a group of mercenaries in the iraqi peoples country killing and murdering iraqis, paid for by the american people… sounds good doesn’t it? and when terrorism it to american shores, americans will wonder why it happened???? geez, i hope americans are less apathetic when it happens, and not just over the money blackwater has cost them.

meanwhile the usa is positioning itself to bomb iran.. destroying one cuontry isn’t enough apparently.. the revolutionary guard is listed as a terrorist organization according to a majority of american politicians, but any amendments to blackwaters activities is out of bounds… it would be laughable if it wasn’t so sickening.

Blackwater and other contractors are cheap in the only thing that Bushco cares about — political capital, the ability to continue this insane foreign policy.
Yeah, this all costs a whole lot of funny money and our children’s and grandchildren’s future.
But otherwise, if uniformed military were doing all the contractor jobs, we’d have a draft. And I don’t think we’d continue to have this war for long.
Enronizing the war and its cost out into the ozone means we can continue with our volunteer armed forces and National Guard — at least for now, which is the only timeframe these guys care about.

What are the Democrats thinking? They are HELPING the GOP maintain the appearance of being stronger on national defense, without having to pay the political price of bringing back the DRAFT.

I’m sure that Libby Dole and Burr are just thrilled that they can say how much money they are making for our state except I am sure that there is a tax exemption somewhere to keep the business in N.C. I also bet that our esteemed Senators are touting how finacially responsible they are to their constituents being republican, JUST think how much the Democrats would be spending.

Well Jodi at least a significant part of your point disappears if you consider the contractors are being paid 4-10 times as much as standard military.

â€You don’t have to hold on to them til they retire.â€

Wow, are you naive. If the military does not like/want someone they make it miserable for them, until they retire/resign. If that does not work, they court martial them with trumped up evidence. They don’t â€hold on†to anyone they don’t want.

bzmaz,

I said for â€3 years.†The model using emptywheel’s numbers of 6 times pay breaks down over longer periods of time.

There is something I didn’t mention deliberately, but I will spell it out now. The Blackwater men are highly skilled soldiers or security operatives, much more so than the ordinary troops.

Many for example are ex-Seals, and others of the most effective fighters the US and other countries have had.

We can’t just recruit more soldiers even with a bonus, and end up quickly with fighters of that caliber.

Yo, Jodi’s stand in, it’s called a draft. Selective service does not pay a BONUS. Chicken hawks, like you, are understandably petrified of it

So was our esteemed â€The Decider†and his other brother Dick!

And if you need a report on a Blackwater incident, who ya gonna hire?
Blackwater, of course.
It’s not incompetence alone that characterizes this administration. It’s total and deliberate flouting of the one key requirement for government (or business, for that matter): oversight.
Or as my Dad used to say, over and over and over, â€Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?â€
Thank God for Henry Waxman and for investigative reporting and for blog writers like those here who understand that basic need.

A private army of mercenaries is as great a threat to the sovereignty of the United States as it is to Iraq, although the Iraqis (for now) bear the immediate and deadly consequences. The Framers saw the dangers of a standing army to a democratic society, and took steps against one, but are there any legal bases for the disbanding of a Praetorian Guard answerable to the Chimperor (or whoever may decide to become Emperor)?

OT

Stock Market – Whoopee!!!

Jodi — I’m guessing you have never worked as a defense contractor. In my experience, they are never â€cut looseâ€, they just switch companies if the company loses the contract to someone else. I once worked with people who worked for multiple companies without ever physically leaving their desk. One look at the government budget will show you that nothing of substance has been â€cut loose†from the defense budget in a long long time.

I agree with prostratedragon that the real problem with mercenaries is it makes people within a democracy more casual about warfare. Citizens are much more likely to find another solution to a political problem, if it one’s own life or the life of family members on the line. A recent book on ancient Greece attributed the demise, at least in part, of its second period of democracy on the use of mercenaries. They bankrupted themselves and ultimately could not defend themselves against the forces they had created.

Alyx, everything is on the taxpayer dime in Iraq. I believe that there are more contractors in Iraq than there are US troops, and a whole lot of them are doing what soldiers used to do, cooking, cleaning, weapons and equipment repair, truck drivers. A big reason that the costs keep rising is outsourcing the jobs that the troops used to do, and for a whole lot less. Makes no sense at all, fiscally or in terms of morale. Troops do not like seeing all those highly paid contractors, knowing the cost, and also knowing how poorly the contracts are serviced.

Numbers to Think About:

An E-6 with 8 years of service earns:$ 2,744.10 base pay. While in Iraq he/ she will also receive Family Separation Pay, $250; BAS $279.98; Hostile Fire Pay $225 and, if he/ she is married and lives off post, will receive Basic ; Allowance for Housing, at $1574.00. (I calculated this on the 21005 zip code, for Aberdeen Proving Ground.

(For military pay, see http://www.dfas.mil/army2/mili…..rts-cc.pdf ; for BAS see http://perdiem.hqda.pentagon.m…..ahsrch.pl.)

This comes out to $169 per day, averaged over 30 days.

Walter Pincus points out that the average per-day pay to personnel Blackwater hired was $600. Yes, there is $431 per month differential here. But remember what soldiers get that contractors do not. Soldiers pay a minimal monthly fee (used to be under $30) and get SGLI valued at $500,000. (estimated.) Most contractors are not covered by life insurance in war zones, unless they purchase it themselves, which is prohibitively expensive even for those who are not in an operational/ security position. When a soldier dies in the course of active duty, his/ her dependents receive varying degrees of monthly pay, for a number of years; again, not so in the case of contractors. If a soldier is disabled, he will receive disability pay, for life; contractors do not, again, unless they have purchased specialized and expensive insurance given the high-risk environment they work in. Defense-Based Act (DBA) insurance is usually covered by a company, but not always, and in any case, is highly problematic when it comes to making claims.

Of course, having just returned from Iraq myself, I can tell you that security contractors often have a much higher quality of life than the average infantry patrolmen; but then again, so do Special Forces types. Another luxury contractors have is that they can quit and leave Iraq at any time, despite having a contract, unlike soldiers. Then again, they can get fired at any time (soldiers do not get â€firedâ€), and also, contracts can get cancelled or not renewed. Finally, many security types only work for two months on, one month off. Soldiers get one term of leave and one RR in Qatar on a military base in Doha.

Really, I am not sure that it is clear cut as to whom is getting the better deal, a US soldier or a Blackwater employee. As to all of the other murky issues as to the cost to taxpayers and non-monetary issues that I feel are quite serious for various reasons…I will remain silent for the moment.

My suggestion is for the Department of State to beef up its RSOs and start handling security internally. They could easily do so through the 3191 process, though I am not sure anyone understands how bureaucratic State is, and really, how truly risk averse they are with their personnel, even RSOs. Apparently they believe it is better to risk a contractor’s life.

sylviesolze is correct and backs up what I have said.

And this is even more to the point.
The great majority of Staff Sgts (E-6) would not be hired by Blackwater. They would not be acceptable to the Customers (State Dept.) They want a tried and true shooter. A Special Ops guy with talent and experience is what they want.

Second as pointed out in the Committee the State Department really doesn’t want to go around in a Military Convoy of Humvees and Tanks. That sort of goes against the idea of Diplomacy unless you want the old â€Gunboat Diplomacy.â€