Are already on the ground in Iraq...
I'm all for getting our men and women out of Iraq as quickly as they can pack up and ship out. I make no bones about that and beg my US Congress to keep up the pressure on the Bushco to move'em out.
That said...and knowing the crooks and liars that are running this war, do you think that they'll not take advantage of such a move to do what Rummy and Cheney and Bush would have loved to do all along. Put money in the bank accounts of outfits like Haliburton?
There's big money in civilian security....
More below:
I had mentioned the other day after speaking with my daughter who is in the Army over there, she and her fellow solders were enjoying a Christmas dinner and I asked her who was unfortunate enough to pull guard duty and her comment was..
"Oh Daddy! we solders don't pull guard duty any more..the civilian contractors are guarding the military posts now..just like they're serving Pizza Hut Pizza's"...!
I let it go but was concerned. I then talked to my son who too is in the Army and he confirmed these civilian contractors were ex-military guys who got out and then went to work at security firms in the U.S. that paid them enormously higher salaries for doing essentually what our solders well trained to do. Guard and keep their fellow solders secure. The difference is that the contracting company gets a cut of the military spending also and the contractor himself gets a big raise in salary.
I discovered that he was right...here's from a CNN report what one security company official said.. "It pays quite well. There's a lot of contracts that pay anywhere from $350 a day to $1,500 a day," ....
Military analysts say the private security arrangement allows regular military troops to concentrate on fighting. But they are concerned that the lucrative pay offered by private contractors -- often more than $100,000 a year -- is depleting the ranks of the special forces.
There are other contractors who support the U.S. military in Iraq. By perimeter security and other jobs.
Some of the Players are: Haliburton,Kroll-Crucible Security and Blackwater USA. We've heard of these companies and that they were guarding US officials and congressmen while they are in Iraq but it goes much further.
I saw in a report today that Rep Marcie Kaptur OH-09 stated that in Iraq there are now 100,000 civilian security contractors and that she wonders if the Bush administration would simply replace the US Military with they're corporate friendly paid mercenaries to continue the Iraq war effort indefinitely costing the American treasury more and more money going to Haliburton and the others. What a windfall for these companies.
There are questions to ask....what is all this patriotic talk about...our military are being used as pawns in a real mess....I think many of you are starting to get the idea here. Cheney and Rumsfeld probably won't flinch when our solders come home. Just as long as they have access to the checkbook to pay they're buddies in the private security sector and they can continue to run the war with these highly paid professional mercenaries. In a year they can have 150,000 well paid non-uniformed well trained fighters doing their bidding and it's not even certain these contractors need to follow any laws of warfare at all. Yet..they will be for all intensive purposes representing America..
What do you think?
I'm just raising the question...because there are those in congress that are beginning to question the possibility that this could happen. In fact, it's not much of an effort to complete the transformation. Our civilian military will cost many times the cost of a regular military. And it was our military establishment which trained most of these pros..all they do is get out of the Army or Marines and go right to work for Blackwater...put on blue jeans and a T-shirt and go back over. And shoot to kill anybody they want to.
UPDATE:
A post the other day mentioned that Democrats should begin to frame discussions about the Iraq US military pullout by asking the goopers questions about the continued cost of continuing the war.
This issue would more than multiply the cost...and the American people...not Iraqi oil...are to pay this debt. If not you and I, then it will be our kids and grandkids and their kids that will make Haliburton stock out-perform Google.
SECOND UPDATE:
I PLAN TO STAY CLOSE TO THIS STORY AND ELABORATE EVEN MORE ON MY OWN BLOGSITE BUT ALSO CROSS POST HERE AT DKOS...THIS IS SO BIG THAT AMERICAN'S NEED TO KNOW THAT OUR MILITARY IS BEING DOWNSIZED IN FAVOR OF A CORPORATE WAR MACHINE...Dwight Eisenhower is rolling over in his grave...he warned us about letting this happen. He said there was so much money to be made on war that corporations would influence politics in order to gain control and then be able to rage wars at random for profit.....