Tomgram: Jeremy Scahill on the Democratic Sell-out on Bush's Mercenaries

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/7149

Tomgram: Jeremy Scahill on the Democratic Sell-out on Bush's Mercenaries
by Tom Engelhardt | Apr 30 2007

snip//

Who Will Stop the U.S. Shadow Army in Iraq? Don't Look to the Congressional Democrats

By Jeremy Scahill

The Democratic leadership in Congress is once again gearing up for a great sell-out on the Iraq war. While the wrangling over the $124 billion Iraq supplemental spending bill is being headlined in the media as a "show down" or "war" with the White House, it is hardly that. In plain terms, despite the impassioned sentiments of the anti-war electorate that brought the Democrats to power last November, the Congressional leadership has made clear its intention to keep funding the Iraq occupation, even though Sen. Harry Reid has declared that "this war is lost."

For months, the Democrats' "withdrawal" plan has come under fire from opponents of the occupation who say it doesn't stop the war, doesn't defund it, and insures that tens of thousands of U.S. troops will remain in Iraq beyond President Bush's second term. Such concerns were reinforced by Sen. Barack Obama's recent declaration that the Democrats will not cut off funding for the war, regardless of the President's policies. "Nobody," he said, "wants to play chicken with our troops."

As the New York Times reported, "Lawmakers said they expect that Congress and Mr. Bush would eventually agree on a spending measure without the specific timetable" for (partial) withdrawal, which the White House has said would "guarantee defeat." In other words, the appearance of a fierce debate this week, Presidential veto and all, has largely been a show with a predictable outcome.

The Shadow War in Iraq

While all of this is troubling, there is another disturbing fact which speaks volumes about the Democrats' lack of insight into the nature of this unpopular war -- and most Americans will know next to nothing about it. Even if the President didn't veto their legislation, the Democrats' plan does almost nothing to address the second largest force in Iraq -- and it's not the British military. It's the estimated 126,000 private military "contractors" who will stay put there as long as Congress continues funding the war.

The 145,000 active duty U.S. forces are nearly matched by occupation personnel that currently come from companies like Blackwater USA and the former Halliburton subsidiary KBR, which enjoy close personal and political ties with the Bush administration. Until Congress reins in these massive corporate forces and the whopping federal funding that goes into their coffers, partially withdrawing U.S. troops may only set the stage for the increased use of private military companies (and their rent-a-guns) which stand to profit from any kind of privatized future "surge" in Iraq.

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[C_U_L8R]

1. Now that's what we're talkin' about !!

Defund the mercenary goons ...the illegal mercenary goons

[texanshatingbush]

2. Just curious: anyone know where the Blackwater expenses are hidden in Bush's budget?

Does the DoD pay for Blackwater et al out of some obvious line-item in the budget, or does the money come out of some "general account" which is controlled/concealed by the White House?

[november3rd]

3. Play chicken with the contractors

When their contracts expire, induct them into the armed forces and pay them like regular grunts.