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Thank Goodness for Security Contractors [i.e. Blackwater]
..or so states my Foreign Policy Watch co-blogger, David Dryer. While Dryer does not deny that the use of security contractors has “almost certainly been detrimental to long-term security and political goals [in Iraq],” he argues that such forces are necessary because they allow us to avoid instituting the draft here at home. Although I find his conclusions troubling, and while I don’t personally subscribe to this argument, the points he makes are a useful contribution to the debate. For those who are interested, the full post is here.
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4 Responses to “Thank Goodness for Security Contractors [i.e. Blackwater]”
[...] House Thank Goodness for Security Contractors » This Summary is from an article posted at The Moderate Voice » Domestic and international news [...]
Short of some catastophe that it’s hard to imagine now, it would be impossible to reinstate the draft.
It’s sort of like low taxes: once you’ve had the luxury of not having a burden, no one wants to take up the load again, no matter what the wisest course would actually be. I think, then, that the draft need not be part of the discussion about private security firms.
The idea that using PSF enables the administration to disguise the cost of the war, in both money and casualties, is troubling, nevertheless. That it. therefore, assists in continuing a prolonged war is downright infuriating, as is financing by supplementals and ‘emrgency’ extra funding bills.
A nation shouldn’t be tricked into compliance.
For the present, outfits like Blackwater are here to stay. What is unimaginably negligent is that they have never been properly managed during all these many long years. How was that allowed to hppen? It is so incomprehensible that I’m tempted to give in to suspicions that this laissez-faire attitude was maintained on purpose. If so, then once again short-sighted benefits were chosen over long-term effects. The damage done has the potential for having serious consequences.
Congress has prepared a bill (will it survive a veto threat or a signing statement? ) to make them subject to US law, and State has issued some new rules. What I haven’t heard, though, is that these mercenaries will be required to co-ordiante their movements with the military.
If we have to live with these outfits, they should be an integrated, at every step, as part of the whole effort. As it is, they are acting like sovereign nations of their own. Only the US has to suffer the consequences, if they misstep.
Domajot – You make a number of interesting points. If you get a chance, re-post your comment over at FPW so Dave will see it and be able to respond.
Its common knowlege that Kissenger was a frequent consultant on this war and that he believed that Vietnam was not lost on the battlefield, but in the realm of public opinion. Was this one of the lessons learned from that conflict? That the public would support a war without obvious costs- as Doma points out- without a draft or higher taxes? Did he advise the WH to use security forces like BW to avoid the draft?
A big criticism of the way this war has been waged has always been — that no sacrifice was required of the general public, which in turn allowed them not to take it seriously. Yet, this appears to have been the intent, because the Bush administration apparently believed that if most Americans did not feel the pain of losing family members or income they wouldn’t object to a longterm struggle. When asked recently about Iraq, Bush told the nation to just “go shopping”.
Using security forces like BW probably kept official casualty numbers down, and avoided the draft- which might have been necessary to win, but would have definitely proven politically unpopular, recreating the mass demonstrations of Vietnam, and directing even more attention to the devious way we were brought into this war.