Posted on 10/09/2014 9:30:56 AM PDT by 11th_VA
As the fight against the Islamic State unfolds, the take of Erik Prince, the founder of the former private security firm Blackwater, is straightforward: If the United States is unwilling to send in ground troops, “let the private sector finish the job.”
Prince addressed the subject this week in a little-noticed blog post on the site of his newest security and logistics firm, Frontier Services Group. Prince left Blackwater, with its checkered history in Iraq, including the killing by contractors of 17 civilians in a 2007 shooting, in 2010. The trial of four Blackwater guards involved in the shooting in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square, has been underway for months.
Prince is currently courting private business in Africa for his new company. He also is preparing to drum up readers for the paperback version of his bestselling book, “Civilian Warriors: The Inside story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the War on Terror,” out later this month.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The Expendables IV
This time, it’s REAL!
And not hamstrung by defeat-ensuring ridiculous ROEs! I’m all for it, heck I’d like to join ‘em.
What is with all the stupid mercenary talk lately?
Sure, let’s trust our national security to a bunch of guys whose only loyalty is to a paycheck. Screw it, we can just disband the US military and replace it with these clowns. Yeah, that is a brilliant idea.
Not hamstrung until the first incident.
The military is being disbanded as we speak. Check your email, you might have a pink slip. Contractors pay better anyway.
This is not about disbanding the Armed Services, just winning the fights their current political apologists won’t let them win.
Once we get rid of the no-fighting factions in the Services, they’ll go back to what they’re supposed to do: kill our enemies.
Clowns? I don't think you know who you are talking about. These guys are recruited from the cream of the military.
Absolutely a fine idea ... mercs won’t concern themselves with those pesky R.O.E. that so many leftists think are needed so the mercs can take the fight directly to ISIL and use whatever tactics are needed to be victorious. I do believe that naked, merciless violence is all that any koranimal understands. I recently heard someone say that (paraphrasing) when fighting the muslim you need to kill them, kill more of them and when they are all gone, kill their goat.
Good advice.
Time to re-establish the Templars or the like. States don’t seem up to the task. Maybe private organizations can do better.
The down side would be bombings to rail stations like what happened in Spain. ISIL aren't dummies, they probably already have targets.
Until FOX news showed video of captured Blackwater employees being beheaded.
Sure. You can always prosecute them afterward.
Letters of Marque and Reprisal.
You send mercenaries when you don’t have the nerve to stand up in front of the American people and explain why this fight is necessary.
We should point out that ISIS was our mercenary army. Building a mercenary army using muslims as your raw material and you’ll get ISIS every time, unless you are prepared to use non-muslims to lead them as we did in the early war against the Taliban.
The rise of PMC’s is driven by the rise of Non-State Actors, right?
Maybe, but the PC drive to use the military as a Social Experiment Laboratory is a stronger factor.
As long as the US military is not really a military then the US need for a REAl military will continue to thrive, ergo PMC’s.
Its a good idea. A fine idea. An American idea.
Its disgusting that soldiers are paid the way they are. A Seal, SF, Ranger, or Marine grunt get the same pay as a pentagon admin pogue.
Every other field pays people who reach the pinnacle of their profession. Only the trigger pullers get the flag waved in their face and are told to do it abysmally below market wages.
We are constantly told we must pay for accountants, attorneys, doctors, and engineers in public service. Lockheed execs do not take a military officer payscale for the duration of the war to demonstrate their patriotism.
No, it is only the soldier, the trigger puller that must do it for burger flipping wages.
Contractor and merc wages show us the true market forces at work, and the true cost of hiring a soldier.
We are free marketeers,,,until we need a soldier.
BTTT!
Excellent point.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.