"Economic View: To Know Contractors, Know Government"
"Contractors do not set the tone but rather reflect the sins and virtues of their customers, namely their sponsoring governments. It is easy to rail against contractors for holding money above loyalty to country... but money isn’t the real issue... most American weapons are made by the private sector for profit.
Well, WHO governs AmeriKa then, and why are we being taken for a ride?
War is, among other things, an economic undertaking, so the profit motive in military affairs isn’t always bad or ignoble.
War profiteering is not bad or ignoble. Puke!
Today, America no longer has a draft, its military bureaucracy can be inflexible and the public wishes to be insulated from the direct impact of war. Contractors are a symptom of government weakness, but are not the problem itself.
But it might soon, kiddies!
Among many Iraqis, Blackwater and other companies have a reputation for getting the job done without much caring about Iraqis who get in the way. But part of the problem may stem from economic incentives. If Blackwater is assigned to protect a top American official, who is later assassinated, Blackwater may lose future business. A private contractor doesn’t have a financial incentive to protect Iraqi citizens, who are not paying customers. Ultimately, this reflects the priorities of the United States military itself. American casualties are carefully recorded and memorialized, but there is no count of Iraqi civilian deaths.
Yeah, about those Iraqis:
About about the 35 people killed every day, and the number of Iraqis killed by the surge -- around 300 per day, 10,000 per month -- and the 1.2 million Iraqis dead since the invasion (not including the 1,654 killed in September), the U.S. military's 75 air raids a day, and the five-fold increase in air bombings.
All despite having to deal with such bullshit as:
Asymmetrical Warfare Group
Operation Gladio
Operation Northwoods
Salvador Option,
Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group
Prop 201 tutorial
FRU
Hey, don't believe me, do your own research.
Contractors are not subject to direct scrutiny by Congress and they are not covered by international law with the same clarity. Excessive use of private contractors erodes checks and balances, and it substitutes market transactions, controlled by the executive branch, for traditional political mechanisms of accountability. When it comes to Iraq, we’ve yet to see the evidence of a large practical gain in return; instead, use of contractors may have helped to make an ill-advised venture possible.
A serious issue for Blackwater — the allegations about needless deaths of innocent civilians — has also been an issue for United States government forces from the beginning of the conflict.
Coulda fooled me -- from the AmeriKan newspaper coverage!
Most of all, contractors are appealing when a victory is possible in relatively quick order. The potential accountability problems won’t linger for long; conversely, few contractors will look good when a conflict runs on for years.
Currently, the chances of establishing a stable Iraqi government appear quite low.... There is no desirable end in sight.
In the next conflict, however, the temptation to use contractors may again be strong. What if private contractors offer a real chance of making a positive difference? For instance, it was the private firm SITE Intelligence Group that obtained the first American copy of what is believed to be the latest video from Osama bin Laden, although it seems that government leaks have since damaged the trail of intelligence.
Private contractors may not respect virtue for its own sake, but like most businesses, they will respect the wishes of their most powerful customers, in this case governments. What is wrong with Blackwater may, most of all, mirror what is wrong with Uncle Sam."
SO TRUE!!! MILITARISM!!!!!
And with this government listening only to AIPAC and lying to us to boot, we need to clean house soon -- before it is too late (if it isn't already)!
