10/9 Update: Accordng to this article Iraqi authorities want the U.S. government to sever all contracts in Iraq with Blackwater USA within six months. They also want the firm to pay $8 million in compensation to families of each of the 17 people killed when its guards sprayed a traffic circle with heavy machine gun fire last month. To which I say:
Maybe the Iraqi government protesteth too much and too late.
9/21: This 2 minute video says that Blackwater Mercenaries are funded to the tune of $100 million by our US government. I guess that is the cost of not having enough US troops to wage the war. I have said it before that it is sad how our military is becoming a mercenary organization ... like Blackwater ... of course our soldiers don't receive $100,000 salaries like their mercenaries do.
I've heard (from an intelligence officer with the Canadian army) that Blackwater is the police force in the newly developed, uber-wealthy, man-made island communities off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. Strange world we live in. (I also believe Blackwater mercenaries are mostly ex-Navy SEALS). My (Canadian) husband, who was a history major, also wanted me to note that this is what Rome did just before their empire began to crumble. They too began relying on mercenary forces (and foreign conscription to fight their battles). Don't blame me for that commentary! :) (OK, I guess I did type it up)...
ReplyDeleteAn interesting take on Rome Sarah.
ReplyDeleteI think that the mercenary path is a dark one ... don't think that our country has ever traveled it before ... but I could be mistaken.
I think you are right. This is the first time we've used them in an overt war, but I think it was common for our government to utilize them in covert conflicts during the Cold War. "Covert conflict" is probably bad terminology, but I mean conflicts the US government entered without telling the American people, and invested money and resources (arms, training) using non-American forces (sometimes alongside a special American task force, sometimes on their own).
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