war for hire

So it is not surprising that people are having a hard time finding work right now. That is not the case if you are a hired militia member. At the present moment we, the United States has more hired soldiers, from such companies as Blackwater, in Iraq than American soldiers. This does not factor into our number of soldiers in the military that the media and the government report, since they are a private "firm". With the recent escalation of troops to Afghanistan, the number of out-sourced fighters will rise at, at least the same number and it would not be surprising if hired guns out numbered those in the nation's armed forces.

Hillary Clinton as a candidate for president vowed to eliminate these private security firms that have over run our foreign operations. Now the same companies provide her security as she travels abroad. The current administration has lessened the role of Blackwater in the Middle East but they are still a major player in "keeping the peace" there. There are mounting suspicions that they are not only acting as their own organization but aiding and abetting the U.S. military in missions and even in strategic planning for the U.S. military. The later actions do not have the consent of Congress and are a blatant violation of the American Constitution.

The owner of Blackwater, Eric Prince, is a fundamentalist Chrisitian Crusader who has declared that his mission is to wipe Muslims off of the Earth. A claim that he denies of course. A problem with these hired gunmen is that they act with no regard for the rules of war because they are essentially acting outside of the law. For someone serving their country by being in the armed forces voluntarily, there is a reputation and dignity that is expected to be maintained. When fighting in a war becomes a job where one can do anything with out accountability, the results are what we are seeing now: unprovoked massacres, torture, and immeasurable tarnishing of the intentions of being over there in the first place. These people are the one's training the security forces over there so try and set up a situation where we can finally leave. The act with impunity and the longer the fight goes on, the longer they have a job. They manifest their own job security if they fail. Why would they want to provide Afghanistan with the means to protect itself? They would then be out of a job like the rest of us.

Here is a link to an interview with Jeremy Scahill a very good journalist who has been investigating Blackwater for years. There is the option to listen to the interview from the site too.