US hostage Tommy Hamill: from farm debt to Iraq

csmonitor.com ^ | April 12, 2004 | Steve Rogers

[Destro]

I ask this question with all due respect....but why are we importing expensive American truck drivers to Iraq when local Iraqis can be found to be more than qualified to drive trucks? Especially with the high unemployment found in Iraq. Maybe giving some Iraq's jobs with the occupation might make some loyal to us? Or even less resentful of us? I know these men are supplying American troops and that is why Iraqis ar eprobably nit trusted but if the dangers are this high then we need to rethink the use of civilians for this logistics task. Or am I the only one under 40 that remembers the Red Ball Express from WW2? War should not be about an American jobs program.

Something is wrong here and we best start asking questions and stop being cheering robots.

PS: I feel great anger that this emerging America can no longer provide meaningful work for patriots like Mr. Hamill but that is a topic for another thread.

[MEG33]

It's Bush's fault.

[Destro]

It is everyone's fault. This our govt. after all.

[TomB]

You seem to have a real problem with civilians working in Iraq.

Why don't you give it a rest?

[Destro]

You mean this has become the USSR where discussion of events should not happen and we need to give it a rest? I guess you are in the "robot" section.

[jospehm20]

Maybe because we don't want a bunch of the locals on local military posts?

[Destro]

No problem in places where no hostile activity is to be found like say in Europe. But American civilian truck drivers in a hostile/war zone instead of troops doind the task?

[Hot Tabasco]

Something is wrong here and we best start asking questions and stop being cheering robots.

If I had a skill to offer and if I didn't have a job at the moment, I would apply for employment in a second.

Just like you and all the other people in this world, I feel I am indestructible and that my time will come but only a long way from now......

Of course, If I am wrong then the only thing I'll have to say is Oh Sh*t! I did it again! again.....

Anybody applying for employment in Iraq knows damn well what is involved and what the salary is. Obviously the salary offered outweighs the risks............at least in their minds.

[MEG33]

Do you think Bush,our government and therefore all of us are responsible when any American is kidnapped anywhere in the world or only in Iraq?

Are we responsible for all of those who work overseas because the pay is higher or because they have lost a job or have debt?I am not speaking of sorrow,regret,anxiety over the kidnapping or death...I am talking about responsiblity.

[TomB]

You mean this has become the USSR where discussion of events should not happen and we need to give it a rest?

No, I mean calling dead civilian security guards "mercenaries", er, excuse me, "professional soldiers for hire" and dissing men like this one as on a "jobs program" is beneath contempt. Although you've demonstrated a wonderful capacity to limbo.

[angkor]

Because it's a civilian contract.

I turned down an Iraq gig myself, but it would have been nestled in the midst of a armed military base. Not out there on the road every day in a Mad Max replay.

Decided the one-year family separation was too much, and there's no way I'd want to be unarmed in a live shooting zone, having been there once before in an overseas position.

[jospehm20]

We don't have enough transportation units in the Army anymore. The trans units we do have are working non stop hauling stuff, but it is not enough to supply everything needed. They have to contract civilians to haul a lot of the Army's stuff. Even during Desert Storm we used a lot of civilian trucking to support the Army. We have always been short on trans units. I am on Camp Anaconda right now and the idea of having locals drive big trucks onto post is out. I do not want to see a big rig packed with explosives set off on post anytime soon. I think that is probably why we use US citizens instead of locals.

[Destro]

You are arguing the wrong argument. Why are we importing Americans to Iraq? at such great expense and risk? Nothing to do with it being Bush's fault. That is my tax money (and yours) paying for this so it is my right and responsibility to question the appropriateness of how it is being spent. Have we become so servile a people that we can't even dare contemplate alternative policies to those policies implemented by our elected officials? Was I transported to bizarro world where being a conservative has another meaning and we dare not question the polcies of our rulers?

[isthisnickcool]

You mean this has become the USSR where discussion of events should not happen and we need to give it a rest? I guess you are in the "robot" section.

The USSR is back together again? When did that happen? I really must pay more attention. They they dig up Nikita and put him back in charge?

[Destro]

I never called those security contractors "mercenaries" - you did that Tomwad. And my full statement was They knew who they were hitting. These men were body guards of some sort - ex special forces. They were guarding the people in the other vehicle which was allowed to escape. The Arabs went for the "contractors" not the other civilians. The troubling thing about this is that this indicates that our foes have better intel then we do. PS: Why call them contractor? Makes them sound like they were there to put up drywall or something. The men who died were professional soldiers for hire serving as legit body guards.

My statement had to do with wondering of the Iraqis had insider intel on those men and if they preplanned that attack to kill those men specifically. Nothing to do with their employment status per say.

Taking my statement out of context is real Clintonian of you.

[angkor]

Anybody applying for employment in Iraq knows damn well what is involved and what the salary is. Obviously the salary offered outweighs the risks............at least in their minds.

I'm not sure that's true. Some would be looking at the money, period. Some would think they have the moxie to stand up to the stress, but they've not been in a shooting zone and don't really know what its about.

People have very odd and unexpected reactions in these environments. Some rise to the occasion, some divert their minds with inconsequential trivia, some are crushed by it. I watched a retired military officer (non-US) become obsessively dependent on BBC newscasts, when the reality of the situation was happening right outside his front door.

Personally I'd not want to do it again unless armed, and that's usually prohibited for civilian contractors (Blackwater et al excepted).

[MEG33]

Get a sign and picket the Pentagon.

[TexasCajun]

Mr. Dan Rather started this, "...out of work, no government support, family to feed; this brave American had no choice but to go to work in Iraq because of this terrible Bush economy!"

[Chief_Joe]

Umm hum...??? bump

[okie01]

No, I mean calling dead civilian security guards "mercenaries"...

That was Ol' Dan Tucker, not Destro.