What will 25,000 private American Mercenaries Do When The War Ends

[Vinnie From Indy]

and they come home?

It used to be that service in the military was to serve the common good and now it has become a way to make HUGE dollars. If the bullets, bombs and death being dished out in Iraq wasn't bad enough on our soldiers now they have to serve next to guys making 100 times what they make to do the same jobs. Smirky's private army is being paid billions and, in the end, I just hope they have allegiance to the US Constitution and not to the Smirkenfuhrer.

[Kagemusha]

1. I'd expect allegiance to the $ bill.

Just IMHO there.

[Bluesplayer]

17. If history is any way to predict,

one of them will marry my sister.....

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. You know what they say about dogs..... once they get the taste for

it... it's damn near impossible to break 'em.

[Syncronaut Seven]

3. That would be bushes new Schutstaffel.

You think I'm kidding? You can buy a lot of loyalty for $1000 a day.

Leme see, kill off the National guard, destroy and de-moralize our regular troops. Yea, I'd say 25,000 heavilly armed, steroid pumped mercenaries would be plenty.

This private army has no loyalty to constitution or country, they do it for the money.

[kodi]

4. Africa

.

[Boomer]

5. What makes you think the war will EVER end?

Bush is already warming up Iran as the next killing field, and I'm sure Cheney has drafted a list of backup wars in case we run out.

[starroute]

6. Private armies are bad news

There was a period in the Middle Ages, around the 1300's, when knighthood was in decline but the idea of a professional army hadn't yet taken hold. As a result, war became mostly a matter of mercenaries. And when there were no wars to fight, the mercenaries turned into brigands. It took the rise of the modern nation state to bring things back under control again.

Same thing with the fall of the Roman Empire -- the emperors got into hiring barbarians to fight their wars for them, and eventually the barbarians decided it would be safer and more profitable to just move in and loot the Empire.

I don't know what's going to become of today's mercenaries -- but at the very least, they're going to be a majorly destabilizing element in the brave new outsourced world of the near future.

[Vinnie From Indy]

7. It doesn't seem like this is a road we should be on.

Well trained, heavily armed mercs making huge money and being a law unto themselves, as they are in Iraq, ain't gonna want to work at Wal-Mart when they get home.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

14. The rise of the pirates --

Aaarrgh !! But the current asswipes-in-charge can't learn from history.

[wli]

8. kill Democrats and run death camps

Pretty obvious. They're Bushler's blackshirts.

[bbgrunt]

15. exactly.

they will still have jobs to get rid of *'s real enemies--us.

[Syncronaut Seven]

9. Kick, Just because people should seriously consider this.

seriously.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. It won't end. It might move to somewhere else,

but it won't end, at least not as long as the Bushazoids are in charge. War makes too much money; they can't afford to give it up.

[Vinnie From Indy]

18. War is good business!

Sickening, but true!

[delen]

11. Who do they work for now?

Just because the regular army leaves, doesn't mean they have to go.
I suspect the mercenaries jobs are just starting. They work for Hal;burton and it's ahhhhh subsidiaries, they will be in Iraq long after our troops leave and they will need their own private army.
Could be a regular growth industry.All things considered

[Robeson]

12. Does Waffen SS ring a bell?

[Contrary1]

13. Go to Iran. n/t

[frustrated_lefty]

16. Silly question.

Do you really think they grew out of this war?

They've been here. They'll be here again.

They'll do what they're paid to do and it's unlikely to have any grand effect on the shape of America.

They'll find another war until that runs out, and the next, and the next and the next.