Free Republic

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly wants a mercenary army to supply the ground forces in the latest installment of the war on terror. And it seems the smart set can't stop laughing. The Washington Post's media blogger, Erik Wemple, called it an "insane" idea and suggested that allowing O'Reilly to peddle the idea on "CBS This Morning" was an "insane departure from that show's standard." The whole spectacle, Wemple opined, proved that O'Reilly will "never be much of a thought leader in policy circles." It's true that on the left and the right, O'Reilly's idea is being scorned fairly mercilessly....

The United States now has a mercenary army. To be sure, our soldiers are hired from within the citizenry, unlike the hated Hessians whom George III recruited to fight against the American Revolutionaries. But like those Hessians, today's volunteers sign up for some mighty dangerous work largely for wages and benefits.... Neither the idealism nor the patriotism of those who serve is in question here. The profession of arms is a noble calling, and there is no shame in wage labor. But the fact remains that the United States today has a military force that is extraordinarily lean and lethal,...