The fact that generals are thinking themselves qualified to lecture civilian politicians on policy places the US in dangerous territory. An actual military coup isn’t the only way to military rule. Although coups certainly aren’t rare in Western societies.

Yet, in the west, there are rarely actual violent coup d’états anymore in the style of Pinochet in 1973. The military simply uses the threat of force to ensure that a more acceptable civilian politician is installed. One rarely sees a dictator parading around in military uniform anymore, but that hardly means that military dictators have vanished from the scene.

Nevertheless, a good example of how a coup might go down here is found in the novel Seven Days in May. It’s a good movie too.

It all begins with a general like Petraeus.

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