Questions about hired mercenaries

[bagnana]

I just heard on Air America they are supplementing our overstretched military at a per person taxpayer cost of $1500.00/day. How can we "outsource" our own military this way? How can we justify paying this amount? How can the military justify paying private armies $1500/day when the Administration is paying crap pay to and trying to cut the benefits of our own soldiers? This is unbelievable.

[Solon]

1. Keep them off the stats, also they don't have to follow

the rules of engagement, nor the Geneva Convention. They are Illegal in most countries, but a few, including the US refused to sign that treaty.

[High Sierra Buck]

2. Its really not out sourcing our military

Remember, the military must in most cases play by the rules, these hired guns have no rules to abide by. They have a task to do and perform it at all costs, whether or not it is deemed even close to moral or not.

PErsonally, the use of these hired guns is in my opinion an atrocity in itself, never mind what they are doing.

[bobthedrummer]

9. I'm with you there, High Sierra Buck-George W. Bush aka The War President

employs mercenaries, like Dyn Corp. MRPI, Blackwater, Vinnell, Halliburton, SAIC, all of which profit with war and war-like situations-in reality the use of these mercenaries has increased what Osama Bin Laden wants anyway-an increase in anti-Americanism; these mercenaries have directly endangered US troops through negligence and disrupted US military operations with their cowboy antics among the Iraqi people.

Hell, until recently mercenaries were charging wounded GI's in military hospitals for their meals!
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=21368

Anything for a buck, that's their loyalty to our soldiers-some of which felt it necessary to stage reprisals in Fallujah for the death and corpse mutilation of POS mercenaries that CHOSE to go to Iraq to MAKE BIG BUCK$-that's gotta stop immediately.

The role of the US military is not to protect mercenaries, their contract with The War President, George W. Bush is for them to augment our troops-for a huge FEE!

Some of these mercenaries are RW goons and sadists, not professional at all, just criminals getting away with MURDER, a specialty of BFEE.

I have no sympathy for them, none, they serve the true masters of war, profiteers like Prescott Bush was, like Dick Cheney is, like the private investors of these mercenaries awarded contracts that had donated so much political contributions-click on Dyn Corp, for example-Dyn Corp is responsible for the police of Iraq, organized crime trains and employs the law then, imho.
Campaign Contributions of Post-War Contractors (MERCENARIES)
http://www.publicintegrity.org/wow/resources.aspx?act=contrib

BTW, welcome to DU!
:hi:

[LittleApple81]

3. On C-Span 3 this morning, Wolfowitz was waxing poetic about this.

Something like it is a very complex situation and we are examining it extra-careful like... and the committee leaves it at that. When Wolfowitz even acknowledged he had not answered one of the committee member's letter requesting info on this.

[GoldenOldie]

8. Outsourcing US Military

This seems to be a very serious situation and one that the Neocons have had in their planning. What happens if we have a volunteer militia along-side the hired mercenaries (hired by Haliburton). Haliburton guns-for hire could leave at anytime they wanted ...leaving our underpaid volunteer militia on their own. Much of this is already happening with the contracted Haliburton Brown & Root employees. Our volunteer Troopers are not receiving their mail for months, food and water have been scarce thus having our troops depend on packages from home or scrounging off the Iraqi's. Military supplies are short if and when received. All of these things once done by our own military knowing full well that their comrades in combat depended on them for their support. Now all of this is supposed to be provided by contractor's/mercenaries at no small expense to our country. Who and what would control the defection of mercenaries during the midst of battle? Our government have been unable to maintain or control costs of designing and building war machines, etc., how will they be able to control mercenaries. Do we really want the likes of Dick Cheney, or Wolfowitz, or Rumsfeld deciding how we will defend our Nation.

[arcane1]

4. because Dyncorp, Wachenhut, Blackwater, etc...

are making billions from our tax money. There is no profit in giving a kevlar vest to a weekend reservist. The money the mercs are getting is nothing compared to the payday for the corporations that own them, and those who invest in said corps.

highly-paid security for Halliburton is more important than the safety and livelihood of some 19-year-old Army grunt, in their eyes. Priorities, man! Use the grunts to secure the area and make it safe for the better-equipped, better-paid mercenaries. They are important...

:puke:

[bigtree]

5. We are the merchants of their misdeeds.

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/


More In Me Book

[Cat Atomic]

6. You know, it just occured to me that this policy might have

the effect of siphoning the best soldiers away from the service of the country and instead placing them in the service of Halliburton.

So that Ranger who might've been assigned to hunt for bin Laden if his benefits were still in place, is instead guarding a group of Halliburton engineers as they suck the oil out of Iraq.

[LittleApple81]

7. That is exactly what is happening. If you can get paid the big bucks

to do what the army taught you to do... what do you expect?

[GoldenOldie]

13. Highly skilled militia

A large part of our technical work force has come from the training that they received in the military. Many of them came from poor to middleclass families that were unable or not yet ready to enter college so they entered the services and learned to become independent self-starters. Also to many of these young people it was a way to get out of bad neighborhood situations and helped them to a new lifestyle. Where will their ladder go ....will the big Corporations be willing to hire a 17 - 18 year old street kid with no experience and train them....I seriously doubt it. How many out here parents or yourselves came from this very same background? themselves had this very same

[seemslikeadream]

10. Fuck Rum$feld--We're Here For Brown + Root!

author: The Truth
U.S. Reservists Want to Come Home



a subsidiary of Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, Halliburton Corp.


"We don't understand what's going on," said Sgt. Robert Curl, 44, of Cobbtown in Tatnall County. "We've been here long enough. We did our mission."

Soldiers say most of their work involves civilian contractor Kellogg Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, Halliburton Corp. The company has contracts to haul fuel, and 319th members are riding along as armed escorts.

"The main reason we're still here is to support Brown and Root," said Sgt. 1st Class David Uthe, 45, of Augusta.

homepage: http://www.augustachronicle.com/stories/071203/met_021-6883.000.shtml


http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/07/268145.shtml

[Bandit]

11. It's called "No-Bid Contracts"

They can charge anything they wish for any purpose and we have no say. It was all done through Cronyism.

[Solon]

12. Is this the resurgence of Private Armies?

That could be a very important question. Many times in the past, nations would hire a "General" to lead an army of mercenaries. They would rape and pillage villages and cities, with no regard to the consequences. Hired by the nobles of the past to preserve their privileges, are today's mercenaries any different? That is my fear, for think of the possibilities, if someone can be hired to kill for money, what difference is there to them if the person they are going to kill is from their own country or not? Imagine the United States government, not relying on its own military for control of the population, but simply contracts out "Domestic Security" to local Private Military Companies. This would ensure two things, one is that they can hide the cost, and casualties much better, and two, these "Soldiers of Fortune" would not have any principles in regards to civil rights or individual freedom, therefore their loyalty can be bought.