Mercenaries Third Largest Force in Iraq

a_unique_person said:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/01/1080544627082.html

Mercenaries are a sign of the times, I think. When you can't get people to do your fighting because you have the backing to do it, and you have to resort to paying people to do it for you, you are one more step removed from legitimacy and stability.

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Damned if you didn't skip some good parts there.

"Australia is doing its bit for the privatised army. Sydney-based AKE Asia-Pacific has teams on the ground and though Australian troops ride shotgun for Australian diplomats in Baghdad, protection for the rest of the small, non-military Australian contingent has been subcontracted to Control Risk Group, whose 1100-strong private army of former British SAS, Nepalese and Fijian soldiers, also guards 500 British civil servants working here. It's a huge drain on the reconstruction budget."

Ashamed of your own people being involved in the profit taking?
 
Troll said:


Who the hell are you talking to? The only moronic tactic being used at the moment is by you with the ramblings.

They are no more a group of mercanaries than are anyone's bodyguards. They are paid to protect the client and the client's interests. Calling them mercenaries shows a lack of understanding of the english language at best.
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I admit my rudimentary familiarity with the language. I learn something new about it every day.
Words mean only what you say they mean.
They are also paid to protect the US designated representative and "the client's" interests in a foreign nation.
You would do well to acknowledge some merit in your "adversary's" position than to attempt a total stonewall.
Do you see any difference in "bodyguards" for celebs here in this country, and "private security forces" protecting the US designated representative (Bremer) and also private corporations in a foreign country? Can't put yourself in that positon to imagine how that would appear? Especially when the local people believe its all a plot by American corporate interests to begin with?
Can't imagine that it is at all a possibility? Then this "discussion" is over.
 
Troll said:
So when some celeb travels with his bodyguards he's traveling with mercenaries because he isn't trying to get cops to protect him 24/7? These guys aren't running around conducting searches for the bombers and others, nor are they in the street actively fighting. They just protect their clients interests, if that is a mercenary in your view, you need to get your vision checked.

To paraphrase the wise Comic Book Guy "Worst thread ever"
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So they're not mercenaries, according to you, if they only do what their bosses tell them to do, and not everything else an official soldier might do.
Interesting point.

P.S. I just got new glasses from Sears. Great people.
 
Alright. The mercenaries are dirt cheap politically.

In other words, when a soldier gets blown up, burned, dismembered and dragged around, it grabs people's attention and the media goes and interviews his/her mom, and it brings those uncomfortable questions to the forefront: WHAT ARE WE DOING OVER THERE?

When some anonymous 'contractor' dies, nobody cares. Did that 'contractor' have a mom? A family? Yes to all of it.

Who cares? At least this particular human being wasn't a soldier! That's all that ultimately matters. Keep those casualty reports low so it looks good in the paperwork.

It doesn't matter how many people we massacre for petroleum, so long as we can have 8000lb SUV's to drive to the mall in.
 
evildave said:
Alright. The mercenaries are dirt cheap politically.

In other words, when a soldier gets blown up, burned, dismembered and dragged around, it grabs people's attention and the media goes and interviews his/her mom, and it brings those uncomfortable questions to the forefront: WHAT ARE WE DOING OVER THERE?

When some anonymous 'contractor' dies, nobody cares. Did that 'contractor' have a mom? A family? Yes to all of it.

Who cares? At least this particular human being wasn't a soldier! That's all that ultimately matters. Keep those casualty reports low so it looks good in the paperwork.

It doesn't matter how many people we massacre for petroleum, so long as we can have 8000lb SUV's to drive to the mall in.
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Didn't your kind also say that we only liberated Kuwait for oil? Where the hell did that oil go?
 
subgenius said:

So they're not mercenaries, according to you, if they only do what their bosses tell them to do, and not everything else an official soldier might do.
Interesting point.

P.S. I just got new glasses from Sears. Great people.
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How often can a soldier quit if he hates his boss and not face some sort of potential punishment? And it ain't like their bosses tell them to go patrol 5 miles away and kill anyone that starts shooting. Seriously if the best you guys have is now trying to call private security forces mercenaries, you're at the end of your rope.
 
I don't have the sort of high speed military background the security companies want, but if they'd pay me a $1,000 per day I'd be on the next plane.
 
The Jihadis figure that we will run away just like we did from Somalia.
Osama and his friends are counting on the left-wing pinkos to make sure that happens.
Nevermind that when the US pulls out, there will be a massacre 100 times more horrific than when the US pulled out of Vietnam. It's in the name of peace and goodwill, right? War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothin'! Huhh!
Keep up the good work guys!
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We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming "Subgenius talking to himself".</div>
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shuize said:
I don't have the sort of high speed military background the security companies want, but if they'd pay me a $1,000 per day I'd be on the next plane.
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And when you regain conciousness strapped butt naked to a table in a downtown Baghdad bathhouse it will all seem worth it :)
 
how bizarre is it when the US administrator Bremer is protected by private security (mercenaries, whatever you want to call them)rather than official US forces?
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The mercenaries are dirt cheap politically.
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I would guess that the mercenaries are dirt cheap monetarily, even at $1,000 per day. No training, no arming, no command and communication infrastructure, no supply chains, no retirement pay for the survivors, no benefits to the families of the casualties. This makes Cheney happy.
 
Troll said:


Didn't your kind also say that we only liberated Kuwait for oil? Where the hell did that oil go?
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My kind? What kind would that be?

The kind who served his country, spending his summers flying around in the Middle East watching Iranians and Iraqis killing each other back when Saddam Hussein was still our 'best buddy', then going up north for my winders to watch the Soviets probe our RADAR coverage with bombers.

Our only interest in the entire region is petroleum. It's not "freedom", or "democracy" or "justice" or any other such propagandist's tripe. It's oil.

When the oil is all gone, America won't care what people do to each other "over there", any more than we care what people do to each other in the parts of Africa that don't have natural resources that we want.

I am led to wonder what "kind" of person would actually buy into the propaganda that we're over there "to help"? Naiive? Blind? Retarded?

It's the military's job to break things and kill people. Not to play "nation builder". Not to play "liberator" for "opressed" people. Not to stand in and fight other people's civil wars for them.

We're running up a bill our grandchildren will still be paying off for absolutely nothing. The day after our troops leave, the whole thing will come unravelled.

We had carte blanche after 9/11 to do just about anything reasonable to stamp out the terrorist threat. Instead, we slapped a "Terrorist" sign on Iraq, attacked them, and pretty much destroyed any credibility we have in the 'War on Terrorism' with everyone on the planet.

Sorry, everyone but a certain "kind" of person.
 
peptoabysmal said:
"Subgenius talking to himself".</div>
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At least I have one more in my audience than you.

But thank you for your unique point of view and insightful comment. We have all been enriched by your wisdom.
 
Troll said:


How often can a soldier quit if he hates his boss and not face some sort of potential punishment? And it ain't like their bosses tell them to go patrol 5 miles away and kill anyone that starts shooting. Seriously if the best you guys have is now trying to call private security forces mercenaries, you're at the end of your rope.
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If the best you can do is avoid any intelligent discussion by calling mercenaries "private security forces" I'll give you all the rope you want.

Mercenaries are private security forces.

Maybe someone should start a thread on the RNC hiring the goon squad Vance Security to provide "security" for the campaign. Now there's a real "security force."
Seems like we have a pattern going here.
Maybe we should privatize the White House. Oh I forgot we already did.
 
shuize said:
I don't have the sort of high speed military background the security companies want, but if they'd pay me a $1,000 per day I'd be on the next plane.
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I know what you mean. I put in some resumes, but no luck. AT&T had some openings, but they weren't paying much more than I get now.

Also you got to remember that young marine that gets paid $2,000 a month is more loyal and dependable than some rent a cop that gets 15X that.

The Dogs of War by Frederick Forsyth. Now these are mercenaries and not rent a cops.

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I believe that private security guards are more common in the Middle East than here, so no one would give it much thought.
 
So... an armed security guard is a mercenary? You really see no difference between a nightwatchman and an assassin paid to overthrow a government?
 
crackmonkey said:
So... an armed security guard is a mercenary? You really see no difference between a nightwatchman and an assassin paid to overthrow a government?
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That's exactly right, the guys in the cars were armed with some Magnalights, had grey hair and were 30 Kilos overweight and in their 50's, with ill fitting, cheapo uniforms that vaguely resembled a police uniform.

It all begins to make sense to me now.
 
15,000 "armed security guards"?

There must be a lot of malls in Iraq. Donut sales must be through the roof. :)
 
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