Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Privatizing Democracy

A really good article was published in the LA Times today, showing that private contractors now outnumber U.S. military personnel in Iraq. There are 180,000 people working under U.S. contract in Iraq, and that's not even including the private mercenaries from companies like Blackwater that protect congressmen and other important V.I.P's. None of these contractors are really fighting, they're providing services like transportation and meals for the troops. But it's a sobering thought when you realize that private citizens are helping to sustain this war.

The article also points out that these private contractors don't play by the same rules as the military, that they're not working under the orders of some commander. They can refuse to do something, as happened in 2004 when our troops had to eat rations because the private contractors didn't want to go out in a fire zone. There have been private services in all U.S. wars since the American Revolution (which I actually didn't know until I read this article, although it makes sense), but none more so than here. Was it forever intended this way, or was it only a consequence of Bushco's piss-poor handling of this war? It's hard to tell. I'd go for the latter, but on the other hand, most of the contractors being used are U.S. companies, many of which are heavy donors to Bush and co. Haliburton, no surprise, is the biggest private company providing services.

Anyway, here's the article, it's a must-read:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-na-private4jul04,0,5419234,full.story?coll=la-home-center

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