US contractor recruits guards for Iraq in Chile

[joeunderdog]

The US is hiring mercenaries in Chile to replace its soldiers on security duty in Iraq. A Pentagon contractor has begun recruiting former commandos, other soldiers and seamen, paying them up to $4,000 (£2,193) a month to guard oil wells against attack by insurgents.
Last month Blackwater USA flew a first group of about 60 former commandos, many of who had trained under the military government of Augusto Pinochet, from Santiago to a 2,400-acre (970-hectare) training camp in North Carolina.

snip

The privatisation of security in Iraq is growing as the US seeks to reduce its commitment of troops.

At the end of last year there were 10,000 hired security personnel in Iraq.

snip

Their salaries can be as high as $1,000 a day, the news agency AFP recently reported. Erwin, a 28-year-old former US army sergeant working in Iraq, told AFP: "This place is a goldmine. All you need is five years in the military and you come here and make a good bundle."



http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1162392,00.html
This is disturbing on so many levels.

[tom_paine]

1. Oh, that's a riot! King George needs his Hessians!

Moribund plans for a moribund Empire.

JUST like in 1776, except King George rules us again after 225 years!

Bring those Hessians on board, you puscillanimous cowardly Lyin' King George!

[denverbill]

2. Very disturbing.

First, we are paying army grunts about $20K to do what we are paying retired mercenaries $365,000 to do.

Second, we are paying South American mercenaries $50K to do the same thing. South American military types aren't well known for their humanitarian skills.

Third, whatever company is hiring these mercenaries isn't doing it gratis. They are taking their skim off the top, and I doubt they work cheap. You can count on a 15% profit margin on every mercenary, not to mention recruiting expenses, training, travel, etc, all picked up by you and me.

I'd be willing to bet that this new 'privatized' army costs about 20 times more than we would have paid for the same job done by all US military.

But where's the profit in that?

[Just Me]

4. Never forget,...Reagan proved deficits do not matter,...

,...and if the neocon's favorite companies can make any profit for basically no investment risk,...why not do an industrial/military complex? Moreover, the neocon's are obsessessed with the utility of "force", any "force", for purposes of their power.

[teryang]

3. Not to be cynical but....

...it isn't really cheaper to pay someone else to do it, except that it reduces the political costs by shifting the costs and risks of injury and death onto others. In dollars it costs more. The fact that this needs to be done suggests that the virtual government in Iraq is not a government at all.

It is also a way to increase manpower on the ground without increasing it in a way that the taxpayer or family of active duty personnel will notice. Why don't the coalition countries provide these services?

The comments about the psychological costs of exposure to combat are laughable and show a complete lack of insight into the permanent mental injuries caused by life threatening incidents.