Our Mercenaries

There are 145,000 active duty American troops currently serving in Iraq. There are nearly as many - at least 126,000 - private military contrators on the U.S.payroll there as well. That is simply stunning. I have posted before on mercenaries, how various artists depict them, and how the Bush adminstration uses them. Here at The Nation is a video of testimony that journalist Jeremy Scahill (Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army) gave on this topic last week before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. You can find the text of his remarks there too. As Scahill makes clear, not only are such mercenaries extremely costly, but they operate outside the rule of law, almost wholly circumvent legislative oversight, and subvert the morale of uniformed personnel. That is quite a trifecta we're getting for our tax dollars!
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P.S.: You may consider Scahill too much of a pinko since he writes for The Nation if so, try: Peter Singer. Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2003) and “Out Sourcing War” Foreign Affairs (March 2005). Here is the abstract for the latter article, published in the house journal of the hardly pink Council on Foreign Relations:

"Private companies are becoming significant players in conflicts around the world, supplying not merely the goods but also the services of war. Although recent well-publicized incidents from Abu Ghraib to Zimbabwe have shone unaccustomed light on this new force in warfare, private military firms remain a poorly understood - and often unacknowledged - phenomenon. Mystery, myth, and conspiracy theory surround them, leaving policymakers and the public in positions of dangerous ignorance. Many key questions remain unanswered, including, What is the industry and where did it come from? What is its role in the US' largest current overseas venture, Iraq? What are the broader implications of that role? And how should policymakers respond? Only by developing a better understanding of this burgeoning industry can governments hope to get a proper hold on this newly powerful force in foreign policy. If they fail, the consequences for policy and democracy could be deeply destructive."