Sorry. It seemed to me, you were talking past each other. My bad for butting in.

Who pays? The taxpaers pay, as for everything done by the governement directly or on behalf of the government, via contractors.

Who’s paying Blackwater to do the jobs soldiers would normally be doing?

I said no one because solders don’t normaly do the jobs Blackwater gets paid for.

I think it’s a mistake to make this a question about ‘mercenaries’. It’s more efficient, and economic (in the long run) to hire on an as-needed bases than to create a permanent staff of employees that need to be sustained even when they are not needed.

The problem is not in the concept. The problem is in the execution. The chain of responsibility (who do they ultimately answer to?), the confusion in what set of laws apply to them, and the lack of oversight by any governement department even before we get to Conress. is the kind of thing that leads to trouble.

In all manner of contracting, the potential for corruption is great. Friendships with members of our government can lead to dangerous prefeential tratment. Again, corruption occurs wherever money is involved, and it’s certainly not limited to contracting.

Problems with BW would be best used to highlight what fixes are necessary for all security firms and all contracting. If we make this a strictly BW issue, we doom ourselves to make the same mistakes or to make other and worse mistakes in the future.

I am also dubious about the results of current investigations. Like the investigations of Abu Graib, it all seems to boil down to just finding a few low level fall guys instead of addressing the whole system., up to the top levels, where the power and responsibility lie.

BW is a symptom, not the disease.

There are currently 3 ongoing investigations of Blackwater. But as we have all seen recently, many investigations lead nowhere because of stonewalling at the top and corruption of those who are supposed to be inspecting wartime activities. They haven’t lead to transparency or accountability, but are at best, all talk and no action.

Investibate is not the same as convict, but it’s interesting how the BW name keeps cropping up.

I’m aftraid this will just fade away, with nothing resolved. Why do I get the feeling that some powerful people like it that way/

These are not military convoys they are private companies that are contracted to deliver good and hire private companies to provide security to try and ensure they get there. That has not been a military job that we have ever had to do before.

Indeed.

Kerfuffle is the universal wrench of descriptors, fitting nearly every situation short of Armageddon.