No offense, but the Blackwater guys weren’t “asked” to do ANYTHING.
Their company is a for-profit entity which bid on and entered into a CONTRACT to do certain things for the U.S. government.
They actually ASKED to go to Iraq. They are quite different from U.S. military personnel.
With that said, I hope they are not found guilty, but I also hope our government gets out of the business of hiring mercenaries to do the job our military is supposed to be tasked with doing.
I hope this incident makes the government realize it should stop paying mercenaries $1000 a day to do what our soldiers and marines do.
this for-profit military company nonsense is really creepy to me
—bflr—
ping
Will anyone in the “msm” even mention the Raven 23 in their “news” programs or articles?
This morning the abc radio top “news” article every hour is about the discomfort that unemployed folks are having at not being able to reach their unemployment office on the first phone call.
The implication is that America is looking more and more like the bread lines of the 1930s. There was no mention of the fact that Congress’ recent passage of another thirteen week extension of benefits means that many more people are Still on the dole. The phone lines are not crashing because of new registrants.
Blackwater Security needs to grow into the equivalent of an American Foreign Legion, like the French Foreign Legion. I compare the two, because there are some important parallels that Blackwater must embrace in its business model.
To start with, Blackwater needs a corporate headquarters outside of the United States, especially now, to protect it from a hostile Democrat party. But this also would allow Blackwater to recruit from the best soldiers around the world, who are not US citizens.
As with the FFL, Blackwater would optimally keep American leadership, to avoid conflicts with US, NATO and other friendly forces.
This also allows the US to more freely subcontract with Blackwater, to use it on missions of importance to the US, but far less expensive than using US military, and in places we would prefer not to send US military forces, either. Extended, low intensity missions like Bosnia would save the US billions of dollars by using contracted light infantry.
The US could optionally provide support to Blackwater operations in things such as transport and logistical support, as well as diplomatic agreements to protect them from legal ramifications of their activities.
Who is we! I did not ask them to do shi+ they did it as private contractors and they did it for money.
Reminds me of what Kit Lange said:
>>>Those brave and honorable men who currently reside in prison cells across the country, stripped of their rank, their careers, families, and their good name, will not taste free air again for many years. Their sacrifices and their stories will be forgotten by the general public, remembered only by those of us who continue to fight for them.<<<
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2159535/posts
Moral of the story: If the sh*t hits the fan, State Dept will run and hide. You are on your own.
I don’t see a problem hiring security personnel to protect VIPs. The military has other pressing matters in front of it, like killing the enemy, to be babysitting a bunch of suits.
They are mercenaries. Good mercs who are working for the US, but that doesn't change what they are any more than calling my garbage man a sanitation engineer changes what he is.
What bothers me is that the US is so screwed up we are hiring mercenaries to do the job the US Military used to do (and yes, that used to include protection of State Department officials in a hostile country).