Matthew Bracken is the author of a book entitled Enemies Foreign and Domestic. After reading the book (see the book review at http://www.ladylibrty.com/book_review.html), I wanted to hear more about the book and its plausibility directly from the author himself. Mr. Bracken kindly agreed to answer some questions for publication. Those questions and his answers follow.
Lady Liberty: What originally served as the inspiration for the plot of Enemies Foreign and Domestic?
Matthew Bracken: I kept reading various Free Republic (http://www.freerepublic.com) Second Amendment and Right to Keep and Bear Arms (RKBA) threads. I began to wonder what would happen if a "super Colombine" happened? Just by the laws of probability, it will; it has to in a nation of 300 million. What if this "super Columbine" happened under a 'rat (Democrat) President and a 'rat Congress?
Well, I think there would be very serious consequences, and our lawmakers could be stampeded into passing some very foolish laws, which would not be accepted by millions of gun owners. This would set up a very dire situation indeed, as outlined in Enemies Foreign and Domestic. It would be a formula for starting a civil war. The next step was to remove this "super Colombine" from the realm of chance, and wonder who might actually benefit from engineering such an event. That was the genesis of Wally Malvone.
Someone in a "counter terrorist" law enforcement position might stand to benefit greatly from a rapid acceleration in acts of domestic terrorism. The ATF plays the distant second fiddle to the FBI. The fibbies get the glamour (and budgets) associated with going after Al Qaeda and foreign terrorism, while the ATF is left with the "militias" and other assorted redneck domestic losers. This is not much of a consolation prize. So Malvone designs a Super Colombine which will be blamed on "right wing militia gun nuts." He knows that the result will benefit him in his position at ATF, and it will eventually make him the President's own "go to guy." Malvone is "the man with the plan." He should be: he engineered the "super Colombine" in the first place, while also creating its antidote, the ATF's "Special Training Unit (STU)."
LL: Okay, so you had an idea. What made you actually put pen to paper and write the book?
MB: I worried about something like a"super Columbine" being engineered. I wanted to innoculate as many Americans against the panic virus as I could by showing them exactly how and why such an event could be stage-managed. After Enemies Foreign and Domestic, any such event will be examined in greater detail, and will be less likely to be accepted at face value.
LL: Just how realistic do you think your story is?
MB: I think it's extremely realistic in its characters and events. Of course as a novelist, I need to cause the main characters to have their fates coincide. But otherwise, there can be no novel.
LL: There are a number of really bad and dishonest federal agents in your book. How likely is it that there are agents and/or supervisors this corrupt who are already out there, working toward their own agenda?
MB: There is no doubt at all that there are hundreds or thousands of federal law enforcement agents who have this "ends justify the means" mentality already today. Just do a search on wrong address SWAT raids, asset forfeiture SWAT raids, and so on. The difference in Enemies Foreign and Domestic is that Malvone thinks up a way to stock a new unit with only such "bad apples," where their negative attributes will be reinforced and rewarded.
Malvone's "harmless training unit" offers ATF supervisors a place to dump their problem children and disciplinary cases. In other words, he distills a unit of only the most brutal jack-booted thugs, who agree (for one example) that it makes perfect sense to "help a case" by planting illegal weapons and so on. And 95% of Malvone's STU team members sincerely believe they are going up against genuine domestic terrorists. They won't hesitate to operate outside the bounds of the Constitution, not in my novel, and not in real life. Only three psychotic villains in the novel, (Malvone, Hammet and Bullard) know that they are perpetrating out and out heinous crimes. The others are just gung-ho SWAT cowboys with itchy trigger fingers, who truly believe they are saving America from "domestic terrorists."
LL: There are also some ordinary citizens who take matters into their own hands in ways that are very much unsanctioned. Do you think it's probable that Brad and Ranya - or people very much like them - exist in the real world?
MB: I don't know if there are many Brads, Ranyas, Phil Carsons, etc. in the real world. I hope so. If there are not, then the triumph of tyranny is guaranteed in another generation. You'll notice the generational attitude theme is strong in Enemies Foreign and Domestic. Most of the freedom fighting heroes are over 50 years old.
LL: We see in your book what happens to push some good and decent people over the edge. How far will things have to go, do you suppose, before real people will take comparable action in the real world?
MB: There are different trigger events for different people. Vin Suprynowicz wrote an entire book about this called The Ballad of Carl Drega. In many cases, these folks are already on too much of a hair trigger.
LL: Some of the surveillance you describe is pretty frightening. Do you believe such techniques will ever really be developed and used against American citizens? How close to reality is the technology in your book?
MB: All of the surveillance methods in the book already exist. They are being used in the war against (Islamic) terror; eventually they will be used against us all as computers become faster, public video cameras become more and more prolific, and so on. The TIA "brilliant data mining" programs for behavior predicting already exist. Madison Avenue uses them every day to learn where to precisely target their promotions. It's a trivial matter to adapt them to find future "enemies of the state."
All of the cell phone tricks described either exist currently, or are technically feasible. Phones do not need to be "turned on" to be used to track you. This is all true. We will find out ten years from now just what tricks the NSA was playing with our cell phones today. For example, they will certainly not admit today that they can use your cell phone for a microphone without your knowledge! (Did we admit we were reading German and Japanese codes during WW2? Same principle.) But there is no technical bar to such use. If such methods will help the FBI and NSA and CIA to find and stop Al Qaeda terrorists, you can bet they will use them, and keep it completely secret. Then in time the same tools will be used to find other categories of "enemies of the state.
LL: What, if anything, can be done to prevent the world you descibe from becoming reality?
MB:What can be done? Educate more of the brain-dead sheeple into becoming free citizens, who are aware of the subtle and creeping threats to what is left of their legacy of American freedom. Enemies Foreign and Domestic is my contribution to this effort.
Enemies Foreign and Domestic is available for purchase online at http://www.enemiesforeignanddomestic.com.
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-archy-/-
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Or Ruby Ridge, or Waco....
I'm just glad he rejected his first plot, which was of a power-mad woman who uses her marriage and her rich, influential connections to procure a senatorial seat in a major state she never even lived in, from which she attempts to take over the government. Nobody'd believe that one!
BOOK REVIEW: Enemies Foreign and Domestic: An Interview with the Author
Yep,.....
.....National Banks (vested interest),...verses,....International Banks (empty to all 'citizen' things, U.S.A.)
:-(
I am certain that it is!
But,.....'our' vested 'Treasury' is 'gone',....so it's 'keepers'...?
The individual verses the 'gang'....alien.
no?
;^)
A shorty! But in the hands of a experienced operator who's well-practiced with it, it'll do fine. I've had as many as four Model 700s at once, then had something wonderful come my way, and they found new homes. The 10X B&L telescopic sight previously aboard one of them was retained as a replacement for a bit of obsolete 4x glass, however.
Have you seen the introductory chapters available online?
You may not want to spoil the treat of going through it in one sitting, but a read of the prologue sets the tone nicely.
Stock the fridge, unplug the phone, and when your copy arrives, you're in for a treat.
-archy-/-
Actually, there are lessons there, though probably not the oines you're thinking of: at both Waco and Ruby Ridge, the BATF had to drag in agents from all over the country, as far as New Orleans, where several of the agents who were killed were from, for example. When they really need manpower, they have to make do with just their resident agents and big-city office staffers...and the reason they didn't do so at Waco must be because they doubt the ability or effectiveness of many of their agents in such situatrions, probavly at least half, maybe as many as three quarters.
Should they insert themselves in a situation where they're up against something other than bible students, children and social security recipients, they can reasonably expect things to go MUCH harder on them. And if the cities from which they opererate suffer counterattacks and some of them return to burned-out homes and absent families, or those subjected to the same treatment given by the federal death squads to other unarmed women and children, there might be a few less volunteers for the *special operations* the next time some Texas bible researcher beats the BATF/E in court and gets the goods on their own criminal activity.
-archy-/-
Travis McGee's still in Ceder Key.
I already have my reading adventure planned. I will take book and my reading glasses and sit under a shade tree. Just hope the dog doesn't bother me while I am trying to concentrate. He usually will just curl up at my feet after a few attempts to get attention fail.
While reading I will keep a binocular and .22 pistol on the table just for targets of opportunity.
7pm Pacific/10pm Eastern!
Very sweet. A little different than the way I get things done, but the results should be about the same.
If the *assault weapons ban* limitations are not extended, are you considering any changes to your carbine? Back when I carried a XM177E2 Car 15 as an alternative to the shotgun or M14 I usually had available, I sometimes replaced it's lower with that of an M16A1, which worked better for me, though with the body armour now very prevelant, the adjustable butt feature makes more sense. But the longer gas tube of the *dissapator* carbines is their real shining feature; I had one pal who particularly favoured his set up that way.
I note too your shotgun's buttcuff ammo holder with two short slugs forward, four rounds of what I'd bet are magnum buckshot in back. My own tendency is to have one of the slugs at either end, with the other four in the middle, which works a little quicker for me at night. And I keep one clipped onto the sling that's neither....
As a newspaperman since hitting journalism school on the GI Bill in 1970, I tend to agree. Since around the early 1980s, having to compose and proof my own copy on CRT computer screens, and it's much worse on my eyes than hard-copy paper, even in brightly lit newsrooms...that are not always brightly managed.
I made the exception in this case, though, and no regrets.
I already have my reading adventure planned. I will take book and my reading glasses and sit under a shade tree. Just hope the dog doesn't bother me while I am trying to concentrate. He usually will just curl up at my feet after a few attempts to get attention fail.
Take an apple, some cheese or a sandwich [or all of the above] and some treats for the pooch, to include something he/she can chew at for a bit. No good reason you should have all the fun!
While reading I will keep a binocular and .22 pistol on the table just for targets of opportunity.
In my case, I had the little Hungarian PPK copy in 9mm Makarov favoured by a girlfriend, who borrowed my own PM Makarov for an extended evaluation, which works nicely for me in an ankle holster.
But I thought about it for a bit, and added an RPK AK-variant, pulled the twin two 30-round *royal* magazines taped together and chunked in a 75-round drum, and leaned it against the drawers of the desk the computer sits on, muzzle down. Outdoors, I'd probably have gone with a shotgun, dogpacks and feral humans being the most common threats, with snakes a distant third. But the RPK would do for them as well.
My newsroom habits make writing and editing a more natural chore during the late evening and early morning; no doubt if I'd mostly worked for afternoon edition newspapers, I'd feel the opposite.
-archy-/-
Definitely. I'm considering going with a collapsable stock, and outfitting it with a 1.5" CQB Solutions tactical sling. I'll also probably get a flash suppressor, if the ban expires.
Should the ban expire, I plan to load up on lots of the new H&K steel mags. They are supposed to be much more reliable than the USGI aluminum mags, which are viewed by many to be the weakest point of the AR-15 rifle system.
I'm also playing with the idea of replacing the handguards with either an SIR or RAS rail system that will free-float the barrel. Of course, I don't need to wait until next year to do that.
But the longer gas tube of the *dissapator* carbines is their real shining feature
The dissipator also gives you a longer iron sight radius over a carbine. But the thing I like the most is that the handguards cover most of the barrel, so you don't burn yourself in a move-fire-move-fire, etc.... scenario.
I note too your shotgun's buttcuff ammo holder with two short slugs forward, four rounds of what I'd bet are magnum buckshot in back
All 6 are slugs. I figure if 8 00 buckshot in the tube won't solve the problem, I need slugs. I do have a bandoleer which holds 56 rounds, and those are all 00 buck.
And I keep one clipped onto the sling that's neither....
There was an interesting thread on one of the gun forums awhile back about that. A woman had to use a shotgun to defend herself from a home invander. Unbeknownst (sp?) to the woman, her husband had left the shotgun loaded with 'dragon's breath' rounds.
She wound up setting her curtains on fire, and had the cops laughing as she cussed out her husband for not having the right SD ammo in the shotgun.
We found out a few days later that a neighbor had seen a bear in the same area.
I keep the binocular for watching the wildlife, there is quite a variety of birds and smaller animals here. I killed two Eastern diamondbacks, a pygmy rattler, a dark patterned cottonmouth and a lighter colored cottonmouth all within a two week period in the early Summer. Have only seen one more huge (just under 7 feet) diamondback since.
I almost always keep a little French Unique model L with me when I walk around the property or just sit. It is about as small and light a .22 as I have found that is still large enough to be easy to hit with. It also has been 100% reliable which I attribute to it's excellent workmanship anad the fact that the feed ramp is designed to guide the cartridge instead of having the magazine do the same.
The weather in the Florida Panhandle is just now turning nice so reading a good novel outside will be a pleasure.
Well equipped for TEOTWAWKI indeed .....or just those things that go bump in the dark at Oh Early Thiry !
Stay Safe.....Ooops too late.... ya already are ! !
Stay Safe Archy !
Stay Safe Archy !
Horizontally, though, please NOT vertically. I once had to grab my shotgun away from a Forest Ranger who thought the Dragon's Breath round I had up the spout was a sort of enhanced aerial flare, and pointed it directly skyward, *having shot off lots of flares before*....
Obviously, he never heard your advice about *staying safe* I told him to let fly, only horizontally, and he did so, complaining that *the plane would never see it.*
He was kind of wrong about that. After he fired and his eyes got back down to their usual size, he was visably shaking after considering the result had he let it go as he had originally planned.
I usually keep one of the things as my first shot as the answer to a nighttime meeting with a bear. It's not happened yet, but if it does, I expect you'll be able to identify the very surprised bear for at least a few months afterward. By day, I've been known to use light birdshot, followed by two or three slugs, also usable against snakey surprises. If it's a bear, the first one goes toward the eyes and from there, slug city, probably into an open and enraged mouth.
Unique at one time made a nifty little carbine version of the Model L [or maybe the 10-shot Model F] that took advantage of the easily interchangable barrel feature opf the Model L to allow the barrel of the pistol to be removed, the frame placed in the carbine's stock/barrel unit and the longer barrel attached, and the shooter was ready to go. I never really wanted to swap things around so much as have the pistol and a rabbit-squirrel rifle that used the same magazines, ammo and spare parts. The paperwork requirements of the Gun Control Act of 1968 killed the sweet little idea, as the short-barrel version didn't make enough importation points as a *target pistol* to be considered *sporting,* yet that was exactly the use I had I mind for it.
-archy-/-
It could easily be that "shot across the bow" of a renegade, Constitution-ignoring, national government [my sworn enemies] that make them hesitate. I can see where it could save many lives!
Consider the future if Hillary gets elected to the Oval Office! But W is, also, taking liberal liberties with the War on Terrorism!
I finally decided it was not that good of an idea since I would probably never use it as anything other than a pistol.
When I bought my Unique, the plastic grip panels were cracked. I made new ones from the plastic case of an old TV set. This plastic btw is extremely easy to work. It will whittle just about like wood and can be ground, drilled etc. without cracking or splitting like thin strips of wood will sometimes do.
It is just about ideal for grips unlike the original plastic which was too brittle.
I finally decided it was not that good of an idea since I would probably never use it as anything other than a pistol.
When I bought my Unique, the plastic grip panels were cracked. I made new ones from the plastic case of an old TV set. This plastic btw is extremely easy to work. It will whittle just about like wood and can be ground, drilled etc. without cracking or splitting like thin strips of wood will sometimes do.
It is just about ideal for grips unlike the original plastic which was too brittle.
I finally decided it was not that good of an idea since I would probably never use it as anything other than a pistol.
When I bought my Unique, the plastic grip panels were cracked. I made new ones from the plastic case of an old TV set. This plastic btw is extremely easy to work. It will whittle just about like wood and can be ground, drilled etc. without cracking or splitting like thin strips of wood will sometimes do.
It is just about ideal for grips unlike the original plastic which was too brittle.
This time, I knew I had pushed the key so I waited a good minute and a half and nothing happened so, knowing it might be a double or triple, punched it again.
Again I waited for a minute of so and nothing! I then went to another web site then came back and noticed my post had posted. Sure enough, all three were there.
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