All 'private security firms' in Iraq, aka mercenaries, are required to have a license from Iraq's Interior Ministry. All but one that is. Blackwater USA is that one. Apparently, the State Department has given the company unique authority among the mercenaries: no need for a license, no need to comply with military regulations on using offensive weapons, no need to report shooting incidents, no need to provide information to the military so that the company's movements can be tracked on the battlefield.
Blackwater and, I assume, other security companies are focused virtually exclusively on 'their mission' - the protection of their 'principals'. That's fine, but they do so without regard to one of this country's goals in Iraq - winning the hearts and minds of the natives.
We need a draft, as our military does not have enough soldiers to do the job they are being asked to do.
An aside.
Lobbying occurs all over this planet, I know. But I was amazed when I learned of the existence of the American Chamber of Commerce in China. Now, I learn that there are not one, but two, lobbying firms for mercenaries in Iraq: Private Security Company Association of Iraq and the International Contractors Association; there may even be more than two.
3 comments:
I don't agree that we need more soldiers - we far exceed the number of any other nation's military forces. We need to settle problems in a more civilized way and quit sponsoring private agendas with public monies.
Maybe we can do this to get more soldiers.
I'm afraid I, too, have to respectfully disagree about the draft. America - indeed, the world - doesn't need more soldiers, it needs better politicians. As for Blackwater and the like, one of these days they will turn and bite America on the ass. Private armies are for dictators, not democracies.
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