Just another Reality-based bubble in the foam of the multiverse.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

The Good, the Bad, and the Private Military Company

A "pragmatic" assessment of mercenaries in modern war.

In .pdf form here.

This makes an interesting read, since it includes the straightfaced kinds of rationale Chancellor Rumsfeld makes when he talks to the AEI crowd, as well as incorporating the kind of analyses a pesky academic might make:

...Confronting the problem of controlling private contractors requires challenging a common myth - that outsourcing saves money. This philosophy stems from a wide craze of privatizing government services that began long before President Bush took office. But hiring private employees in Iraq at pay rates several times more than what soldiers make, plus paying the overhead at the private firms, has never been about saving money. It's more about avoiding tough political choices concerning military needs...

Obvious, but the Loyal Keepers of the Faith don't like to have the obvious pointed out to them- look at the crowd's reaction here today when Chancellor gets called out by a respected ex-CIA agent on the floor.

The British-American Security Information Council (www.basicint.org) seems to be sensitive to the statutes and treaties available for use against the mercs contractors, and these are also nicely summarized with links in this report.

A nice resource. Thanks to Defense Tech for the link.

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