
Report from Iron Mountain (2006) - nkurz
http://philipcoppens.com/ironmountain.html
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ardit33
The Roman Empire got large because of the "military" complex that the society
had at the time. In order to advance socially (status, and wealth) being a
military commander was a must.

If you had victories in your belt you had more status within the society. Just
being rich, didn't give you more status than somebody that was successful in
combat, but it gave you the ability to fund wars and expeditions in order to
gain more riches.

Hence, since the personal ambitions of important people in Rome fueled the
military complex and all the invasions that came with it.

Most wars were justified as need for the the protection of Rome. Even full
scale invasion and slaughtering of other tribes (either in the North with
Germanic tribes, or South East with Parthia).

This all had an origin when Rome was born and had to fight its neighbor italic
tribes to get where it was. Then it was the large Punic wars with Carthage
that truly cemented the military complex in the society. It was a brutal war
(half of soldiers that fell for the Roman Empire over centuries, died during
the Punic wars), that threaten the existence of Rome itself.

So, some of the military complex was justified historically (either be strong,
or get subjected), it was hijacked and amplified by people's personal
ambitions. (either riches, becoming emperors, etc)....

Similarly, today the military complex in the US was born for needed reasons
(WW1 and WW2), but it is so large that it needs reasons to exist, and create
wars when not needed (second Iraqi war as the worst example of this).

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trynumber9
I'd argue the U.S. involvement in Vietnam was a much worse and equally
unnecessary. Iraq is simply the most recent.

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nkurz
Glad to see this get some traction. I posted this because despite being a hoax
(or at least a pseudonymous piece of political satire), the "Report from Iron
Mountain" was one of the most interesting perspectives I read last year.

The report itself is here:
[http://www.stopthecrime.net/docs/Report_from_Iron_Mountain.p...](http://www.stopthecrime.net/docs/Report_from_Iron_Mountain.pdf)

If skimming (recommended) Section 6 might be a good focal point:
[http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol...](http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_ironmountain08.htm)

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wu-ikkyu
"The war is not meant to be won. It is meant to be continuous. The essential
act of modern warfare is the destruction of the produce of human labor. A
hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance.
In principle, the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of
starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects. And
its object is not victory over Eurasia or Eastasia, but to keep the very
structure of society intact."

-George Orwell

~~~
Animats
We've achieved continuous war. Counter-insurgency is like a pushing contest in
a valley. If the insurgents start to win, they have to control territory,
which means visibility and concentration. Then they're vulnerable to heavy
weapons. If the counter-insurgents start to win, the insurgency goes
underground and is too distributed to attack effectively. Neither side can
force a decision.

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throwaway5752
To save others the hassle: hoax.

More on the late author:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Coppens_(author)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Coppens_\(author\))

~~~
otp124
Born 1971? That means he authored the book before he was born. Did you mean to
link someone else?

~~~
kbob
Philip Coppens wrote the web page, not the _Report_.

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caf
(2008)

It's a good satire - it perfectly skewers the "think-tank report" style that
the US DoD was so enamoured of at the time. Very Strangelovian.

~~~
dang
Internet archive says 2006. Could be earlier of course.

