Daily Pravda outs Mercenaries (Apr 19)

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?

•  yowzers

  20,000?

  That's a shitload.

  by praktike on Sun Apr 18, 2004 at 08:13:01 PM PDT

•  What the FUCK?

  "Still, the government recently advertised for a big new contract -- up to $100 million to guard the Green Zone in Baghdad."

  by praktike on Sun Apr 18, 2004 at 08:20:02 PM PDT

•  What is Really Disgusting

  The mercenaries getting killed and carrying the rifles in Iraq are not getting much of that 4.5 billion. The corporations they work for are. Of course none of that sugar gets back to the campaign funds of politicians like "silent partner" Senator Warner.

  I think I'll go vomit now.  

  by ILDem on Sun Apr 18, 2004 at 08:20:24 PM PDT

•  a simple calculation

  $4.5 billion / 20,000 = $225,000 each mercenary

  That's about on par with what our soldiers are making, right? </sarcasm>

  by Fran for Dean on Sun Apr 18, 2004 at 08:21:20 PM PDT

  •  I know our soldiers don't make this:

    But after months of sabotage and insurgency, some officials now say a much higher percentage will go to security companies that unblushingly charge $500 to $1,500 a day for their most skilled operators.

    by Edge on Sun Apr 18, 2004 at 08:23:17 PM PDT

    •  I'd Like to Know

      What is the percentage that outfits like Blackwater pocket.

      by ILDem on Sun Apr 18, 2004 at 08:26:45 PM PDT

    •  No

      But if you factor in the cost of training the average soldier, these guys might look good on paper.

      ON PAPER

      It sounds to me like they create more problems than they solve, plus, I have a moral objection to using guns for hire to do what is essentially a civic duty.

      I'd rather see a draft than use mercs. Honestly.

      by Monkey on Sun Apr 18, 2004 at 08:26:56 PM PDT

•  I'm

  feeling all outraged out.  The country refuses to get outraged... they don't care, and I'm starting not to care either.  Stuff is going to hell in a handbasket and all we can do is watch it happen.  

  I'm feeling very pessimistic right now about whether our country is even saveable at this point.

  by emjaycue on Sun Apr 18, 2004 at 08:36:51 PM PDT

•  asdf

  after the Blackwater mercs were killed I had read an article stating that they (Blackwater) expected to bill the govt in excess of $100 million this year.

  by Trix on Sun Apr 18, 2004 at 08:38:10 PM PDT