Silent surge in contractor 'armies'

[babylonsister]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0718/p01s02-usmi.html

Silent surge in contractor 'armies'
A key support for US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, civilians have little oversight and, back home, little help.
By Brad Knickerbocker | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor


There are two coalition armies in Iraq: the official one, which fights the war, and the private one, which supports it.

This latter group of civilians drives dangerous truck convoys, cooks soldiers' meals, and guards facilities and important officials. They rival in size the US military force there, and thousands have become casualties of the conflict. If this experience is any indication, they may change the makeup of US military forces in future wars.

Having civilians working in war zones is as old as war itself. But starting with US military action in the Balkans and Colombia in the mid-1990s and accelerating rapidly in Afghanistan and Iraq, the number and activity of contractors has greatly increased. Coming from dozens of countries, hired by hundreds of companies, contractors have seen their numbers rise faster than the Pentagon's ability to track them.

Now, the challenges of this privatization strategy are becoming clear.

Everything from who controls their activities to who cares for them when wounded remains unresolved, say experts in and out of the military. This has led to protests from families in the United States as well as concerns in military ranks about how contractors fit into the chain of command.

"This is a very murky legal space, and simply put we haven't dealt with the fundamental issues," says Peter Singer, a foreign policy specialist at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "What is their specific role, what is their specific status, and what is the system of accountability? We've sort of dodged these questions."

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[SpiralHawk]

1. The NeoCon Fascists are building them up over there, so they can bring them here

These mercenary armies are to be the Enforcers of the tightening grip of republicon crony fascism and control in the formerly free United States of America. I would wager a sack of doughnuts on it. They are going to come back here mean and nasty, and at the beck and call of the republicon coin caged from our tax dollars.

[babylonsister]

2. I really hope you're wrong, but wouldn't bet even a sack of doughnuts

on it.

[Bobbieo]

3. I'm afraid you answered the question I just asked (above)

about who would enforce martial law in the country.

[madokie]

4. once the contractors themselves realize where they fit in

then they will understand where it is that they really fit in. Their reason to be is to obscure the true numbers of Troops so as to hide from us the truth, in other words they are being, like us, lied to. I have great admiration for one who stands up to protect us, none for one who does it for personal gain

[SpiralHawk]

5. It also provides profits for republicon cronies, and cancels the need for a draft

So that the republicon chickenhawks and their children can hang out eternally on the golf course, shanking, and sneering and smirking, and counting up War Profits. It's really quite a clever -- AND EVIL -- Anti-American scheme, and it has REPUBLICON Chickenhawk written all over it.

[madokie]

6. Yes it do