Shock of shocks,
a full length investigative journalistic piece with numbers and facts and information about what they call the "shadow soldiers" in Iraq.
I knew it was bad - but 20,000 mercenaries on top of the 130,000 troops we have?
The whole article is good, but here's the key difference in our "vision" of these folks:
"I refer to them as our silent partner in this struggle," Senator John W. Warner, the Virginia Republican and Armed Services Committee chairman, said in an interview.
"Security in a hostile fire area is a classic military mission," Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, a member of the Armed Service committee, wrote last week in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed by 12 other Democratic senators. "Delegating this mission to private contractors raises serious questions."
And of course, this little bit of info:
By some recent government estimates, security costs could claim up to 25 percent of the $18 billion budgeted for reconstruction, a huge and mostly unanticipated expense that could delay or force the cancellation of billions of dollars worth of projects to rebuild schools, water treatment plants, electric lines and oil refineries.
Holy, mother of ... that's 4.5 BILLION DOLLARS paid to professional soldiers while our troops have their combat pay cut, benefits stripped, wait in lines at VA hospitals when they finally do get back home, if their tour of duty isn't extended indefinitely.
Where Is The Outrage?