Reply #5: We are the merchants of their misdeeds. [View All]

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During Senate testimony in July, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that there are "something in the neighborhood of 300,000 men and women in uniform doing jobs that aren't for men and women in uniform."

The Pentagon asserts that the increase in the private forces represents a "move toward a smaller, more nimble force than the huge multinational coalition that was assembled to push Saddam out of Kuwait in 1990." They also point out that many of the new, hi-tech weapon systems require continuous maintenance and come with their own private support army.

However, the growth of the private military forces has to be attributed to more than Pentagon micro-management. Most of the work that is being done by these private soldiers has, in the past, been performed by the regular military.

In the article ‘Outsourcing War', authors Anthony Bianco and Stephanie Anderson Forest report that: "About 50% of the Army's active-duty troops are on foreign soil already, and in many key, military specialities, the deployment percentage is much higher."

The simple, sad truth is that the length and breadth of our military engagements around the world have far outstripped our ability or will in manpower or money to maintain these men and women in overseas combat without outside support.

Our country employs private military companies who train and disperse arms and military hardware to indigenous recruits, and construct insurgent forces all around the globe, for our own political or military ambitions.

The employment of these private armies also insulates the U.S. from the sacrifices of American life and limb that might otherwise restrain our increasing domineering world aggression. These mercenary forces don't release us from the responsibility for their unlawful abuses and slaughters, however. They just give the U.S. the illusion of clean hands. We are the merchants of their misdeeds.

Erinys, a British company with offices in the Middle East and South Africa, guards the oil fields. Employees of Erinys make $88,000 a year, plus benefits - triple what most soldiers make. A bodyguard can cost as much as $500 a day. http://www.erinysinternational.com/

Armed employees of Custer Battles, a Virginia firm, guard Baghdad airport.http://www.custerbattles.com/press-index-news-baghdad.html

Global Risk, a British firm that offers "risk management" has the contract to provide armed protection for the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-led occupation power. http://www.news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1081922003

Vinnell Corporation, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corporation, was awarded a $48 million contract to train the nucleus of a new Iraqi Army. Vinnell's subcontracts its work to MPRI, Military Professional Resources Incorporated , SAIC, Science Applications International Corp; Eagle Group International Inc, Omega Training Group ; and Worldwide Language Resources. http://www.vinnell.com/


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